Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress on Thursday that President Trump does not have to comply with a law requiring presidents to seek congressional authorization to continue a war beyond 60 days because the cease-fire agreement reached with Iran has paused the clock on any such obligation.
His assertion came on the eve of the 60-day mark of Mr. Trump’s official notice to Congress that he had begun the war, a critical deadline under the War Powers Resolution for a president to begin to withdraw forces, seek congressional authorization to continue a military campaign or request a 30-day extension. Some Republicans have pointed to the milestone as a potential pivot point in their so far unconditional support of the war, beyond which they would demand a vote on whether to continue it.
“We are in a cease-fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses, or stops, in a cease-fire,” Mr. Hegseth said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, when asked whether the White House would seek an authorization. He declined to answer if it would.
Mr. Hegseth’s novel reading of the statute, which some legal experts disputed, came on his second consecutive day of testimony on Capitol Hill, as the defense secretary presented a defiant and combative front to lawmakers who raised concerns about the war in Iran and his leadership.
“The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said at the opening of the hearing, echoing remarks he made before a House committee on Wednesday.
He repeated the broadside as he went before lawmakers to appeal for congressional support for the Pentagon’s nearly $1.45 trillion budget request for the coming year. But while the hearing was called to review the historically large request — a 40 percent increase in the military budget — it was also the first time that senators had the opportunity to publicly question Mr. Hegseth since the war began over eight weeks ago.
Democrats and Republicans have said for weeks that they viewed Friday as the key statutory deadline for Mr. Trump to come to Congress if he wanted to continue the war.
“It’s going to pose a really important legal question for the administration,” said Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democrat who has led on repeated failed attempts to curb Mr. Trump’s ability to wage war without congressional approval.
“We have serious constitutional concerns,” Mr. Kaine added.
Some Republicans, including Senators John Curtis of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have signaled that they would not support a continued military campaign against Iran after the 60-day mark without congressional approval.
But others have made the case for giving Mr. Trump more time.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution this month that would exempt from the 60-day timeline any day that is part of a cease-fire or includes negotiations to reach one.
Legal scholars from both sides of the ideological spectrum rejected Mr. Hegseth’s assertion that a cease-fire pushes off a deadline for a president to win authorization for hostilities.
“It’s a legal stretch to say that hostilities are not ongoing when U.S. warships are blockading the Strait of Hormuz and firing on Iranian vessels,” said John B. Bellinger III, a former national security legal adviser during the George W. Bush administration. “There continues to be a clear and present danger of armed conflict for U.S. forces.”
Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale Law School professor and former State Department legal adviser during the Obama administration, rejected the idea of a “stoppable clock” in a law enacted expressly to limit the executive’s power to go around Congress.
“There is no pause button in the War Power Resolution,” he said.
From the opening days of the campaign, Democrats have accused the president and his defense secretary of undertaking a war in Iran when the adversary did not pose an imminent threat.
They have demanded the Pentagon provide Congress with more information on the operation, which has prompted counterattacks on military and diplomatic personnel across the region and sent gas prices soaring in the United States. A handful of Republicans have voiced frustration that their questions about the costs and timeline of the war, and whether the president could deploy ground troops, went unanswered.
Mr. Hegseth did not say how long the war with Iran could continue. But on several occasions he accused lawmakers of prematurely declaring the war a failure.
“I would remind you and this group that we’re two months into an effort,” Mr. Hegseth said. “And many congressional Democrats, as I pointed out, want to declare defeat.”
It was a marked difference from the message that the president and his senior aides sent in the first days of the war when they sought to deflect the charge that Mr. Trump was entering another endless war in the Middle East by claiming it would last weeks, not months.
Democrats peppered Mr. Hegseth with questions about why the Trump administration had brought the fight to Iran when a majority of Americans disapproved of the war.
“We can try and tell the American people that it’s going great and we’re killing it,” said Senator Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan. “But until the Strait of Hormuz is open, I don’t think we can credibly say that with any seriousness.”
But Mr. Hegseth replied with hostility.
“It’s defeatist Democrats like you that cloud the mind of the American people and would otherwise fully support preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” he said, pointing his finger at Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, as he responded to sharp questioning.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the panel, intervened at one point to urge the defense secretary to answer the questions from his colleagues.
Mr. Hegseth’s demeanor contrasted with that of Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who testified alongside him.
“I apologize,” General Caine said at one point when he briefly spoke over a Democratic senator. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
