WASHINGTON — For the fourteenth time, U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, R-Ala., voted against an Iran war powers resolution Thursday aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s military operation in the Middle Eastern country.
The failed 49-50 vote comes as gas prices in Alabama and around the country have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war and as senators prepare to recess next week to campaign ahead of the midterms.
While Alabama’s senators have acknowledged the pain of high gas prices during the war, they stopped short of bucking the president.
A war powers resolution is mostly a symbolic and political move, as they don’t get sent to the president’s desk after passage. Four Republicans joined most Democrats in support of the war powers resolution while other vulnerable GOP senators opposed the measure despite the war’s unpopularity with Americans.
Tuberville told reporters the war powers resolution votes are simply “messaging” tools and that the chamber is “wasting time” on.
Similarly, Britt said a war powers resolution is not the right approach as they “do not bring an end to a conflict.”
“I think it’s important for us to make sure that we send a message to Iran, that we’re not gonna tolerate them continuing to terrorize Americans and people in the region,” she told Alabama Daily News.
While U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has been leading the Senate’s war power efforts, defended the resolutions and called for a swift end to the war.
“They’re more than symbolic because Congress is the body that has the power to declare war and we’ve declared this is an illegal war,” Kaine told reporters. “The war should end immediately, because it’s illegal and foolish.”
As for bringing an end to the war, Britt said the United States needs to do it in a “responsible way” once America’s job in Iran is finished, including fully opening the Strait of Hormuz.
“I look forward to kind of learning more about what still needs to be done, and the best way to have a resolution,” she told ADN.
Tuberville acknowledged that “we all want the war to come to an end” but added that the United States must ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.
Gas prices
In Alabama, gas prices as of Thursday are at $4.09 per gallon with diesel at $6.15 per gallon, according to AAA. Diesel prices hit a record high in the state this month, reaching nearly $6.16. This time last year, gas prices were about $2.79 with diesel hovering around $3.44.
In comments to CNN earlier this week, Tuberville said Alabamians are willing to pay higher gas prices right now as “they voted for President Trump.” He said Alabamians will “deal with that.”
On Thursday, Tuberville deflected the blame for those high gas prices away from Trump and the Iran war and instead put it on the Biden Administration and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“That really has nothing to do with it,” he told ADN, referring to the Strait of Hormuz. “This is all going to be more and more of a conspiracy theory against this election and President Trump, and unfortunately, the taxpayers have to pay the price for it.”
When asked if there was any role Congress could play in helping lower prices, Tuberville said, “we’ve looked at every scenario, keeping all the diesel in the country, increasing our refineries” but he added that because the government has been an “absolute disaster” during the last 50 years, “there’s nothing we can do.”
Tuberville and Britt were both quick to highlight how gas prices were even higher under the Biden administration. A study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that gas prices have “somewhat” been lower under Trump than Biden, but it also notes recent spikes could change that.
“That doesn’t mean that this isn’t hard now,” Britt told ADN.
While more needs to be done to address the high prices, she said, Britt pointed to a potential deal on permitting reform that could help alleviate some of that pain. But the Senate is unlikely to vote on it before the midterms.
She also hopes to vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act next week, which overwhelmingly passed the House earlier this month. The bill aims to get data center companies to pay the full cost of their electricity use.
The Senate will return to Washington Monday, its last week in session before the midterms, as Republicans hope to show voters they’re taking action on affordability before heading out to campaign.