Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Jeffrey Pryce: Foreign Policy Institute Senior Fellow on House Republicans moving to prevent Donald Trump from ordering more strikes on Iran

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Jeffrey Pryce: Foreign Policy Institute Senior Fellow on House Republicans moving to prevent Donald Trump from ordering more strikes on Iran · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Four Republicans have crossed party lines to support democratic resolution.
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  Speaker 1: It passed two hundred and fifteen to two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: eight after three attempts already this year. It now moves
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  Speaker 1: to the Senate. Jeffrey Price is a senior fellow at
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  Speaker 1: the Foreign Policy Institute at the John Hopkins School of
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  Speaker 1: Advanced International Studies, and he joins me, now, good morning, Jeffrey.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Francesca. How are you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm really good, thank you. Will this actually rain Trump
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  Speaker 1: in or is it a largely symbolic at this stage?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it is symbolic, but it's very important.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the way the law is set up, one,
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  Speaker 3: this resolution had to come up, and that that was
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  Speaker 3: something that's been on the agenda for some time now.
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  Speaker 3: But it will go to the Senate. It will not
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  Speaker 3: legally it will require President Trump to sign it, which
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  Speaker 3: he will not do for it to become legally effective.
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  Speaker 3: But it's very important politically because what it's showing is
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  Speaker 3: basically the tide is turning, that Congress is beginning to
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  Speaker 3: reassert itself already in foreign affairs, and also that I
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  Speaker 3: think that some patients with the progress in ending the
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  Speaker 3: war in Iran. It's beginning to become exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: Will it pass in the Senate?
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  Speaker 2: It very likely could some version of this.
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  Speaker 3: It's a little bit harder in the Senate because the
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  Speaker 3: margin is a slightly greater in favor of the Republicans.
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  Speaker 2: But there's a decent.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, and we have lost Jeffrey. We will try
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  Speaker 1: and get Jeffrey back. Thank you very much, Jeffrey, you're there.
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  Speaker 2: Yes here, I am sorry about that.
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  Speaker 1: No, No, I think it was oried. So I was
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  Speaker 1: just wondering, if it does pass in the Senate, does
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  Speaker 1: that make it even more significant? Really gets the point
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  Speaker 1: to cross, because, as you make the point, even if
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  Speaker 1: it does pass in both changes, lawmaker, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: lawmakers don't necessarily legally have the power to force the
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  Speaker 1: president to withdraw troops or act.
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  Speaker 3: No, it will be very significant because it's not just
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  Speaker 3: the Iran War. For instance, since you just saw yesterday
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  Speaker 3: in the House, there was another measure that passed with
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  Speaker 3: regard to the Russian war in Ukraine, which had been
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  Speaker 3: blocked by the White House, and that passed by a
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  Speaker 3: slightly larger margin, imposing sanctions on Russia and providing some
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  Speaker 3: assistance to Ukraine. So in another area, it looks like
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  Speaker 3: the Congress is beginning to act more independently of the
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  Speaker 3: White House into asserted its role in foreign policy in
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  Speaker 3: ways that the White House has not been supportive of
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  Speaker 3: in the past.
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  Speaker 1: So what changed for these four Republicans to cross over?
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  Speaker 2: Now?
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  Speaker 3: A few things. Some chickens are coming home to roost.
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  Speaker 3: Some people have incurred the wrath of President Trump. For instance,
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  Speaker 3: Representative Massey lost his primary, but he's still in Congress
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  Speaker 3: for another six months, and so he's free to do
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  Speaker 3: as he sees fit. And I think the impending elections
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  Speaker 3: are beginning to weigh on people's minds. We're going to
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  Speaker 3: have midterm congressional elections in November, and so every member
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  Speaker 3: of Congress and third of the Senators will be up
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  Speaker 3: for reelection. The war in Iran is not very popular,
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  Speaker 3: so that may be another factor that that's that that's
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  Speaker 3: making a difference. And again, Congress is very narrowly divided.
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  Speaker 3: The Republicans have a majority that allows them only to
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  Speaker 3: lose three votes to maintain the majority, and they lose
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  Speaker 3: four votes, they're in the minority. So it's a very
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  Speaker 3: it's a very narrowly divided Congress, and most people expect
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  Speaker 3: in November that the Republicans will lose control of one
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  Speaker 3: or both houses of Congress. So I think that's beginning
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  Speaker 3: to be felt as well.
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  Speaker 1: Trump has responded, calling the vote against him meaningless and unpatriotic.
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  Speaker 1: Will he be feeling the pressure here? Is there growing
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  Speaker 1: concern inside the administration that Trump now finds himself in
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  Speaker 1: a bind over Iran.
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  Speaker 2: He is in a difficult position because.
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  Speaker 3: I think that in general, the White House would like
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  Speaker 3: to bring this war to a successful conclusion, but the
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  Speaker 3: enemy gets a vote. As we're saying, the Pentagon and
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  Speaker 3: the Iranians are not really cooperating in providing the deal.
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  Speaker 2: That Trump would like.
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  Speaker 3: And he's in a bit of a bind domestically as well,
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  Speaker 3: because not only is he losing support on continuing the war,
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  Speaker 3: but on the other hand, there are Republicans who are
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  Speaker 3: also critical of him coming to a deal on the
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  Speaker 3: Iran nuclear program that doesn't meet all of the sort
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  Speaker 3: of ambitious standards that were applied to Obama's nuclear deal.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a harder row for President Trump to hoe
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  Speaker 3: than perhaps he might have experienced with either the previous
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  Speaker 3: bombing striking Iran last year or the operation in Venezuela.
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  Speaker 3: So I do think that there's increasing pressure on the president.
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey. Militant group Hiszbolah has rejected the ceasefire agreement between
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  Speaker 1: Israel and Lebanon overnight. What impacts it is going to have?
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  Speaker 3: So for the United States, the principal issue is Iran,
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  Speaker 3: But for Iran, Lebanon is a part of the larger conflict,
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  Speaker 3: and for Israel even more so because for Israel, people
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  Speaker 3: in northern Israel are within missile range of Hesbala. So
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  Speaker 3: this is an important part for each party, but in
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  Speaker 3: a different priority. And the problem is that Hesbalah is
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  Speaker 3: a Lebanese organization, but it has its own army, and
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  Speaker 3: it probably responds more to the Iranian government than it
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  Speaker 3: does to the Lebanese government. So it's a complicated situation.
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  Speaker 3: We are now with the United States are now in
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  Speaker 3: negotiation with the government of Lebanon, with the governor of
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  Speaker 3: Lebanon and the government of Israel to.
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  Speaker 2: Get them together. That would be great.
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  Speaker 3: The big issue is getting Hesbalah, which is the real
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  Speaker 3: threat to Israel to submit to the authority of a
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  Speaker 3: Lebanese government.
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Price, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much. For more Family Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen
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