Senate Rejects War Powers Resolution to Limit Trump Iran Campaign

Senate Defeats Second War Powers Bid by Narrow Margin

The U.S. Senate rejected a largely symbolic effort to halt the war in Iran on Thursday, dealing another setback to congressional Democrats seeking to constrain the executive branch’s military campaign.

The vote followed a heavy wave of retaliatory airstrikes launched by the U.S. military in Iran on Wednesday. Those strikes were a direct response to an Iranian missile attack targeting a U.S. base in Jordan, which underscored an escalation in a conflict that has now stretched past five months. President Donald Trump originally predicted the campaign would last only four to five weeks when it launched on February 28 alongside Israel, an operation that resulted in the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Crossing party lines during Thursday’s proceedings, Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted in favor of the measure alongside Democrats. The resolution would have directed Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran absent explicit congressional authorization. Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman broke ranks with his party to vote with Republicans against the measure, while Mitch McConnell was absent as he continues recovering from a June fall.

Shifting Votes and Behind-the-Scenes Leverage on Capitol Hill

The legislative battle over the conflict has revealed deep divisions and fluid alliances within the Republican caucus. In late June, the Senate narrowly approved a similar war powers resolution 50-48, with help from Collins, Paul, Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Following that vote, Trump confronted defecting Republicans at the Capitol, prompting Paul and Cassidy to reverse their votes within 24 hours to help defeat a nearly identical measure.

Senator Cassidy defended his subsequent vote switches as a tactical maneuver to extract information from the administration.

“It is a gradation,” Cassidy said. “What we’re doing here is a gradation, a murkiness, a vagueness, but we’re trying to see our way through it. And I’m trying to see my way through it.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., via Fox News

Cassidy acknowledged that his initial vote was used as leverage to get some information. Despite ultimately falling back in line with the administration after receiving a briefing, Cassidy drew a firm boundary regarding future escalation, stating that any introduction of ground troops must necessitate an explicit congressional declaration of war.

UN Rejects Governor Makinde’s Request to Probe Oriire School Kidnapping

Munitions Shortages and Mounting Costs Fuel Congressional Concern

Thursday’s vote coincided with mounting anxiety across Capitol Hill regarding depleted military stockpiles and the soaring financial toll of the campaign. The Pentagon has informed Congress that it needs roughly $80bn more to sustain the war effort, on top of the more than $37bn already spent.

At least 18 U.S. service members have died and more than 450 have been wounded since the conflict began, figures that Democratic lawmakers have questioned due to transparency concerns. Four of those deaths occurred during a mid-July attack at the Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan. Estimates indicate thousands of Iranian combatants and civilians have also died.

A report released Monday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies highlighted the strain on interception capabilities, noting that inventories for Patriot and THAAD interceptor missiles dropped from prewar totals of 2,330 and 452 down to 759 and 234, respectively.

“I think there’s pretty solid information that our military is short on munitions, not their fault,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “Trump launched this war impulsively, without a clear set of achievable objectives, and planning for how to conduct it.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., via Fox News

While Republican senator Thom Tillis acknowledged that dropping munitions inventories are Obviously, it’s concerning, he maintained that closed-door briefings could properly address the issue.

Public Opinion and the Broader Political Landscape

The legislative stalemate in Washington plays out against a backdrop of widespread public skepticism. A poll published Thursday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicated that approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults view the war as not worthwhile, compared to 33% who support it. That negative sentiment spans the vast majority of Democrats and independents alongside roughly 37% of Republicans.

Ahead of the vote, New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand pressed her colleagues to adopt the resolution, arguing that the protracted conflict directly harms American households.

“This reckless war is driving up monthly bills and making everyday life harder for working families,” she said. “Under the constitution, we have the power to end the war today – let’s use it!”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., via The Guardian

While the House of Representatives has twice passed its own symbolic concurrent resolution calling on Trump to end the war—most recently by a 214-208 vote in late July with support from a handful of Republicans—those measures do not carry the force of law. Meanwhile, the administration maintains that the 1973 War Powers Resolution itself is unconstitutional, leaving the conflict to stretch on into its fifth month without formal congressional authorization.