Rep. John Larson of Connecticut said he is moving to force the Trump administration into court over its continuation of the Iran war, pointing to Congress’s repeated votes demanding an end to hostilities that the White House has not followed.
“Donald Trump is waging an illegal war in Iran,” Larson wrote on X. “Our troops are getting killed in the Middle East, and energy prices are soaring at home. Congress passed a bill to end this illegal war. It’s time to enforce it. My resolution with Rep. Gregory Meeks will take Trump to court!”
The resolution Larson referenced was introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who announced the measure on July 23 following a House vote that day readopting a war powers resolution calling on Trump to end the war. Meeks’ resolution would require House Speaker Mike Johnson to “initiate or intervene in litigation” enforcing H. Con. Res. 86, the underlying war powers measure that has now passed both the House and Senate directing the president to cease hostilities with Iran, according to the official announcement from the committee’s Democratic staff. By requiring Johnson to serve as lead plaintiff, the resolution is designed to address anticipated legal standing challenges in court.
“The power to declare war rests unequivocally with Congress, yet Speaker Johnson and the vast majority of Republicans have allowed President Trump to trample over the Constitution and wage a war that has not been authorized by Congress,” Meeks said in the release. Meeks told reporters he intends to force a floor vote on the measure once the House returns from its summer recess. “I’m gonna force a vote on that so that we can now go to the courts and sue the administration for not following the will of Congress,” Meeks said, according to C-SPAN footage of his remarks.
The House passed the underlying war powers resolution, sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, by a vote of 214-208 on July 23, with Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas Massie, Warren Davidson and Tom Barrett joining Democrats in support. The Senate fell short the same day of discharging a companion measure from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, voting 47-49.
Larson’s post included an image referencing the war’s cost, tied to testimony Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21. Under questioning from Sen. Dick Durbin, Hegseth estimated the war has cost approximately $37.5 billion to date, including projected spending through the end of the fiscal year in September, according to a Common Dreams report on the hearing.
The figure drew criticism from several Democrats and advocacy groups over how else the money could have been spent. Rep. James Walkinshaw wrote that the sum “could cover a full school year of free lunches for 30 million children, or a full year of childcare for nearly 2 million kids,” adding that “Trump finds money for war while families get excuses.” The group American Bridge 21st Century said the spending came “from the administration that said there was no money for food assistance, Medicaid, and healthcare tax credits.”
Hegseth’s $37.5 billion estimate is significantly higher than an earlier $25 billion figure Pentagon comptroller Jules “Jay” Hurst offered in April, though independent estimates have suggested even higher costs. Stephen Semler, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, estimated the government spent at least $71.8 billion during just the first two months of the war, or roughly $1.2 billion per day.
Larson has pursued separate legal action beyond the Meeks resolution, citing Trump’s handling of the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day limit on unauthorized hostilities as grounds for a new bill to cut off funding for the war. Larson voted for an earlier war powers resolution in March, saying at the time that Trump “continues to have a disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law” and “owes it to Congress, the American people, and the troops who have died and their families to answer for his actions,” according to an official statement from his office at the time.
Hegseth’s Senate testimony was disrupted by protesters, including members of CodePink, the National Iranian American Council and Vets About Face DMV. “Pete Hegseth and this administration will be remembered for the killing of innocent civilians and children,” a protester identified as Bella of NIAC said in a statement. “They have protected neither the American people nor our security, only the interests that have lined their pockets.”
The Pentagon’s confirmed U.S. death toll for the war stands at 18, following a week in which the department’s public casualty count briefly dropped to 14 before the disputed figures were addressed.
Neither the White House nor Speaker Johnson’s office has issued a direct public response to Larson’s statement or the Meeks resolution.