type: timeline_event
On March 9, 2026, a group of Senate Democrats escalated their opposition to the Trump administration's undeclared war on Iran by announcing they would force a series of repeated War Powers Act votes unless Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed to testify publicly before Senate committees. The effort was led by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The Democrats demanded that Hegseth appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee and Rubio appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to answer questions about the expected duration of the conflict, its cost to American taxpayers, the absence of a clear endgame, the lack of transparent rules of engagement, and growing civilian casualties in Iran -- including the deaths of more than 170 people (mostly children) in what was widely attributed to a U.S. strike on a girls' school in Minab, Iran.
Senator Murphy separately announced he would use procedural tools to stall Senate business until Republicans agreed to hold public hearings on the war, warning that Congress was abdicating its constitutional war-making authority.
This pressure campaign came after the Senate had already voted down a War Powers Resolution on approximately March 4, with the motion failing 47-53, largely along party lines, with only Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) crossing the aisle to support Democratic efforts and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting with Republicans against it. The House had separately rejected a similar resolution 212-219 on approximately March 5.
The refusal of Hegseth and Rubio to appear voluntarily before Congress exemplified a broader pattern of executive branch stonewalling on the war's legality and strategic rationale, with the Trump administration maintaining that existing legal authorities -- including prior AUMFs and the president's Article II powers -- provided sufficient authorization for the campaign.