When Donald Trump announced an extension of the ceasefire with Iran on Wednesday, the US President did not provide a deadline for the resumption of talks, simply saying the US would continue its near-one-week blockade on Tehran and wait for Iran’s “proposal” for further talks.But he has another deadline to worry about – one coming up at home in the US Congress.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listTrump has until May 1 to obtain congressional approval under the War Powers Resolution (sometimes referred to as the War Powers Act). It states that he must limit deployments in any ongoing conflict after 60 days – unless he is granted specific authorisation to continue.To grant this, both the House of Representatives and the Senate must pass a joint resolution – with a simple majority in each – within that 60-day limit. That’s not happened so far.However, the act has previously been bypassed by Trump’s predecessors, who used other sources of authority as a basis for conducting military operations.What is the War Powers Act?The 1973 federal law was passed to restrict a US president’s authority to involve the country in armed conflict overseas.Under the resolution, the president must inform Congress within 48 hours of initiating military action and may sustain deployments for only 60 days, unless a single 30-day extension is granted by Congress, or it passes authorisation for a long …
