John Curtis, the Republican junior Senator for Utah, was named on Saturday 25 April as the third Republican backer of Lisa Murkowski's draft Iran AUMF, joining Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina1. AUMF stands for authorization for use of military force, the legal instrument by which Congress authorises a President to use armed force; the last Iran-specific authorisation predates the current administration. Murkowski is the senior Republican Senator for Alaska and has drafted the text but not filed it.
Counting Rand Paul of Kentucky, who voted to advance the fifth War Powers Resolution on Wednesday 22 April when it failed 46-51, four Republicans are now publicly willing to vote against The Administration's "winding down" framing. Cloture in the Senate requires 60 votes; a four-Republican bloc is well short of that floor but enough to embarrass The Administration on a procedural vote. Murkowski told Jewish Insider "we've been having some good conversations, and we're going to continue them"2.
The AUMF has not been formally introduced; there is no committee referral and no markup date. Five days separate today from the 1 May statutory War Powers deadline. If Murkowski had wanted floor action before that clock ran out, she would have moved the text by now. The most parsimonious reading is that the sponsor expects the deadline to pass without action and is positioning Republican senators for the post-deadline politics. The opposite reading is that the bloc is being assembled in case Trump signs an AUMF himself rather than face an unauthorised war past 1 May. Either reading requires signed paper to test, and there is none.
