Wednesday’s Senate vote again put Democrats and Republicans on opposite sides of whether Congress should halt President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, even as Republican resistance to the conflict intensified. Senate Republicans blocked the Democratic effort to halt the war, but the final tally of 49-50 reflected a growing number of GOP senators questioning the approach, according to the Associated Press.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the war for the first time since it began at the end of February, moving the GOP closer to the opposition as Democrats continued forcing war-powers ballots. Two other Republicans—Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky—also voted against the war, as they had previously, according to the AP report.
The vote on the war powers legislation failed to advance, 49-50, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to oppose it. Democrats framed their strategy as a way to raise pressure on the president either to withdraw from the conflict or to seek congressional authorization to continue waging the war, AP reported.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has spearheaded the Democrats’ tactic of forcing repeated war-related votes, said: “There will be a day — and it might be soon, I believe — where this Senate will say to the president, ‘Stop this war,’” according to AP. Democrats also said the votes are meant to build political leverage with the president as the dispute over Congress’s role continues.
Republicans who support the war leadership’s posture said Democrats’ effort is also about undermining Trump, AP reported. Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican in leadership, argued on the Senate floor Wednesday that Iran’s strategy has created more pressure on Iran’s economy than on the U.S. and said, “Iran’s economy is on life support. Its leadership is eliminated.”
AP reported that Republicans are also showing unease tied to political and economic pressures heading into the November elections, including gas prices. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said Wednesday he would prefer that the two branches work out the constitutional issues rather than rely on a congressional war-powers vote or a possible court challenge, arguing that the Senate and the White House have “shared constitutional responsibilities.”
The tension between Congress and the White House has sharpened around whether hostilities have ended and whether the administration needs congressional authorization under the War Powers Resolution of 1973. AP reported that the White House asserts it does not need authorization for the war and has circumvented legal requirements to get approval from Congress to continue the military campaign, claiming it has “terminated” hostilities with Iran because the U.S. has entered a ceasefire.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers this week that the U.S. could start attacking Iran again without waiting for Congress to authorize it, AP said. During a hearing on Tuesday, he told Murkowski that the administration believes it has “all the authorities necessary,” according to the AP report.
Murkowski pushed back on that argument, pointing to troops and warships deployed in the region and saying, “It doesn’t appear that hostilities have ended,” AP reported. AP also said Democrats planned to keep forcing weekly war-powers votes on resolutions and were looking ahead to seek limits on Trump during debate over annual legislation that authorizes and funds the military.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the sponsor of Wednesday’s resolution, told reporters he believes there is an “erosion of support, erosion of enthusiasm, an increase in skepticism” about the war from Republicans, according to AP. The closely split Senate vote suggested that skepticism within the GOP is becoming more visible even as Republican leaders still backed the administration’s approach.