BONUS: The Untouched Power That Could Stop The Iran War

BONUS: The Untouched Power That Could Stop The Iran War

From Master Plan by The Lever & David Sirota

April 30, 2026 · 52 min · Season 2

About this episode

David Sirota discusses the War Powers Resolution and Congress's ability to end the Iran War.

This week, the Iran War will reach its official 60-day mark. That’s a critical deadline under the War Powers Resolution, a Nixon-era law created to limit presidential war-making. Under that law, President Donald Trump can claim a one-time, 30-day extension, so the Iran War will likely continue. But the War Powers Resolution also gives Congress a secret weapon to end this unpopular war — or any war — whenever it wants. So why has Congress never used it? In this special episode, David Sirota tells the wild story of how a Kenyan-born immigrant and a Ralph Nader-aligned lawyer unwittingly expanded the powers of the president — and left Congress believing that it’s powerless to stop unauthorized wars. Note: This bonus episode marks the start of our midseason intermission for Master Plan: The Kingmakers. We’ll be back this summer with the remaining four episodes. Until then, please become a paid subscriber to keep receiving bonus episodes, updates, and more. Visit levernews.com/upgrade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: David Sirota

Topics covered

  • Iran War
  • War Powers Resolution
  • Congress
  • presidential powers
  • political history

Keywords

  • Iran War
  • War Powers Resolution
  • Congress
  • Donald Trump
  • Ralph Nader

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: War Powers Resolution

Places: Kenya

More episodes of Master Plan

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Master Plan podcast page.