Senate Defeats Bid to Direct Trump to End Iran War or Seek Approval

The vote came as a growing number of Republicans has broken from President Trump on the conflict, reflecting voters’ concerns ahead of midterm elections.

By Robert Jimison

The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected an effort to direct President Trump to end the war in Iran unless he wins authorization for it, defeating a measure aimed at rebuking his handling of a conflict he has continued to wage despite repeated votes by Congress to halt it.

The resolution, which passed the House over the summer, failed 50 to 49, with four Republicans — Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — joining Democrats in support. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure.

Mr. Tillis was the newest Republican to break with his party over the war, joining a small bloc that has challenged Mr. Trump’s authority to continue directing the conflict without congressional approval.

But Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who had previously voted with G.O.P. defectors to curtail Mr. Trump’s war powers, switched his position and sided with the majority of his party on Thursday, leaving the resolution short of the support to pass.

It was the 20th vote on such a resolution since the war began on Feb. 28.

Iran war powers votes in Congress

The vote, which came as lawmakers continue to grapple with growing voter backlash to the war weeks ahead of the midterm elections, effectively disposed of one possible vehicle for challenging Mr. Trump over the war: the resolution the House passed in July. But another remains.

The House passed a separate war powers resolution last week directing Mr. Trump to remove American forces from hostilities against Iran, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in their largest bipartisan margin since the war began. That measure could still come before the Senate, giving lawmakers opposed to the war another opportunity to send an identical resolution through both chambers of Congress.

Such a measure would not have the force of law, but would amount to a political rebuke. A growing number of Republicans in both chambers have broken with the president on the conflict as they battle to maintain control of Congress in November and win over constituents feeling the impacts of the war.

Again and again, Democrats have forced votes seeking to restrict Mr. Trump’s ability to carry out the war and to compel him to seek authorization from Congress. And again and again, the president has brushed aside those objections, continuing military operations while Congress debates resolutions that have done nothing to alter their course.

The last time both chambers passed a resolution directing him to end the war, in June, he arrived on Capitol Hill and berated Republicans who supported it, demanding that they reverse their votes. Still, G.O.P. lawmakers have slowly grown more outspoken about the impacts of the war and more willing to vote to challenge the president’s handling of it.

The rebukes have grown more bipartisan and, at times, more emphatic even as their practical consequences have remained negligible.

But the war powers votes have also demonstrated the limits of their strategy. The administration has maintained that the president has sufficient constitutional authority to conduct military operations, and even measures that have cleared Congress have failed to meaningfully constrain him.

Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.