The House of Representatives narrowly approved a resolution Thursday seeking to halt U.S. military operations against Iran unless Congress authorizes them, delivering a symbolic rebuke to President Donald Trump as the conflict continues to escalate and uncertainty grows over its ultimate direction.
The measure passed by a 214-208 margin and requires congressional approval before further military action can proceed. The Senate was expected to consider similar legislation later Thursday. Although the resolutions are unlikely to become law, Democrats said they are intended to send a clear message that support for the war is eroding on Capitol Hill as lawmakers from both parties increasingly question the administration’s long-term objectives.
Arguing in favor of the measure on the House floor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., criticized the administration’s handling of the conflict.
The war has had “no clear mission, no strategy, no end goal,” said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who led the resolution on the House floor.
The resolution succeeded after a small number of Republicans joined Democrats in voting to curb the military campaign. Most Republicans, however, opposed the measure, backing the continuation of the war and supporting Trump’s authority to direct military operations.
Trump has maintained that the ongoing U.S. strikes against Iran do not represent a return to a prolonged war or an open-ended military campaign.
American airstrikes have continued despite little visible progress in diplomatic efforts. At the same time, both Washington and Tehran have remained entrenched in their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping lane that remains largely closed.
The continuing conflict has also fueled concerns over the global economy, driving fuel prices higher as the United States heads toward this fall’s midterm elections.
During Wednesday evening’s House debate, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., honored the 18 American service members who have been killed since the conflict began by reading each of their names aloud.
“To belittle this mission is to belittle and demean the very service these members gave their life for,” Mast said. “Their sacrifice was not meaningless. This operation is bringing reckoning for the hundreds of times Iran has attacked and killed people of the United States of America.”
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, countered that presidents have an obligation to seek congressional approval before taking the nation to war.
The service members who died made the ultimate sacrifice for “an illegal unauthorized war that the American people don’t want,” Meeks said.
As lawmakers in both chambers prepared to vote on the war powers resolutions, the United States continued launching waves of airstrikes against Iranian targets amid the ongoing struggle over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The conflict’s economic toll has continued to mount. Gasoline prices have climbed once again, while War Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators during Tuesday’s hearing that the United States has spent approximately $37.5 billion on the war to date. On Wednesday, Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of four American service members during a dignified transfer ceremony.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Democrat leading the Senate’s war powers effort, argued that the mounting casualties and financial costs make congressional oversight increasingly urgent.
“I do think the combination of the hearings, plus the fact that we are in this new escalatory phase where Americans have been killed, and Americans are experiencing the rising costs — I think it’s important that people be held accountable,” said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who is leading the Senate effort on Thursday. “And this is a very unpopular war.”
{Matzav.com}