The Senate on Tuesday voted to advance a War Powers Resolution meant to bring an end to President Trump’s war against Iran as he is threatening to restart the full-scale bombing campaign.
The legislation, which would direct the removal of US forces engaged in the blockade and other hostilities against Iran that haven’t been authorized by Congress, was advanced in a procedural vote of 50-47, a preliminary step before a final vote. It passed after seven previous attempts thanks to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) switching sides to support the bill, a move that comes after he lost his primary to a President Trump-backed opponent.
Cassidy joined three other Republicans — Senators Rand Paul (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Susan Collins (ME) — in supporting the legislation, while just one Democrat, Sen. Jon Fetterman (PA), opposed it.
The bill also advanced because three Republicans were absent for the vote. One more procedural vote is needed before it’s brought to the floor for a final vote to send it to the House, and if the Senate votes 50-50, Vice President JD Vance could cast a tie-breaking vote to kill the bill, as he did for a Venezuela War Powers Resolution back in January.
But the bill’s advancement reflects growing momentum for the War Powers effort, as the latest attempt in the House came very close to passing, with a 212-212 vote. The bills aren’t close to gaining a veto-proof majority at the moment, but advancing War Powers Resolutions in both chambers would send a significant message to the administration and make it more difficult politically for President Trump to restart the full-scale bombing campaign, which he continues to threaten.
While Trump administration officials have declared the 1973 War Powers Resolution “unconstitutional,” they have also been desperately trying to circumvent the law, which was passed to rein in the Executive Branch’s disregard for the Constitution’s requirement that Congress has the sole power to declare war.
The law includes a 60-day deadline for the president to end any unauthorized military action or obtain authorization from Congress, which has been falsely reinterpreted to give the president 60 days to wage war without congressional authorization.
The 60-day deadline for the Iran war expired on May 1, and the administration has tried to claim that the ceasefire should have paused the clock, but the blockade means the US military is still engaged in hostilities against the country. The US military has also attacked several Iranian commercial ships and bombed Iranian ports amid the blockade.
According to a report from NBC News, the Pentagon is considering renaming the war with Iran from “Operation Epic Fury” to “Operation Sledgehammer,” and the White House believes giving the conflict a new name would reset the War Powers clock. But all of the hostilities are clearly still part of the same war that the US and Israel launched on February 28.
