Senate advances bill aimed at ending Iran war
The Louisiana senator, who lost to a Trump-endorsed candidate, said he will carefully consider how he votes on administration priorities.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a resolution to block President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, defying the White House nearly three months into an unpopular war.
Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting to discharge a war powers resolution from committee.
The 50-47 procedural vote was a breakthrough for Democrats, but the measure still faces considerable hurdles before it could force Trump to end the war.
Democrats have forced votes on seven similar resolutions since the start of the war with the support of Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), all of which have failed. Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) and Bill Cassidy (R., La.) voted Tuesday to advance the resolution.
Cassidy had voted against similar resolutions in the past. Last week he lost his GOP primary to a Trump-endorsed rival.
Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the lone Democrat to vote no.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who has spearheaded Democrats’ strategy, argued the lull in active hostilities provided an opening for Congress to reassert itself.
“If we’re in a ceasefire where we are trying to find a diplomatic path forward, rather than precipitously start a bombing campaign again, this is exactly the time where Congress should be having a debate about the rationale for the war,” Kaine said on the Senate floor before the vote.
The vote comes after the Trump administration blew past a legal deadline earlier this month.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 — the law Democrats used to force the vote — requires presidents to remove U.S. forces from any conflict that Congress has not authorized within 60 days. Trump hit the deadline May 1 but evaded it by claiming that the conflict was effectively over even though the U.S. continues to enforce a naval blockade of Iran.
The resolution still faces a tough road before it could take effect. Following Tuesday’s procedural vote, the Senate still needs to pass the underlying resolution, which may be more difficult if every senator is voting.
Three Republicans who have opposed taking up previous resolutions to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran — Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) — missed Monday’s vote. If all of them vote on final passage as they have in the past, it would have failed 50-50.
The measure would also need to pass in the House, which last week narrowly rejected a similar resolution. And Trump would almost certainly veto it, forcing the Senate and the House to override his veto before it could take effect. No war powers resolution has ever overcome a presidential veto.
The Senate voted to advance a war powers resolution in January that would have prevented Trump from conducting further strikes on Venezuela, only to block it days later after two Republicans flipped under pressure from Trump.