Senate Republicans block Iran war powers resolution by a single vote as four GOP senators defect

The Senate voted down a war powers resolution to end the U.S. war with Iran 49-50 on Thursday. The resolution would have directed President Donald Trump to remove U.S. troops from hostilities in Iran unless Congress explicitly approves the war.

The conflict has killed 19 American service members and injured more than 750. The war passed the 200-day mark. Trump ordered the attack at the end of February in conjunction with Israel, launching a military campaign whose political and economic toll has only deepened as the months have worn on. The measure had passed the House. The timing is disputed. One account places the House vote last week; another places it in July. Either way, the resolution reached the Senate floor as the American death toll and the war’s economic damage mounted, with senators facing just a 50-vote threshold to clear the chamber.

Four Republicans break ranks, one Democrat crosses over

Four Republicans broke ranks. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted for the resolution. Democratic senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against it. He crossed over alone. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose vote was key to passage of a resolution in June, voted no, as did Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who is facing a tough re-election contest. Sullivan framed his opposition around troops in contact rather than political calculation. “The war powers vote is about removing American forces from the region, and when there are troops in contact, I don’t believe in doing it,” he said. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, did not vote due to an urgent family matter, according to her spokesperson, and she has previously voted 13 times to end the war in Iran. Even if Alsobrooks had voted in favor, the resolution still would have failed.

The measure was a concurrent resolution that did not carry the force of law and is never signed by the president, making the vote largely symbolic even if it had passed. The White House has ignored the previously passed June resolution, arguing the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, and the administration has blown through timelines to seek congressional approval for the conflict. Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who has led the war powers push, said: “The president right now is in violation of the Constitution and the War Powers Act and the concurrent resolution that we’ve already passed.”

Gas prices and midterm pressure

A congressional budget office report estimated the war cost nearly $40bn in its first four months, and higher petrol prices have cost American households about $900 each since the war began. Gas prices average $4.48 per gallon nationwide, according to AAA. Runaway diesel prices are stressing farmers and truckers, alarming midwestern Republicans who have begun to distance themselves from the White House and call for an end to the war. Republicans could lose control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections less than six weeks away, and lawmakers are set to hit the campaign trail for nearly all of October.

Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, acknowledged the messaging challenge facing his party as voters grow anxious about prices at the pump and the cost of a prolonged conflict. “There are a lot of good things we can talk about; the problem is what you did for me recently doesn’t even hardly count,” he said. “The other thing that we get to talk about ... is that at least we’re not socialists.” Kaine was blunt. “We’re going to keep doing them every week because we see Republican candidates out in the field now starting to change their position,” he said. Schumer and Kim forced the vote under the War Powers Resolution, and Kim, a former State Department official who served in the Middle East, brought that perspective to the floor. “Democrats have taken action. We’ve come to this chamber 11 times in the past 208 days to try to bring this war to an end,” Kim said.