The US House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted, for the first time, a war powers resolution aimed at ending US military action against Iran.
This measure comes to challenge President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to put an end to this conflict which has lasted for three months and which has shaken up the political landscape nationally and internationally.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would reflect growing opposition to the war, abruptly halting proceedings two weeks ago as the resolution was about to be adopted. But discontent has only grown as the conflict drags on and Donald Trump struggles to negotiate a peace plan.
“Enough is enough,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee who led the initiative.
“It is time for the president to do the right thing,” he added. People are tired of suffering because of the war he has chosen – they are suffering at the pump, they are suffering at the supermarket.”
Wednesday’s roll-call vote ended 215 to 208, but the next steps are uncertain. President Trump would likely reject any Congressional action to limit his authority as commander in chief.
Still, this result, with four Republicans joining the Democrats, constituted a rebuke of the president’s war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House.
Opposition to war intensifies
This is the fourth time the House has attempted to stop the United States’ war against Iran. The Senate passed its own war powers resolution last month, when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political resistance within his party.
Each time Democrats introduced the war powers resolution, the number of votes in favor increased slightly, as political unease with the U.S.-led war grew.
Mr. Trump had campaigned for the White House on promises to end U.S. involvement abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has refocused attention on the Middle East.
Mr. Johnson insisted that President Trump was “totally focused” on the domestic front, especially ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The House speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week and that Trump was calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart trade.
Since the United States joined Israel in launching the February 28 strikes against Iran, Americans have seen gasoline prices skyrocket at the pump, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.
Iran has succeeded in disrupting maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for much of the world’s oil, natural gas and by-products such as fertilizers.
“We are working on this last step,” said Mr. Johnson, Republican senator from Louisiana. The whole world has an interest in seeing the Strait of Hormuz reopened to trade. That’s what he’s working on.”
Although a ceasefire was declared in April, the situation remains tense and uncertain. Negotiations aimed at putting a lasting end to the fighting are dragging on, increasingly complicated by the intensification of the war led by Israel against Hezbollah militants, supported by Iran, in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the United States and Iran continue.
Congress exercises its power in matters of war
The House war powers resolution would not immediately end the war, but it would provide a symbolic, if not legal, measure against further military action.
The resolution will then move to the Senate, where four Republican senators joined Democrats last month to advance a similar measure aimed at restricting the US campaign against Iran. The Senate has not yet taken a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday, during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that Iranians would think “the administration’s hands would be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think “they can’t do anything to them, so why make a deal?”
It’s not the only step Congress has taken in the area of national security, as Democrats, in the minority, work to roll back Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran.
The House also voted Wednesday on another Democratic-led initiative, a procedural step toward a measure that would authorize U.S. support for Ukraine’s military operations in its fight against Russia and help rebuild the war-ravaged country.
That vote is scheduled for later this week. The House was also expected to consider a war powers resolution aimed at blocking any U.S. action in Lebanon.
