House Republicans delay Iran war powers vote as GOP struggles to find support

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House Republicans delayed a planned House vote on a war powers resolution aimed at compelling President Donald Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran after GOP leaders concluded they could not win the numbers to defeat the bill. The House had scheduled the Democratic measure for this week, but leadership declined to hold it and pushed planned action into June, according to the Associated Press.

Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, who sponsored the legislation, said Democrats had what he called the votes “without question” to dismiss the measure. He said Republicans were instead “playing a political game” after recognizing the outcome, framing the decision as part of a broader shift in congressional support for the Trump administration’s Iran campaign.

Republicans’ decision to back away from the vote came as House GOP leaders faced questions about slipping backing for the war Trump launched more than two months earlier without congressional approval, the Associated Press reported. The vote delay marked another high-profile sign that rank-and-file Republicans were increasingly willing to defy the president over the conflict, GOP leaders and Democrats said.

House Republican Leader Steve Scalise told reporters the vote was postponed to allow lawmakers who were absent to vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson did not answer questions from reporters as he left the chamber.

Democrats portrayed the leadership move as a refusal to show up and take responsibility for a conflict they said has already produced mounting consequences. In a joint statement, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and other caucus leaders described Republicans as “cowardly” to pull the vote, adding that House Republicans refused to show up as Memorial Day approached to be accountable to what they said were “brave service members” put at risk.

The delayed House vote sits alongside continuing Senate efforts to manage the legislative timeline under the War Powers Resolution. The Associated Press said Republicans in the Senate were also working to ensure they had the votes to dismiss another war powers resolution that advanced to a final vote earlier this week, when four GOP senators supported the resolution and three were absent.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats said patience with the war has worn thin amid a stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz that they said disrupts global shipping and lifts gas prices in the United States. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who served in the Iraq War, argued that the Iran war had amounted to a strategic blunder for Trump, pointing to Iran’s new leadership and its willingness to restrict commercial shipping through the strait.

Republicans broadly have supported Trump’s moves against Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but some lawmakers have increasingly argued that the legal timeline to wage a war without congressional approval has expired. Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, presidents have 60 days to engage in a military conflict before Congress must either declare war or authorize the use of military force, the Associated Press reported, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, said lawmakers were “following the law” and planned to vote in favor of the resolution.

The parties also diverge on the administration’s position that the War Powers Resolution no longer applies due to a ceasefire with Iran, while Trump has argued in public statements that military planners should be ready to resume strikes if negotiations do not produce an “acceptable Deal.” Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, expressed frustration with the administration’s stance and pointed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when discussing what he called the problem with the current approach.

Republicans who praised Trump’s posture characterized it as direct confrontation with a long-time adversary, with Rep. Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, saying he “don’t believe in getting hit and walking away and pretending as though it didn’t happen.” Democrats, meanwhile, argued that the legal dispute could ultimately lead to a broader showdown over which branch of government has final authority over military conflicts, depending on how Congress’s concurrent resolution fares in both chambers and whether it takes effect without Trump’s signature.