Senate Republicans are calling on the Trump administration to clarify how it is interpreting the 60-day clock under the War Powers Act in its military campaign against Iran.

Why it matters: The 60-day deadline, depending on who's counting, is arriving on requiring the president to seek authorization or wind down operations. The first strikes against Iran were on Feb. 28.

But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a different view during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggesting the clock can "pause or stop" during a ceasefire.

Zoom in: Republicans, including some who have flirted with supporting a war powers resolution, appeared open to Hegseth's interpretation.

"It sounds like there's some wiggle room he provided there for himself," Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters. "We'll take a look at whatever they send over."
"Presumably, they will communicate that in a formal way," Young added. "They have, in a very careful way, followed the War Powers Act so far."
"I imagine the administration will send us some sort of formal notification saying, 'Here's where we think we are under the War Powers,'" Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. "Either we want 30 more days, or we don't think we need additional time because of X, Y, Z."

The other side: Democrats sharply rejected Hegseth's argument.

"A ceasefire means bombs aren't dropping," Sen. Tim Kaine ((D-Va.) said. "It doesn't mean there are no hostilities. If we're using the U.S. military to blockade everything going into and out of Iran, that's still hostility."
"That answer showed they know they've got a 60-day problem, and they're trying to come up with a rationale to get around it," Kaine added.

The intrigue: The Iran 60-day debate has echoes of a clash between Congress and the White House during the Libya conflict in 2011.

As the 60-day deadline approached, then-President Obama argued that U.S. involvement—providing intelligence, refueling allied aircraft —did not rise to the level of "hostilities" under the War Powers Act.
Republicans howled.
"We're part of an effort to drop bombs on Qaddafi's compounds," then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told the New York Times. "It just doesn't pass the straight-face test, in my view, that we're not in the midst of hostilities."

The bottom line: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the committee chairman, said he has "not been too concerned" about the 60-day deadline.