The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted against a measure aimed at restricting President Donald Trump’s authority to engage militarily with Iran.
Following a forceful military operation over the weekend against Iran, coordinated with Israel, President Trump faced criticism from lawmakers who argued he bypassed Congress in making the decision.
In a 212-219 vote, the proposed War Powers resolution concerning Iran was defeated. Notably, two Republican representatives supported the resolution, while four Democrats opposed it.
The Democrats who voted against the resolution included Henry Cuellar from Texas, Jared Golden from Maine, Greg Landsman from Ohio, and Juan Vargas.
On the other hand, Republican Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson supported the measure.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Massie and California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna. Their initiative sought to assert Congressional oversight on military actions and to caution against unilateral strikes without legislative approval.
Their play came days after a joint US/Israeli operation was launched under President Donald Trump’s leadership on Saturday to take out top Iranian military targets.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson argued that the ‘passage of a War Powers resolution right now would be a terrible, dangerous idea.’
Thomas Massie speaks during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC
Ro Khanna speaks at a town hall event on February 20, 2026 in Stanford, California
The Senate previously failed its own war powers resolution on Wednesday with a vote of 47 to 53. It needed a simple majority to pass. Democrat John Fetterman voted against the resolution, and Republican Rand Paul voted for it.
A new Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll found the President’s approval now stands at 44 percent, down four points since Friday and marking the lowest rating recorded in Daily Mail tracking to date.
The sharp decline comes as Americans grow increasingly uneasy about the spiraling conflict tearing apart the Middle East after six American troops were killed.
The Senate War Powers measure was pushed by Democratic Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California, and Chuck Schumer of New York, as well as Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Kaine said that he prayed that his colleagues would ‘vote to end this dangerous and unnecessary war,’ during which six US service members have already been killed.
‘We owe it to those in uniform, their families, and all Americans to not make the same mistakes that we made in Iraq and Afghanistan,’ Kaine added.
Schumer, meanwhile, described the war as a ‘conflict with no clear objectives, no plan, and no authorization from Congress,’ adding that Congress has the duty to rein in Trump’s belligerence.
Schiff noted that ‘Congress must demand that the president — if he believes the threat from Iran justified going to war; that war is justified; that the deaths of our troops is acceptable; that the expenditure of billions not on the American people, not on their health care, their groceries, or their housing is worth the cost — come to Congress and make his case for this war.’
In a statement posted to X this weekend, Paul noted that, ‘the constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely.’
Senator Tim Kaine speaks to reporters following the weekly Senate Democrat policy luncheon at the US Capitol on March 03, 2026 in Washington, DC
A plume of smoke rises after an explosion on February 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran
A Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was published Sunday, found 43 percent disapprove and 29 percent are undecided about Trump’s attack on Iran.
The poll also found that about half of Americans believe the president is too willing to use military force to advance U.S. interests. Overall, 56 percent of those surveyed said Trump’s readiness to deploy military power is excessive.
Massie, a libertarian Republican who has not been afraid to blast the Trump administration when he disagrees with them and has also been a lead advocate for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, wrote, ‘PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will.’
In an eight-minute speech, given from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday about the actions, the President said he had ordered a ‘major’ strike on Iran after nuclear negotiations between the two countries had broken down.
‘Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,’ Trump said.
He, again, reiterated that the Iranian regime must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
While Trump’s military maneuvering so far in his second term – the January capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and the ‘Midnight Hammer’ attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June – haven’t cost service members’ lives, he warned that Americans could die this time around.
Six service members have been killed in the conflict so far, four of whom have been named.
‘Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill,’ Trump said on Saturday. ‘The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties.’
‘That often happens in war,’ the commander-in-chief added. ‘But we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future and it is a noble mission.’
Trump called out the Iranian regime and their proxies for creating ‘mass terror’ around the world, but he also pointed to the Tehran’s recent mass murder domestically, of protesters in their own streets.
In mid-January, the President had promised those protesters that ‘help is on the way.’
Videos of Iranians shouting ‘thank you, Trump’ spread like wildfire after the US/Israeli attacks.
