To register. As always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal is next. Is next. On thisod morning monday, january 13, the beginning of the legislative week in washington. Senators are preparing for votes on curbing the president s use of force against iran and starting an impeachment trial. Iran. St, your thoughts on what steps do you want lawmakers to take to limit the military did lasts the house week or support the administrations strategy. . Democrats, 2027488000. Republicans, 2027488001. Independents, 2027488002. Active and retired military, we want to hear from you, 2027488003 is your number. You can text us on that line with your first, city, and state. We will get to your thoughts in a minute. Lets begin with the hill newspaper. Democrats scramble to reign in trumps iran war powers. Democrats are racing against the clock to shore up as the fight shifts to the senate. A lawmakers looking to limit trump possibility to take military action face a tight timeframe with little room for error after the speaker said she would send over articles of impeachment. A resolution from tim kaine can come to the senate floor as early as tomorrow morning and he has been trying to win over the 4 gop votes needed to bring it to the floor in addition to every democratic senator to get 51 votes. Here is what senator tim kaine had to say yesterday on face the nation. [video clip] are tryinglee and i to restore this. We had a resolution that would say no war against iran unless Congress Votes to authorize it. The president can defend the nation against an imminent threat and that is existing law, that the constitutional framers understood that. We are skeptical of the evidence this president has put on the table and that is why we are challenging the briefers and the president. At the end of the day, this is less about the president than it is about congress. Both parties have hidden under their desks rather than have votes about war. I have cast two of them in the Foreign Relations committee. Fundamentally different than any other vote and so many members of congress, they want to hide under their desk, let the president do whatever the president wants and they think they can escape accountability. It is time to go back to what the framers envisioned. We should not send our best and brightest in harms way if congress does not have the guts to have a debate and a vote. Host do you agree with senator tim kaine . Should lawmakers take these votes to limit the president s use of force . What do you think or should they be supporting the president . Newspaper, they report 4 republican senators the Senate Previously voted 5040 on an amendment from tom udall to an annual policy bill that presented prevented the president using funding for military action against iran. The measure fell short of the votes needed for adoption. 4 republican senators voted for time. Oposal at the senator Christopher Kunz missed the jet the vote, but supported the measure. This gives cain a pathway to 51 votes. Senators lee and paul said they would support the war powers resolution after they left a closeddoor briefing on the airstrike that killed the iranian general. Utah, republican, was on face the nation as well. He was asked if he has been given any private assurances that congress would be consulted if the president plans to take future military action and here is what he had to say. [video clip] yes, and it is always implicit we will be consulted. Or that there is some indication that the strike in question is necessary in order to repel an imminent or actual attack on the United States. That is always the questions and one of the reasons i am cosponsoring tim kaines resolution. Ofthere are things short war, there is hostile activity, andrgeted strike like this what you are supporting, this resolution, there is a carveout for an imminent threat, so how would that stop the administration from doing what it just did . Any time we have Something Like this and we signaled in advance it is not covered, we are relying on the good faith use of the commanderinchief power by the president. It is not contingent on or rooted in this president ial administration. This goes back to 1791 when George Washington pointed out it is ok for the president to act to repel an attack without authorization from congress, but he noted it is important any sustained military effort does have to be authorized. Thoughts. Do you agree with these lawmakers that Congress Needs to act when it comes to use of force . From the time magazine, this is the headline in several papers and publications, iran continues to bomb u. S. Bases. 4 Iraqi Service members wounded by attacks on an air base american trainers yesterday. There is also the option from senator Bernie Sanders, a proposal he has put forth to freeze funding for any action against iran. Here is a tweet he sent out on saturday. I am proud to partner with mike no warss our noel against iran act. We will build bipartisan might majorities in congress. In their joint statement, these senators, Bernie Sanders and mike lee say we often disagree on many issues, but staying up for the constitution standing up for the constitution is not about partisanship. Would beial warmaking harmful for our democracy. We turn to all of you. George in tennessee, democratic caller, what role do lawmakers have in tensions between u. S. And iran . Caller i think congress should be informed each and every time. Hat happens donald trump is one of the this was tople divert from impeachment and anybody should know what is. Oing on you think senator should move after the house voted 224194 last week, you think the senate should move to limit the iran . Ent on it is little late in the game for that. Host they should take what should they do . Caller they should take an assessment of what really happened. There isnt much they can do, it is already done now. Host richard, what do you think . Conservative, not a republican, but a conservative and i think lawmakers should have a voice. What scares me about our they let things leak out. You cannot afford to let anything leak out. There needs to be a group of people in there, but not all of congress. My problem with it is we have such division in this country. Everybody is saying they loved donald trump when he was a democrat and a businessman. He has helped everyone out as far as donations. To doing something for the American People. I am not talking about people who came here on green cards. I am talking about born and bred americans who paid by the rules. Theireir taxes, raised children, and now they have to pay for other people around the country. The biggest problem we have in this country today is we dont need a full force military. Not unless we go after china or russia. We need to get our house in order. Like trump says, we have bigger stuff. If you want to play the game, lets play it. A lot of allies do not want to play the game anymore. If it wasnt for the United States after pearl harbor and world war ii, most of these people would be enslaved to some sort of dictatorship around the world. Liberal americans better wake up. You better hope you have a strong person in office. Praise god and praise america and lets go win whatever we have to win because we are going downhill fast. City, northeth carolina, republican and active military. What do you think . Caller thanks for taking my call. In the 1980s during the and you had innocent americans held hostage by a. Ostile country , but they have to. Ealize host you are breaking up. Difficult to hear you. We will go to joe in florida, independent. Caller good morning, greta. Constitution,the the president of the United States is not a dictator. We have to look at history. It only took one assassination and we had world war i. With a tinydman mustache and we have world war ii. We dont need the iraq war. How many thousands of americans died . Themany trillions we spent, American People and think about people are dying here, we do not have health care, but somehow we can afford trillions of money for a war like the iraq war . It is common sense. It doesnt make no sense. Quick. Inish up real pentagon gave choices to trump. He chose the most extreme, to kill the second in command in iraq. I am glad the pentagon did not give the red button to trump. This is no joke. This is the only planet we live. We dont have a second planet. Think about what happened in japan, the bombs, what the damage can do. Host the house late last week to 194a resolution 224 that would limit the president s use of force. He would still be able to act if the United States faced a threat. There have been members of when it comessay to military action, any president cannot keep acting making decisions based on the authorization of military force from 2002. Look at the wikipedia page. It was called the Iraq Resolution and the language ,eals with the threat of iraq of al qaedamembers are known to be iraq. The effort by congress and the president to fight terrorists themhose who aid or harbor. Authorization by the constitution and congress for the president to fight antiUnited States terrorism. Has beened barbara lee pushing for a new authorization and she was on the washington journal last week. [video clip] justify the use of force not only recently, but over 41 times a 19 countries, there was declassified report. We need to debate the cost and consequences of the use of force anywhere in the world, especially now. I taking this off the books, that gives the public a chance to weigh in three members of congress to determine whether we should move forward with our responsibility. Host we are asking all of you to weigh in on this debate. What role, if any, do you think lawmakers should have . Do you agree with the congresswoman that Congress Needs to pass a new authorization of military force . Charlotte in North Carolina, republican. Go ahead. Am prior military and my commanderinchief of course was bush at the time. It is President Trump and he has because he isrity our commanderinchief. Our military will follow him. The pentagon as well and , thement of Defense Division in this country is hatred against our president. The military stance together with our president. I see you all standing against him all the time. How can we believe congress would do the right thing by the imminent threat . What about sustained military action . The Congress Shall have power to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. In congresslieve getting involved if we have the very long, sustained, kinds of war like with iraq. I want my brothers and sisters to come home. That is a big thing for me and trump did promise to bring them home. When i heard this about the attack, i was like, man. I was afraid it was going to go into an allout war. We dont want that. Us military do not want to do that. We have lost so many of our troops and it is so sad. Being a longterm thing and all of a sudden it wasnt. It was kind of over. I am glad the guy is gone, he is a threat to the entire world and this country should be happy we dont have to deal with that, him lurking in corners behind this and making decisions. I think we need to stand together, all of us. Democrat, republican, independent, it is our country, we need to defend it and i think donald trump is the greatest will vote for i him in 2020. Host you believe this the president that this general did pose an imminent threat . Absolutely. Caller absolutely. If not the time he took them out, a later date. He will be planning and strategizing to attack not only americans, his own people. Maybe even england or germany or it could go very wide with this guy. I am glad he is gone. President donald trump did the right thing and i wish everybody would see that. For a long time, congress should have the power to do that, yeah, absolutely. Host charlotte, retired military. Nancy pelosi was on abc and she was asked if she thinks the administration was straight with congress when they briefed them on the decision to kill the iranian general and here is what she had to say. [video clip] i dont think the administration has been straight with congress. When i was informed the United States had taken out soleimani, he was a terrible person. And the motivations of iran are bad, so there is no question about that. With my intelligence background, i am fully aware of the danger of soleimani. However, what we want to do is not escalate a war. Me, they called and told the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs confirmed we were involved in this action, i said you should have informed the gang of eight in advance of this, the leadership and members of the intelligence committee, house, and senate. We had to keep it close. We had to keep it close because we did not want to get out. What you are saying is you dont trust the congress of the United States . The sources and methods and timing . We had to keep it close. That is wrong. As you have seen, even republicans have complained of their nature presentation at the classified briefing. Congress has the power to declare war. We passed legislation further defining this week. I dont want to say forget donald trump, this is about all president s and all congresses. Host that was the speaker of the house on abcs this week. On face thes nation defending the president s decision and here is what he had to say. [video clip] there was a reference in this intelligence to an attack on an embassy in baghdad. That information was shared with the gang of eight, not the broader membership of the congress. A specific threat against the u. S. Embassy in baghdad was shared with the gang of eight . I was not in that specific meeting. Was the briefer said to me most if not all the members thought the intelligence was persuasive and the gang of eight did not think it should be released to the broader members of congress. Informationpecific president shared with fox news shared with congress . There president believe could be attacks against additional embassies. I share that view. I know other members share that view, so i deployed paratroopers to the middle east to reinforce our embassies throughout the region. That seems more like an assessment than a specific tangible threat with a decisive piece of intelligence. The president did not cite a specific piece of evidence. Are you saying there was not one . I did not see one. I share the president possibly you my expectation was they were embassies. After our defense secretary on the sunday shows defending the president. What should be the role of congress in this escalating tension between u. S. And iran . On sunday, iran continuing to andke u. S. Bases in iraq according to time magazine, one of the headlines, no u. S. Casualties, but 4 Iraqi Servicemen killed. We are getting your thoughts on this. Darrell in new jersey, what do you think . Think congress has article 1 authority on declaring war and i can understand the need for president ial action when it comes to nonstate actors. Ike al qaeda this is different. Iran is a sovereign nation and there is no way we can allow a especially one given to stretching the truth, 15,000 lies or whatever he has told and he does not provide congress with any specific intelligence. Even his defense secretary in trying to defend his action gave no evidence whatsoever. He is talking about a gut feeling based on nothing and we cannot just allow the president to become a constitutional dictator because Congress Wants to advocate his authority. If they do not want to exercise Congressional Authority given to them under article 1, they have no business being in congress. Host edward, greenbelt, maryland. What do you think . Caller good morning. Scientist and i believe congress has the power of the purse and the article 1 empoweringr and the act invoked vote against this president is proper. It forget, 17 intelligence haveies found the russians interfered with our election. This president has violated these laws. I reported to two president s in my lifetime and i wanted to say very clearly to our listeners to be advised this president was not elected by the popular vote, he was elected by the electoral. Only a few swing states were able to elect this man. I want to say again, the thing for his own personal gains rather than thinking about the United States of america. We dont know what happened between him and mr. Vladimir putin and kim jongun. He refused to release the witnesses to the senate when they go to trial. This man is under trial, he has no right to decide what the trial is going to be. One more thing, i feel ashamed to see this man climb up on air force one. Air force one is a prized vehicle in the United States of america. Congress has the power of the purse and nancy pelosi has a right to take air force one away. Host the president on air ran tweeting yesterday to the leaders of iran, do not kill your protesters. Many iranians protesting over the downing of the aircraft. Thousands have been killed or imprisoned by you and the world is watching. Usa is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free. He tweeted National Security advisors suggested sanctions iran choked have off and will force them to negotiate. I could not care less if they negotiate. No Nuclear Weapons and dont kill your protesters. Georgia, independent, what role does congress have . Caller congress has an Important Role to play in war. Going back in history, the usa, in 243 been in 75 wars rs, been at war two years my point of it is i have been in the military and every american should go to a veteran hospital. Home, i came back on plane and itevac is unbelievable what war does to human beings. When people Start Talking about war, they have to understand what was said. Wrote a book called war is a racket. 2 out of 3 years we have been at war. H