Why doesn’t Congress declare war anymore?

It is obviously “war” when two countries attack a third, kill its leader and try to destroy its military, as the US and Israel have done in Iran. But in the weird way modern American leaders dance around the US Constitution, names get complicated. The Trump administration does want to call the Pentagon the Department … The post Why doesn’t Congress declare war anymore? appeared first on Egypt Independent. A person stands on the roof of a building looking at a plume of smoke rises after a strike on the Iranian capital Tehran, on March 3, 2026. Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images Facebook Twitter LinkedIn It is obviously “war” when two countries attack a third, kill its leader and try to destroy its military, as the US and Israel have done in Iran. But in the weird way modern American leaders dance around the US Constitution, names get complicated. The Trump administration does want to call the Pentagon the Department of War, a nod to the era of world wars, when, he and Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth say, the US military was more used to winning. But they do not want to formally ask Congress to declare war on Iran, as the text of the Constitution requires and as Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt did after years of internal debate and direct attacks on Americans. And lawmakers, rather than exert their own authority, are set to beat back efforts in the Senate Wednesday and the House on Thursday to require a debate and vote to authorize Trump’s war. In the World Wars, the US made a declaration Roosevelt’s “date which will live in infamy” speech, given less than 24 hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was him formally asking Congress to declare war. “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire,” Roosevelt said. Congress complied. Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war in a speech to Congress in 1917. After years of trying to maintain a sort of neutrality, Wilson said war was unavoidable after interception of the Zimmerman telegram, an intercepted encrypted communication in which Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico against the US. Now, presidents just act Trump apprised Congress of his war on Iran with a two-page document required by a 1973 law. It announced “military action” in the interest of “collective self-defense,” although this time it was the US launching a sneak attack. That term, “collective self-defense,” is important because it appears in Article 51 of the UN Charter as an exception to the need for the UN Security Council to authorize war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing Congress on December 8, 1941. Fotosearch/Archive Photos/Getty Images President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol on February 24, 2026. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images No detailed explanation was given Trump had an opportunity just last week during his State of the Union address to make a more complete argument for war, but he barely mentioned Iran in the speech. He did, however, take time to acknowledge the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, via the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which functioned as a sort of declaration of war on Great Britain. Wars in all but name So the Iran conflict, which is clearly a war, will not technically be called a war by the US government. It’s not unlike the fact that the “Department of War” is the “secondary” title of what is still technically called the Department of Defense, the name Congress gave it. There have been 11 declared wars in US history, and none since World War II, although the US has been involved in bloody wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places in the years since. When presidents stopped asking permission President Harry Truman did not ask permission to engage in the large-scale Korean War, which his administration called an “international police action.” Congress did not balk, and in fact extended the military draft and appropriated money for the undeclared war. It was after Vietnam, another undeclared war, that Congress tried to reassert itself. President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to authorize the use of force in Vietnam in 1964 after attacks on US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Much later, it was determined those attacks did not occur as the military claimed. Without that knowledge, only two senators opposed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The US became mired in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson signing the Tonkin resolution on October 8, 1964. MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images Congress tried to claw back some power after Vietnam In 1971, Congress repealed, with President Richard Nixon’s signature, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and demanded the withdrawal of US forces, although the war would continue for years. In 1973, lawmakers passed the War Powers Resolution “to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and ensure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities.” It requires the president remove US forces within 60 days of reporting a new military action to Congress unless Congress declares war or authorizes the use of force. The president can extend the use of the military