WASHINGTON — The US Senate for the first time adopted a resolution on Tuesday seeking to block US military action against Iran in a significant rebuke to President Donald Trump and a strong message that the conflict that the administration launched on its own lacks support in Congress.
It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome was a stunning turnaround from past efforts.
Democrats have repeatedly forced votes to limit Trump’s war powers in both the House and the Senate — a campaign that has gradually picked up more Republican support in recent weeks, drawing the president’s ire.
Republican Senators Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted against it. The final tally was 50-48. The absences of GOP SenatorsMitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, who have previously voted against advancing war powers resolutions, contributed to the measure’s adoption.
While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not fully carry the force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it.
“Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Schumer said Americans have paid the price for “Trump’s historic blunder in Iran. It’ll go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made.”
Trump on Tuesday night called the vote “poorly timed and meaningless” in a post on Truth Social.
He added that the Senate, by adopting the resolution “has provided aid and comfort [to] the Enemy.”
“Four Republican Losers voted with the Dumocrats, and Iran asked my people, ‘what does that all mean?’ These Senators have just made my job more difficult, but I will get it done, one way or the other,” Trump said.
The measure passed the House earlier this month. But because it is what’s known as a concurrent resolution, it does not require the president’s signature and, by definition, does not carry the force of law.
A White House official dismissed the Senate vote, saying the resolution “has no significance” and blaming the measure’s adoption on “Republican absences.”
“Concurrent resolutions do not go to the president and have no force of law,” the official said.
The official said the resolution directs the president to remove US armed forces from hostilities against Iran, “yet there are no hostilities from which to remove US forces, as hostilities terminated with the ceasefire on April 7th.”
A House Democratic aide who has been involved in the effort to pass the war powers resolution told CNN earlier this month, however, that they believe the measure would be binding and it would be a legal matter to work out.
The House passed the concurrent resolution 215-208, with four House Republicans voting with Democrats and immediately facing the president’s anger. Trump called the four members “GRANDSTANDERS” and their action “unpatriotic” in a post on Truth Social after the vote.
Some Democratic senators, including Tim Kaine, have argued that passage of a war powers resolution is necessary, even after the US reached an agreement with Iran and amid ongoing negotiations with Tehran.
Source: Saudi Gazette