On Wednesday, Republican senators thwarted a Democratic effort to curb President Trump’s military powers concerning Iran, following a deadly strike by the U.S. and Israel that resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several top officials.
The Senate voted 53-47 against a resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in January, with backing from Republican Senator Rand Paul (Ky.). This resolution aimed to mandate the president to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces engaged in hostilities against Iran unless Congress gave explicit approval for further military action.
In a notable deviation, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) broke ranks with his Democratic colleagues by opposing the resolution, while Senator Rand Paul was the sole Republican supporter.
The proposal included provisions for the U.S. to continue defending its personnel and facilities, as well as to maintain supportive, non-offensive operations with Israel. Additionally, it reinforced the principle that “Congress has the sole power to declare war.”
“I believe it’s crucial to have every member of Congress on record regarding this matter,” Kaine stated to reporters before the vote. “If you lack the courage to cast a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote on a war decision, how can you justify sending our sons and daughters into conflict where their lives are at risk?”
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 allows any U.S. lawmaker to trigger a vote to withdraw military forces from a conflict or to halt airstrikes within a timeframe of 60 to 90 days.
“Senate Republicans once again failed to hold Trump accountable. Today’s vote sends us down a dangerous path into a potentially endless war,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) fumed on X after the vote.
“The American people don’t want this war. Trump has no plan,” Kim argued.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) countered that Trump properly notified Congress of the Iran operation and has earned the trust of lawmakers.
“Barack Obama dropped 26,000 bombs in at least 7 countries in 2016 without a word from Congress,” Mullin wrote on X, ahead of the vote. “I won’t hamstring President Trump. Unlike many before him,
[Trump] is the ‘peace through strength’ President.
“He has earned our trust just 4.5 days into this mission.”
The vote comes as the House is also deliberating over other war powers resolutions — including one led by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would either give the president enough time to remove US forces or give Congress the chance to authorize the military conflict.
An alternative resolution slated for a House vote Thursday from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) would be more risky and force a quick withdrawal “when we have thousands of troops in the region,” according to former Biden administration senior diplomatic adviser Amos Hochstein.
“Even when you disagree with the president about the war,” Hochstein told The Post Wednesday, “you have to recognize where you are right now. … You can’t just shut off operations.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the United States’ airstrikes on Iran:
“If Democratic members want to make the point that this war never should have started and should end without congressional authorization,” he added, those lawmakers should back “a responsible bill … that could potentially actually pass.”
Former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro explained that “there are two arguments for the Gottheimer resolution.”
“One is that it allows Congress to impose constraints on the operation in Iran, but provides enough time for the operation to wind down safely, without putting U.S. troops at risk,” Shapiro told The Post. “That will appeal to some Members.”
The second is that, if the Massie-Khanna resolution fails, this resolution might win some votes from Republican members who also have concerns about the war getting out of control,” Shapiro added. “That means, if Democrats stick together, it has a chance to pass and be more than messaging bill.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the staunchest defender of Trump’s actions in the Middle East, spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday about the scores of military actions taken by past presidents without a vote of Congress.
Opposition to the resolution from Fetterman and Paul meant Democrats needed at least four more Republicans to help pass it.
Five Republicans had previously advanced a similar war powers resolution in the Senate to bar further US military action in Venezuela.
Two of those GOP senators — Todd Young of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri — flipped on the final vote, however, with Vice President JD Vance ultimately breaking a tie to tank the measure.
The others — Paul, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — joined the Democrats.
Both Young and Hawley did not support this most recent resolution.
“The United States and our allies are now in conflict with a brutal, hostile, and dangerous regime,” Young said. “I believe that danger will only grow if we limit the President’s military options at this critical moment.”
Operation Epic Fury began early in the morning on Feb. 28 with a barrage of US airstrikes on the Ayatollah’s compound in Tehran and other sites across the Middle East nation, prompting retaliatory attacks from Iran against Israel and US military bases in Gulf states.
Trump told The Post he greenlighted the military strikes “after the final talks” between his envoys and Iranian officials in Geneva gave no indication Tehran would curtail its ambitions to build a nuclear weapon. The president has also noted Iran’s attempts to assassinate him and its killings of US service members.
Since then, Trump has suggested the attacks on Iran could last as long as four weeks or be far shorter, indicating as recently as Monday that a much larger show of American military might was in the offing.
At least six US service members have been killed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) already told reporters Tuesday that his conference has the votes to defeat the Massie-Khanna resolution.
Johnson said he opposed the resolution because it “would be a very dangerous thing” to strip the president of powers needed during an unpredictable conflict.
“Imagine a scenario where Congress would vote to tell the commander-in-chief that he was no longer allowed to complete this mission,” he said.
The other version of the war powers resolution would give Trump a 30-day off ramp to end hostilities and withdraw all forces — as opposed to the more abrupt timeline of the Khanna-Massie resolution.
“They don’t need authorization to do what they’ve already done,” Hochstein noted. “This is, ‘What are you going to do and what is the metric by which you will stop?’”
“It’s not like Iraq because this is not a ground operation. I think also the scale of what we’re doing in Iran right now is also fairly unprecedented,” he added.
The resolution has been backed by Reps. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) — but it’s unclear whether Republicans will support it.
For any of them to take effect, the resolutions would have to pass both chambers of Congress and be veto-proofed by a two-thirds majority.
