The Senate on Tuesday advanced a resolution that would force President Trump to withdraw US forces from the war with Iran, marking the first time such a measure has cleared a procedural hurdle since fighting began in late February and signaling a meaningful, if still limited, erosion of Republican support for the conflict.

The 50-47 vote discharged the war powers resolution sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, setting up a final floor vote on its passage. The timing of that vote was not immediately clear.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his bid for a third term in Saturday’s Louisiana Republican primary after President Trump endorsed his opponent, provided the decisive vote. It was the first time Cassidy had supported any war powers measure related to the Iran conflict. He joined Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), all of whom had backed earlier iterations of the resolution.

Three Republicans, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, did not vote. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a consistent supporter of the war, was the only Democrat to oppose advancing the measure.
Tuesday’s vote was the eighth Senate attempt to constrain the president’s authority to wage war against Iran since the conflict began on February 28. The previous seven failed.

“My colleagues and I have been forcing votes to stop the war against Iran, and we’re making progress,” Kaine said on X following the vote. “My colleagues are hearing more and more from their constituents: end this costly and unnecessary war.”

The resolution, if ultimately enacted, would direct the president to “remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.” It is rooted in the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the post-Vietnam statute that requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces into hostilities and caps any unauthorized deployment at 60 days.

The 60-day window from the February 28 strikes passed in late April. The administration has argued that the ceasefire reached on April 7 effectively suspended the clock, and Trump informed congressional leaders in a May 1 letter that “hostilities” with Iran had “terminated.” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) echoed that position last week, arguing that the hostilities referenced in the resolution “do not exist today and have not existed for some time.”

Democrats and a growing number of Republicans have rejected that framing. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who led the previous attempt, told reporters before last week’s vote that the war was “at a different stage, and it may heat up again.” Murkowski crossed the aisle last week for the first time, citing the absence of clarity from the administration about the legal basis for ongoing US deployments and naval operations around Iran. The senator from Alaska has separately said she intends to introduce a formal authorization for the use of military force.

Cassidy’s vote on Tuesday reshaped the math in a way none of his colleagues’ had. Until Saturday, he had been weighing his vote with an eye toward a primary fight that ended in his elimination. Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow advanced to the runoff in his place. Cassidy, a physician and two-term senator who voted to convict Trump at his 2021 impeachment trial, is now serving out the final months of his Senate career with no further election to face. He has not publicly explained his shift, but the result freed him to vote without political cost in the same way his earlier convictions had cost him.

The resolution remains, as a practical matter, unlikely to become law. It would require passage by the Republican-controlled House and would face a near-certain presidential veto. An override would require two-thirds majorities in both chambers, a threshold not remotely in sight. But its supporters have framed the exercise as a tool for forcing Republicans to put a position on the record at a moment when public support for the war has eroded.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier this week found that roughly two-thirds of American voters do not believe Trump has adequately explained why the United States is at war with Iran. Gas prices have continued to climb ahead of the summer driving season, driven primarily by the continued partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. Inflation data released earlier this spring registered the largest monthly spike in four years. Several Republican senators have privately expressed concern that the war’s economic toll could damage GOP prospects in the November midterms.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) urged Republicans to remain unified ahead of the vote, citing the president’s ongoing diplomatic travel and overlapping negotiations with China. “I think it would be best if everybody hung together and supported the president,” Thune said. “But we’ll see. People have their own minds about some of these issues.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Republicans to “be honest with themselves” ahead of the vote. “Last week we got one more Republican to join with us,” he said. “Republicans, it’s time to break the cycle. Support our war powers resolution.”

Tuesday’s outcome reflects a slow but cumulative shift. Paul had been the lone Republican to vote with Democrats for the first five attempts. Collins joined late last month, just before the 60-day War Powers Act window expired. Murkowski crossed last week. Cassidy crossed on Tuesday.

The vote came hours after Vice President JD Vance, speaking from the White House briefing room, said the administration still preferred a diplomatic solution to the war but was “locked and loaded” to resume military operations if a deal could not be reached. The Trump administration has been engaged in intermittent face-to-face talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad since mid-April, with Pakistan serving as mediator. Negotiations have repeatedly stalled over the scope of Iran’s nuclear program, the disposition of its highly enriched uranium stockpile, and the formal reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)