The Senate voted to strip President Trump of unilateral power to wage war against Iran, a striking show of congressional defiance that exposed fractures within the Republican caucus on a conflict that has turned toxic with voters.
The resolution passed 50-48, with four Republicans crossing party lines to join Democrats in backing the measure. Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Rand Paul of Kentucky provided the margin for passage. One Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against it.
The measure requires the president to obtain congressional authorization before continuing military operations against Iran. It arrived after Trump sent Vice President JD Vance to Switzerland to negotiate an end to hostilities that began in February, shortly after the US joined Israel in the conflict.
Trump and his allies have already signaled they view the War Powers Act, the 1973 law under which the resolution was passed, as unconstitutional. The president does not need to sign the measure for it to take effect. Still, the Senate's passage marks a watershed moment: Republicans have grown visibly restless about a war that polling shows has become deeply unpopular before the November midterm elections.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found only 23 percent of Americans believed the country was stronger because of the Iran conflict. Nearly two-thirds of respondents expressed doubt that any ceasefire with Tehran would hold.
The resolution cleared the Senate partly due to Republican absences. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was hospitalized last week, did not cast votes. Both have opposed previous war powers resolutions that Democrats have regularly forced to a vote since the Iran hostilities began.
Democratic leaders seized on the moment to attack the administration's foreign policy record. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Iran campaign "a historic blunder" that would be remembered as "one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made, or any country has ever made." He cited surging gas prices, rising inflation, and 13 American service members killed in action, along with hundreds more wounded.
Greg Meeks, a New York Democrat and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who sponsored the resolution, vowed to pursue "all legal avenues" to enforce congressional will. "Congress never authorized this failed war, and the president certainly has no authority to continue it indefinitely without our consent as the constitution demands," Meeks said.
The House had already passed its version of the measure earlier this month. That Democrats could secure Republican votes in the Senate signaled genuine unease on the right about the war's trajectory and public sentiment heading into crucial midterm races.
Author James Rodriguez: "Four Republicans putting country over party on this vote sends a clear signal that Iran is becoming a political liability, not an asset."
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