The Pentagon supplemental request was cut from $200 billion to an expected $80 to $100 billion, and the GOP (Republican Party) still lacks the votes to pass it. No congressional war authorisation exists; The Administration operates under executive authority alone, with zero Iran-related executive orders across 42 days. No vote has been scheduled.
Senator Lindsey Graham has insisted Congress must approve any final deal, echoing the precedent that constrained the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). The 2015 deal was not a treaty and required no Senate ratification, but congressional opposition effectively tied Obama's hands and led to the deal's collapse under Trump in 2018. A Graham-led resolution requiring congressional approval of any Iran deal would give the Senate a formal veto.
The combination of no war authorisation, no supplemental votes, and a threatened congressional review creates a domestic political environment that constrains the Islamabad delegation regardless of what Vance agrees to. The war's domestic political price, not its military cost, is now the binding constraint on US negotiating flexibility.
