House Votes to Rein In Trump’s Iran War

The House voted Thursday to limit President Donald Trump’s authority to expand the war with Iran, its first war powers action since a temporary agreement with Tehran collapsed and fighting resumed.

The resolution, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), passed 214-208. Four Republicans — Reps. Tom Barrett, Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson — joined Democrats as renewed fighting raised fears of a wider conflict.

The Senate rejected a similar measure 47-49 later Thursday, denying opponents of the war the bipartisan, bicameral rebuke they secured just weeks earlier.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins supported the measure, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman opposed the bill. Four senators did not vote: Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, who have supported past war powers efforts, as well as Sens. Katie Britt and Mitch McConnell.

Most Senate Republicans stuck with the president. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary to a Trump-backed opponent, said ahead of the vote that he would oppose the resolution because it’s “impractical” to withdraw from hostilities immediately.

In June, Cassidy initially supported the House-passed Iran war powers resolution and then reversed course after a tense Capitol meeting with Trump and a subsequent White House briefing, voting against a separate Senate measure the following day.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is retiring after this session, opposed the resolution but said he might support one if the conflict stretches into September. The conflict began with U.S. strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, but the Trump administration did not formally notify Congress that the U.S. was at war until July 10.

“September 10 is the magic day for me to have a very different posture on these war powers resolutions,” Tillis said. “It will have been 60 days since the White House said ‘war’ for the first time to describe what we’re doing in Iran.”

Unlike the House-passed resolution, the Senate version would have gone to Trump and become law if he signed it, though he was expected to veto it.

Still, the House vote amounted to a rebuke of the war, which has killed 18 American troops and injured more than 430. The fighting shows no sign of stopping: U.S. strikes against Iran have continued for 12 consecutive nights.

“The president is once again showing his contempt for Congress and for the Constitution, continuing this destructive, deadly, and costly war despite Congress having already passed a War Powers Resolution that has the force of law,” Jayapal said Wednesday.

This was the House’s second vote to end the war. Like the first, which happened in early June, this vote cannot legally force Trump to stop the fighting. But the vote adds to signs of bipartisan concern over his decision to continue the war without congressional authorization as the conflict intensifies.

One of the Republican backers of the House war powers resolution, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, said the collapse of peace negotiations and the troop deaths might be driving GOP support. He said he has been supporting the resolutions to assert Congress’ powers over the executive branch.

“I follow the law,” Fitzpatrick said. “Under the War Powers Act of 1973, it says you’ve got to give a 48-hour notification, and after 60 days of hostilities, you’ve got to come to us” for authorization.

The administration says Trump has sufficient authority under the Constitution’s Article II to continue the campaign.

“We have all the authorities necessary at this moment,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

Trump told Congress in a July 10 letter that hostilities had resumed July 7 after the administration accused Tehran of violating a memorandum of understanding that had paused the fighting. The administration says the renewed campaign started a new 60-day period under the War Powers Resolution, a position lawmakers in both parties have questioned.

Republicans opposed to the resolution argued that limiting Trump during active hostilities would undermine U.S. forces and benefit Iran.

The House bill will go to the Senate, giving the upper chamber another chance to consider a rebuke.

This story has been updated to include the Senate vote.