After the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, Wisconsin federal lawmakers’ reactions were divided along party lines.

Republicans praised the strikes as a necessary step and said they were within the bounds of presidential authority. Meanwhile, Democrats criticized President Donald Trump for ordering the strikes without approval from Congress and said they risked creating a wider conflict.

In an interview Sunday on FOX News, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Trump had been clear that Iran could not become a nuclear power.

“They were getting too close. They simply would not listen to him. They wouldn’t give it up,” he said.

He expressed disbelief that “anybody could have been surprised at this,” arguing the president had “telegraphed” his intentions.

Johnson said the U.S. was “not at war with the Iranian people.”

“I hope they take this opportunity of the regime’s weakness to rise up and establish a more democrat, Western-leaning, prosperous Iran,” he said.

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin argued that diplomacy, not war, was the way to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons.

“I have been clear-eyed that Iran is a threat to the safety of people across the world and cannot have a nuclear weapon,” she wrote in a statement Sunday.

That was why, she wrote, she supported former President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal. She claimed Trump’s withdrawal from it “got us into this whole situation.”

“We should be learning lessons from our war in Iraq and what it means to engulf us in a conflict across the globe,” she wrote. “I did not support that war, and I don’t support this one.”

House Republicans back Trump, Democrats back checks on presidential powers

Reactions were similar among Wisconsin’s U.S. House delegation, which is split between six Republicans and two Democrats.

U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Clyman, called diplomacy “our preferred path,” but argued Trump’s actions will “prevent a far greater conflict down the road.”

“Now is the time for Iran to reassess its path and choose negotiation over provocation,” the 5th Congressional District representative wrote in a statement Saturday.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, characterized the strikes differently.

She said Trump was “putting American lives in jeopardy and choosing to escalate in a region already on edge.”

“Rest assured, no one is sleeping safer or more secure because of the unfolding attacks,” she wrote on social media site X.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, blamed “weak” previous Democratic administrations for emboldening Iran.

“I fully support President Trump’s actions to defend our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, and send a clear message to our adversaries that America does not tolerate nuclear intimidation,” he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, said Iran’s leadership bore blame.

“Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has squandered our good-faith efforts to negotiate for nuclear disarmament and left the US with few options other than to destroy Iran’s ability to have a nuclear weapon,” he wrote on X Monday.

Axios reported Trump was willing to meet Iran’s president in Turkey as recently as last week, but the Iranian side couldn’t reach Khamenei to greenlight the meeting.

“Iran’s rulers have been vowing ‘Death to America’ for decades,” wrote U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in a statement. “President Trump understands that peace is achieved through strength, and strength means preventing a nuclear Iran.”

U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, reposted an American flag shared by Trump and echoed the president’s “peace through strength” motto. But he also wrote that “now is the time for peace and an end to endless wars.”

Also writing on X, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from the Town of Vermont west of Madison, urged Congress to pass a recently-introduced bill that orders the president to seek congressional authorization before military action in Iran.

The bill was written by Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative libertarian from Kentucky who frequently clashes with Trump. It’s cosponsored by 43 Democrats, including Moore and Pocan.

“Hot take: war is bad,” Pocan also posted Monday.

The office of U.S. Rep. Grothman, R-Glenbeulah, did not respond to a request for comment, and as of Monday afternoon, Grothman had not shared a reaction to the attack on his social media accounts.

President Donald Trump and Republicans in the House and Senate on Thursday finally ended California’s outsized authority to dictate national emissions standards for new cars, trucks, RVs and engines. 

This win is another step toward rebuilding American manufacturing strength. 

The EPA, under President Joe Biden, granted California exemption waivers to the Clean Air Act, handing California the keys to set their own extreme emissions regulations – including the requirement that nearly all vehicles sold in the state must be electric by 2035.  

Knowing that the people’s representatives in Congress would reject their most extreme policies, the Biden administration had to rely on these workarounds to push their Green New Scam agenda. 

CALIFORNIA’S GREEN NEW SCAM COULD COST YOU $20,000

Biden’s Clean Air Act waiver allowed other states to follow California’s lead, creating a patchwork of misguided rules. More than a dozen states and D.C. follow California’s standards, drastically changing the dynamics of America’s critical auto and RV manufacturing industry without Congress having a say. 

In practice, this means California effectively set the standards for the automotive industry, and most Americans have been forced to live under a regulatory framework that none of our representatives ever voted on. 

This ends now. Rep. Yakym, R-Ind., along with House Republicans, took action to end this power grab, passing three disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the EPA waivers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., shepherded these three measures through the Senate, which today earned President Trump’s signature.

Republicans across the country knew there was no time to waste. Beginning this year, California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulations would have started requiring new heavy-duty vehicles, such as trucks and RVs, to be zero-emission. This regulation threatened the RV supply chain by limiting the availability of chassis for motor homes.

THE PREDICTABLE OUTCOME OF CALIFORNIA’S GREEN ENERGY POLICIES HAS ARRIVED AND IT’S A DISASTER

Eleven states and D.C. adopted this mandate, which impacts 25% of the heavy-duty vehicle market in the United States, essentially making it the new national standard. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Hoosier State, especially Indiana’s Second District, home to Rep. Yakym and the RV Capital of the World, where nearly 90% of America’s RVs are built. This industry directly supports more than 60,000 Hoosier jobs, pays over $4.3 billion in wages, and generates a total economic output of $22 billion across the state. 

RV production is also critical to many other states which is why 13 Democrats joined Republicans in the bipartisan, commonsense vote against the Biden EPA’s RV waiver. 

Reversing California’s emissions power grab is essential to RV, automotive and engine manufacturing industries in the state of Indiana and across America. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

The Clean Air Act was never intended to effectively give one state the power to dictate emissions standards for entire industries across the country. Congress prohibited states from establishing separate vehicle and engine regulations except under “compelling and extraordinary conditions” that apply specifically to that state. 

We’ve seen this before. As a U.S. senator, Gov. Braun used the Congressional Review Act to stop Biden’s vaccine mandate for private businesses, a fight that ended with the Supreme Court striking it down. The CRA exists for moments like this, an expedited option to rein in the executive branch, reverse unnecessary red tape and prohibit substantially similar EPA actions in the future.

Hardworking Hoosiers shouldn’t have to bear the weight of federal overreach. National rules should be set by the people’s elected representatives, not by unelected regulators or one state’s agenda. 

Ending this EPA-California backroom deal will protect American jobs, unlock our full manufacturing potential, and ensure the shift to electric vehicles is driven by innovation and consumer choice, not bureaucrats in Washington or Los Angeles.

We applaud Republicans in the House and Senate and President Trump for taking a strong stand against the previous administration’s Green New Deal overreach. The result will be stronger American manufacturing of cars, trucks, RVs and engines. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM MIKE BRAUN

Rep. Rudy Yakym, a Republican, represents Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District.