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PBS News Hour - Segments

Trump's Iran strategy and rhetoric face scrutiny as Congress returns from recess

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2026

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Democrats in Congress tried unsuccessfully to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran. While Republicans blocked the move, it highlights an issue to take up when Congress returns from recess. There is growing concern among Democrats and some of the president's allies over the language he has used this week, including "a whole civilization will die." Lisa Desjardins reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0

Democrats in Congress tried unsuccessfully to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran.

0:06.0

While Republicans block the move today, it highlights a major unresolved issue to take up when Congress fully returns from recess next week.

0:13.0

At the same time, there's growing concern among Democrats and some of the President's allies over the language he's used this week,

0:21.2

including that, quote, a whole civilization will die as negotiations with Iran continued.

0:27.1

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardin is here now with how Congress is responding to the ongoing war.

0:32.2

So Lisa, let's start with Congress and what specifically we expect when they come back.

0:36.8

In terms of action, Democrats in both chambers are planning to force roll call votes on their

0:42.3

resolution to end military action in Iran and force the president to get congressional consent

0:47.3

before he does anymore.

0:48.6

Now, that kind of move has failed in the Senate before.

0:51.4

I expected to fail again.

0:52.9

But House Democrats think they may have a chance of a symbolic victory there.

0:56.8

They need just two Republicans, depending on who shows up, to pass it.

1:00.7

And they think with that civilization quote, and with the back and forth over the ceasefire,

1:04.8

the confusion, that maybe they have a shot there.

1:07.9

We also expect Democrats to keep pounding away at the idea of the 25th Amendment.

1:12.8

Many of our viewers know that's the part of the Constitution that says a majority of the

1:16.5

cabinet can vote to remove the president. Now, we spoke with constitutional law professor

1:21.3

Markle Gerhardt about this. He said the drafters may have had a good idea when they wrote

1:26.6

that, but it's really impractical.

1:30.3

It is, I think, unimaginable to expect a cabinet to be turned, an entire cabinet to turn against the president and put them there.

1:42.3

In this situation, it's even less likely

...

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