As part of his effort to confront Iraq, President Bush asked Congress to give him authority to wage war at his discretion. It was a highly unusual request, because Congress is given the power to declare war in the constitution and Bush had not publicly declared war was necessary or even shown Iraq to be an imminent threat. Progressives disagreed with both the resolution granting war powers to the president and the war itself. Levin (D-MI) proposed an amendment to the resolution that would require the president to go through the U.N.: authority for war would follow from Iraqi noncompliance with a U.N. resolution, and a separate grant of authority would be required if the president wanted to go it alone. Progressives supported this as a sensible alternative to an unlimited grant of authority. However, Levin's amendment failed, 24-75.