WASHINGTON — As Congress prepared to vote on whether to rein in the American assault on Iran, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined Pennsylvania Republicans in continuing to enthusiastically support the military effort while other Democrats railed against what they said was an increasingly dangerous and unnecessary war.

Fetterman has spent the days since the onset of the attacks repeatedly praising President Donald Trump’s decision to intervene — becoming, as he similarly was after the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the only Senate Democrat to do so.

But unlike in the aftermath of Maduro’s ouster in January, Fetterman has said he will not support a Democrat-led resolution aimed at limiting the president’s authority to keep going.

“It’s not necessary,” he said in one of several Fox News interviews since Saturday. “It’s really an empty gesture.”

The war powers resolution, set for a vote in the Senate as soon as Wednesday, calls for the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities in or against Iran unless authorized by Congress.

Warning of another potentially prolonged U.S. presence in the Middle East, most Democrats and some Republicans have said Trump acted illegally to begin a war without lawmakers’ approval. They’ve also said the administration has not provided evidence that the actions prevented imminent threats to Americans — or that ground troops won’t still be deployed.

“They’re not telling the truth,” U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, said Monday on CNN.

Deluzio, a Navy veteran who served in Iraq, repeatedly called the latest conflict “unnecessary.” He said the administration has not clearly laid out its objectives or refused to send American troops on the ground at the same time as some Americans had already been killed.

“Their argument that there was an imminent threat of nuclear attack on the American people is bogus on its face. We know the Iranians don't have that capacity,” Deluzio said in the television interview. “They presented nothing to the American people or the Congress to say that they do. And again, they're asking other people's kids to go fight and bleed and die, and there already are dead Americans from this.”

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, has also highlighted the casualties so far. She wrote on social media that children and American troops who were reportedly killed over the weekend were “the real cost of this dangerous and illegal conflict.”

“This is an insanely unpopular, dangerous, and illegal act of war,” she said in another statement. “Congress must pass a War Powers Resolution immediately and hold this lawless president accountable.”

Fetterman and Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick have argued Trump acted within his constitutional authority, though they’ve described the level of threat slightly differently.

Pressed by Dana Bash of CNN on Sunday, Fetterman said Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons was a threat that, while “not imminent,” was “entirely appropriate” to address with military action.

Speaking on Monday night to Fox News host Sean Hannity — who, in another interview over the weekend, said he and Fetterman had been texting back and forth in the early morning hours after the initial attack — Fetterman also argued that previous sanctions, treaties and negotiations hadn’t been effective.

“If you want real peace, tweets and harsh language isn't going to work,” he said, adding that he was “just baffled” why people “can’t just celebrate” the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the Iranian regime.

McCormick, an Army veteran who served in Iraq during the Gulf War, said in a CBS interview two days before the strike that Iran posed “significant military risk.” He didn’t directly answer a question about whether the American military should be used, and he said he wasn’t sure if such a decision from the administration was “imminent.”

In several television appearances directly after the attack began, he repeatedly defended the use of force.

“This is absolutely justified,” he said Sunday on Fox News, citing Iran’s decades-long history of aggression and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. “This is an imminent threat to Americans around the region and around the world.”

While Trump has said he would send troops into Iran if necessary, McCormick also said he did not believe there was “any likelihood of American boots on the ground.”

“I'm someone who looks at those 20 years of war in Iraq. You can't, as an American, not have been scarred by that and worry about entanglement,” he said. “But I've got a lot of confidence that the president sees that, knows that.”

Multiple public polls since Saturday show the majority of Americans do not support the strikes. About six in 10 Americans disapprove, according to a CNN poll, while a Washington Post survey found 52% felt the same. Only a quarter of people responding to a Reuters/Ipsos poll said they approved.

“Folks at home want cheaper health care, cheaper housing,” Deluzio said on CNN. "They don't want billions spent on unnecessary wars overseas and Americans coming home in flag-draped caskets. It's not what people voted for. It’s certainly not what I'm going to be voting to do when we get back to session this week Congress.”

Votes on the Democratic-sponsored war powers resolution are likely to come up short as most Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, voice their support for the attacks. It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether any other Senate Democrats would join Fetterman in opposing the resolution.

The Democrat from Braddock has often admonished his colleagues for bringing up votes that are set to fail, and he’s broken with his party in other high-profile moments in ways that have frustrated his supporters.

In January, Fetterman mocked some of his colleagues’ concerns that the U.S. would be pulled into a prolonged occupation in Venezuela — at one point telling them to “stop comparing everything to Iraq.” He ultimately voted with Democrats and five Republicans to advance a war powers resolution after saying he would not support a “full-on invasion.”

Taking a more forceful tone after Saturday’s attacks, he has celebrated the reported killing of dozens of “garbage” Iranian leaders — “Love it,” he posted on X — and said he would vote against the resolution despite what other Democrats are saying.

“Country over party,” he said, echoing a favorite phrase on Fox News. “What the base demands means nothing to me.”

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