Congress Has Held Zero Public Hearings on the Iran War. They Left for Recess.

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The United States has been at war with Iran since February 28, 2026. As of today, the Republican-controlled Congress has not held a single public hearing on that war. Not one. The House Armed Services Committee — nothing. The Senate Armed Services Committee — nothing. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee — nothing. Zero. The GOP chairs of every committee with jurisdiction over national security have each said they have no near-term plans to schedule public hearings. Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters: "We're going to conduct generous oversight, thorough oversight" — and then did not schedule a single hearing.

Meanwhile, the numbers: at least 2,076 people killed in Iran since February 28. More than 520 US troops wounded. At least 15 US service members dead. Gas at $4.11 per gallon — the highest since 2022. The war is costing an estimated $1 billion per day. The administration has floated a supplemental funding request that could reach $200 billion. Congress has voted on zero of it. They've been asked to fund nothing, debate nothing, and authorize nothing — because the administration hasn't submitted a supplemental spending request, and Republicans haven't demanded one.

What They've Done Instead

Senate Republicans have blocked every single war powers resolution Democrats have put forward — multiple votes, each one rejected along party lines. When Democrats threatened to force a vote per week until hearings were scheduled, Majority Leader John Thune said he didn't understand what Democrats' objective would be "other than to try and find some way to embarrass them." That is the Senate Majority Leader's stated explanation for why Congress should not publicly question a war his party's president started without a vote.

The classified briefings that have occurred haven't exactly inspired confidence either. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana — a Republican, chair of a powerful appropriations subcommittee — exited a classified briefing last month "fuming" that it had been a "total waste of time" because officials weren't able to provide answers that only Cabinet-level officials could give. The solution to that, apparently, was not to summon Cabinet officials. The solution was for Thune to point to press conferences.

Punchbowl News reported this week that Congress has been "a mere bystander in this conflict" and noted that not a single public congressional hearing has been held since the war began February 28. Congress was always relying on a supplemental spending bill as a pressure point — leverage to demand strategy and accountability from the administration. But the Pentagon hasn't submitted one, and Republican leadership hasn't forced it to. Speaker Mike Johnson, asked about the war this week, said the mission is "all but complete" and that the Strait of Hormuz closure is "dragging it out a little bit." He did not announce any hearings.

Then They Left

In the last week of March, with the DHS shutdown surpassing 44 days — the longest partial government shutdown in US history — Congress adjourned for recess. They left. TSA officers were going without pay. Airport lines were catastrophic. The war was consuming $1 billion a day. Gas was above $4. An American crew member was missing inside Iran. Congress went home. One Republican House member, Rep. John Rose of Tennessee, called out his own party: "Not ONE Republican senator went to the floor to put this DHS shutdown exactly where it belongs — on the Democrats. And I presume that's because they fled Washington."

Sen. Chris Murphy said it directly: "We've had no oversight whatsoever over what the executive is doing as we're spending a billion dollars a day, and we have failed to have any real substantive debate or discussion." Murphy and Sen. Tim Kaine have pushed war powers resolutions repeatedly. All blocked. Murphy's assessment of why Republicans won't allow Hegseth and Rubio to testify publicly: "I don't think they have answers for any of that."

This is what congressional abdication looks like. A president started a war without a vote. His party controls both chambers. Neither chamber has exercised any public oversight. There is no formal authorization. There is no supplemental funding bill. There are no hearings scheduled. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. They haven't used it, challenged it, or even asked questions about it in a room the public can see. They just went on recess.