Senate Vote Halts War Powers Filibuster

The Democratic-controlled Senate, reacting to the U.S. Navy’s destruction of an Iranian military outpost on a Persian Gulf oil platform, voted Tuesday to break the lengthy GOP filibuster that has kept Congress from putting any restrictions on President Reagan’s policy in the region.

The lopsided 67-28 vote opened the way for the Senate to act by noon today on a watered-down version of the controversial 1973 War Powers Resolution, which asserts the right of Congress to approve or disapprove of U.S. involvement in armed conflict.

Seventeen Republicans voted with the Democratic majority, even though the President strongly opposes any effort by Congress to tie his hands in the gulf. Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said many senators were swayed by the United States’ retaliatory attack on the Iranian oil platform in the gulf Monday.

The strike came in response to an Iranian Silkworm missile attack on a U.S.-registered tanker anchored off Kuwait that blinded its American captain and injured 17 crewmen.

Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.), who has been pressing the Senate for more than a month to invoke the War Powers Resolution in the Persian Gulf, said the vote demonstrates a growing inclination in Congress to assert its will.

“Sixty-seven votes clearly shows that the U.S. Senate wants to have ‘war powers’ in spirit or in letter,” he said.

In three previous votes beginning on Oct. 9, a majority in the Senate has registered its desire to enact some type of legislation asserting congressional authority over U.S. policy in the gulf. But there has never been a majority in favor of invoking the War Powers Resolution, which Reagan contends is unconstitutional.

The House has not acted on the issue. Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) has said that he will take it up only after the Senate acts.

A relic of the Vietnam War era, the War Powers Resolution requires a President to report to Congress within 48 hours after U.S. forces face “imminent hostilities.” The forces then must be withdrawn within 90 days if Congress objects.

Weicker argued forcefully that the Senate cannot continue to ignore this law, even though Reagan refuses to obey it. Congress has a constitutional obligation to hold the President in check whenever American troops face combat, he said, and the Iran- contra affair proved that the Administration must be monitored closely.

“Why should there be blind trust in the policies of those who chose to sell arms to Iran, which are being used to kill persons on our side,” he said. “Those same people who designed those brilliant policies are saying, ‘Just trust us.’ Well, I don’t trust them.”

Co-authored by Byrd and Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the measure before the Senate today would require the President to report to Congress within 60 days. It provides for a vote by January on a resolution expressing either approval or disapproval of Reagan’s policy of providing U.S. naval escorts to 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers re-registered as American vessels.

Proponents emphasized that they do not expect Congress to vote to force Reagan to end the policy. Despite some initial misgivings about the policy, virtually every member of Congress has expressed support for Reagan’s decision to retaliate against Iran on Monday.

The Senate also voted 92 to 1 on Tuesday night in favor of an amendment proposed by Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.), congratulating Reagan for the retaliatory strike against the Iranian oil platform. Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.) cast the lone dissenting vote.