Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Sen. John Curtis argues against restarting President Donald Trump's 60-day Iran war clock.
- Curtis urges Congress to act, opposing funding without congressional war authorization.
- Economist Phil Dean highlights economic uncertainty from ongoing Iran conflict's impact.
SALT LAKE CITY — As hostilities in Iran resume, Sen. John Curtis says Congress needs to get involved in what's happening now — or he may vote not to fund it later.
In an interview Wednesday with KSL, Curtis said the ongoing conflict makes him think of the Vietnam War and the need to avoid some of the mistakes that were made then.
"Congress just kept funding the Vietnam War even though there was never a declaration of war," said Curtis, R-Utah.
This week, the president notified Congress that the conflict in Iran had begun again. As Reuters reported, the Trump administration sees this as also restarting the 60-day clock during which the president can direct military action without congressional approval.
Curtis pushed back on that.
"In my opinion, it's a stretch to say you can start this clock over and over again," said Curtis, noting that Congress needs to step up. "This is not an anti-president move. This is a 'Congress do your job' move. We can't just sit back and put this on the president's shoulder. We need to get involved, and I actually think that would be good for the president."
Ultimately, Utah's junior senator said lack of congressional action may impact his future support for paying for the war. House Republicans on Wednesday released a budget resolution that calls for $60 billion in additional military spending, NBC News reported.
"My big lever point is when you come to me and say, 'Fund this' and I say, 'Fund what?' There is no congressionally authorized activity here," Curtis said, "so I'm not going to fund it."
Curtis acknowledged, however, that he is a "lonely" voice on this issue, and that any momentum for Congress to act "doesn't seem to be there right now." Democrats, though, have pushed several resolutions directing Trump to remove the U.S. military from Iran without a specific declaration of war. But Curtis criticized those resolutions, calling them "symbolic" and without any weight.
Utah's other U.S. senator, Mike Lee, also a Republican, has repeatedly expressed opposition over the years to open-ended military action in Iran.
"There is no 'Iran is bad' exception to the Constitution," Lee wrote on Jan. 28, 2024, while Joe Biden was president. "If we're going to war, Congress must declare it."
A few years earlier, during Trump's first term in January 2020, Lee wrote an op-ed with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia explaining their proposed resolution to "prohibit war with Iran without congressional authorization."
"We should not be at war with Iran unless Congress authorizes it," they wrote. "If senators are unwilling to have this debate – because a war vote is hard or opinion polls suggest that their vote might be unpopular – how dare we order our troops to courageously serve and risk all?"
Yet, lately, Lee has been fairly silent on this issue. None of his social media posts this week mention Iran, and his office did not respond to a request for comment from KSL.
Meanwhile, the war in Iran has impacted the overall economy. Gas prices initially spiked, and they remain well above where they were a year ago, according to AAA.
"I think the initial shock of what happened has largely been absorbed," said Phil Dean, chief economist at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.
But Dean said the ongoing war has other effects.
"The uncertainty that it perpetuates … makes it harder to think about making long-term decisions when you don't know – are gas prices going to be high? Are gas prices going to be low? What's kind of the world situation, all the geopolitical risk that's out there," Dean said. "To me, the uncertainty's actually bigger in terms of its ultimate economic impact than the gas price increase itself."
Curtis told KSL there is "no doubt" the Iran war is unhealthy for the U.S. economy.
"That's why a speedy conclusion here is absolutely necessary," Curtis said. "People are really, really struggling just to fill up a car with a tank full of gas, and we can't take that lightly."
