When President Bush decided to confront Iraq, he asked for an unprecedented grant of authority: the power to wage war without further approval from Congress. The constitution grants Congress the power to declare war; Bush wanted a congressional resolution that would give him the power to wage war even though he had not publicly declared war was necessary nor even shown Iraq to be an imminent threat. There were some minor restrictions--he had to report to Congress no less than 48 hours after action had begun that diplomatic options had been exhausted, and he was required to submit a progress report to Congress every 60 days--but the move was essentially an attempt to remove Congress from further consultation on Iraq. Progressives felt both the war and this transfer of power were unjustified, and opposed the resolution. The resolution passed by a large margin, 77-23, and the president was granted his new powers.