House lawmakers have voted to curtail President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran without approval from Congress, passing a war powers resolution aimed at bringing the conflict to an end.
The measure passed late Tuesday by a vote of 220-204. The outcome resembled previous attempts made this summer, although a slightly larger group of Republicans joined every voting Democrat in supporting the resolution.
Like the earlier measures, the resolution has not reached the president’s desk. Trump would be widely expected to veto it if it does.
Rep. Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts and a former Marine who served in Iraq, championed the effort while challenging Trump’s earlier prediction that the war would be over within weeks.
Moulton argued that lawmakers must begin pressing the administration with difficult questions, as required by the Constitution, instead of remaining “subservient to another warmongering administration.”
Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pushed back by asking which American military assets Democrats would withdraw from the region, where he said Iran continues to pose a serious threat.
Mast said Trump opposes “forever wars” and maintained that the president is working to end the decades of conflict involving Iran.
“They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States,” Mast said. “Enough is enough.”
House lawmakers have backed a war powers resolution intended to end the Iran conflict and prevent President Donald Trump from continuing military action without congressional authorization.
The resolution would require President Donald Trump to withdraw US forces from further hostilities against Iran unless Congress grants explicit authorization, with an exception for actions needed to protect the United States, an ally or partner from an “imminent attack.”
Trump has continued to publicly support the Iran campaign, while War Secretary Pete Hegseth faces a new challenge from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has filed articles of impeachment alleging that Hegseth unlawfully continued the military operation.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 provides Congress with a way to restrict a president’s use of military force without congressional authorization.
The vote may be the House’s final action on the Iran war before the midterm elections, as the overseas conflict becomes an increasingly important issue in political campaigns.
Trump launched the war on February 28. Nearly seven months later, intermittent and deadly missile exchanges have continued, creating widespread turmoil across the region.
Even before the vote began, Rep. Thomas Massie read articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the House floor, placing the secretary’s conduct during the Iran war at the center of the debate over whether Congress should invoke the War Powers Resolution.
He accused Hegseth of unlawfully continuing US military action against Iran without proper authorization from Congress.
Massie’s move could force House Republicans into an uncomfortable showdown over Hegseth’s conduct, although impeachment itself is far from certain.
The Kentucky congressman filed the measure as a privileged resolution, meaning the House must take it up within two legislative days, setting the stage for a potentially explosive vote.
And Massie did not give his party a heads-up that he was doing this, according to Axios.
But before voting began on Tuesday for H. Con. Res. 93, Representative Thomas Massie read aloud articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the House floor
Massie has been one of the most outspoken Republican critics of the Iran war and of Trump’s use of military force without congressional authorization
Massie has been one of the most outspoken Republican critics of the Iran war and of Trump’s use of military force without congressional authorization.
In July, he said the Iran war had ‘significantly weakened’ the United States, and in 2025 he introduced his own bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna.
The vote on Tuesday comes after the House already passed two similar Iran War Powers resolutions this year, with a small group of Republicans joining Democrats both times.
In June, the House passed H. Con. Res. 86 by 215-208, with four Republicans breaking with their party to support it.
Those Republicans were Representatives Tom Barrett, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie.
On July 23, the same four Republicans again voted with Democrats as the House passed H. Con. Res. 89 by 214-208.
The House Clerk’s official tally shows four Republicans voting yes and 207 Republicans voting no.
The July vote marked the second time the House had successfully approved an Iran War Powers resolution.
In the previous House actions, four Republicans voted to halt the war in Iran, but that number rose to seven in Tuesday’s war powers vote, including GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zachary Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
They joined GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky voting in favor of the war powers resolution, with all Democrats.
Fitzpatrick has argued that his support is rooted in congressional authority rather than opposition to US military action against Iran.
American motorists have been hammered by soaring fuel costs as the Iran war disrupts global oil supplies, with regular gas smashing through $5.00/gallon. Pictured, Chicago on Monday
After voting for an earlier resolution in May, Fitzpatrick said the United States was safer after Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been degraded but argued that the country was also a nation governed by the rule of law.
He said the War Powers Act requires conflicts lasting more than 60 days to come before Congress and said lawmakers had to follow the law as written.
Fitzpatrick had also introduced his own War Powers legislation back in April designed to comply with the 1973 law while allowing more time for cease-fire negotiations.
Barrett also has a similar view.
After voting for the June resolution, the Michigan Republican said ‘Congress has the exclusive authority under the Constitution to declare war and authorize the use of force.’
He argued that the War Powers Act had given the president temporary authority that had expired and that Congress should decide the scope and limits of the Iran mission.
Barrett has also proposed his own authorization for use of military force, which would establish specific objectives for the Iran operation, prohibit an occupation or nation-building in Iran and impose reporting requirements and a deadline on the conflict.
Massie and Davidson have also voted for both House Iran War Powers resolutions.
The conflict has also disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, pictured, the crucial waterway linking the Persian Gulf to global markets and normally carrying roughly a fifth of the world’s petroleum liquids consumption, putting further pressure on energy prices
Last week Trump said he expects the war to end immediately after the November midterm elections, while reports have indicated that some of his senior advisers privately warned the conflict could continue much longer.
Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration’s military action remain a longshot so long as the president is able to fend off or veto the measures.
While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander in chief to engage in some military actions.
The War Powers Act, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, sought to put a more specific time limit on the president’s power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.
Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.
Voters are confronting high prices, particularly for gas at the pumps, as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil resources through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the war has cost more than $380 billion as of August 1, and is projected to be costing between $2 billion and $3 billion monthly, depending on the intensity of the fighting.
The budget office projected inflation will be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected heading into 2027 due to the war.
House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday the need to bring gas prices down.
But the Republican speaker said he believes the Iran conflict is entering a ‘new phase’ as allies step up to help stabilize the region. When that happens, he said, ‘you´re going to see, as the president said, anytime gas prices will go down again, the cost of groceries will as well.’
Johnson said Trump expects the shift after the election, and the speaker added, ‘I’d love it to happen today.’
Trump himself had promised not to involve the US in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate.
Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.
