Hinson Calls for End to Iran War as Grassley and Ernst Vote to Continue It
Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is now calling for an “immediate end” to the nearly seven-month Iran war, even as Iowa Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst voted Thursday against a congressional effort to end U.S. military involvement.
Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is now calling for an “immediate end” to the nearly seven-month Iran war, even as Iowa Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst voted Thursday against a congressional effort to end U.S. military involvement.
Hinson acknowledges the economic costs of the war
Hinson, the Republican nominee to replace Ernst in the Senate, said Iowans should no longer have to absorb the economic consequences of the conflict. “Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran,” she said. She has called on the House to return to Washington to address fuel prices and said the war should come to a “successful and immediate end.”
The economic impact has become increasingly difficult for Iowa to ignore. Diesel reached about $6.31 per gallon in Iowa, while regular gasoline was about $4.34, compared with $2.92 a year earlier.
Sincere, or motivated by politics?
But Hinson has not supported congressional efforts to force an end to U.S. involvement. She voted against the most recent House War Powers resolution, while fellow Iowa Republicans Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn voted for it. Asked to reconcile that vote with her call to end the war, Hinson said, “I don’t think we need another resolution on the floor. I think we just need a resolution to the war, and the president needs to do that.”
The Senate could have ended the war
The Senate had an opportunity Thursday to take precisely that kind of congressional action.
A War Powers resolution directing President Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran failed 49–50. Four Republican senators, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Thom Tillis, joined most Democrats in supporting it. Grassley and Ernst voted against the resolution. The official Senate record confirms the measure failed 49–50.
House passes war powers resolution
The measure had already passed the House in July, 214–208. Another House War Powers resolution passed last week with seven Republicans joining Democrats. The measures are nonbinding, but they are congressional efforts to challenge a war that Congress never voted to authorize.
Human and economic costs continue
Meanwhile, the human and economic costs continue. The Pentagon’s public database listed 18 U.S. military deaths as of Sept. 18, but six U.S. officials familiar with internal Defense Department casualty data told The Washington Post the actual number is higher. Five put the number at at least 22, while another said 23 service members have died in the Middle East since the war began.
More than 820 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, while diesel prices have reached record levels above $6.50 nationally.
Awkward positioning
The contrast leaves Iowa Republicans in an unusual position: Hinson says the Iran war should end immediately. Grassley and Ernst just voted against a congressional measure intended to end U.S. involvement. And Hinson herself continues to oppose using Congress’s war powers to accomplish the result she now says she wants.
Hinson says the decision now belongs to Trump. Congress had a chance to make its own decision Thursday. And Iowa’s two senators voted no.
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