The House is preparing to vote Thursday on a military resolution to halt U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, a sign of unease in Congress over a rapidly escalating conflict that is reshaping U.S. priorities at home and abroad.
It’s the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure along party lines. Lawmakers are faced with the sudden reality of representing the American people in a time of war and all that entails – the lives lost, the dollars spent and the alliances tested by the president’s decision to fight Iran.
Figures at the White House are expected to be tight, but the result will provide the latest picture of political support, or opposition, for US-Israeli military operations and Trump’s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war.
“Donald Trump is not a king, and if he believes that war with Iran is in our national interest, he should come to Congress and be held accountable,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Meeks said that in his nearly three decades in Congress, the most difficult votes he has taken have been deciding whether to send US troops to war.
The nomination calls are a defining moment for the president and the parties just days into an overseas conflict that has quickly overtaken America’s long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many veterans of those wars have run for office and now serve in Congress.
Republicans overwhelmingly support Trump, and most Democrats oppose the war
Trump’s Republican Party, which narrowly controls the House and Senate, largely sees the conflict with Iran not as the start of a new war, but the end of a regime that has threatened the West for decades. The campaign has killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some see as an opportunity for regime change, although others warn of the ineffectiveness of the force.
Rep. Florida’s Brian Mast, the GOP chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly thanked Trump for taking action against Iran, saying the president was using his constitutional authority to protect the US from an “imminent threat” to the country.
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Mast, an Army veteran who served as a bomb disposal specialist in Afghanistan, said the solution to the war was asking “the president to do nothing.”
For Democrats, Trump’s war with Iran, which has been influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a war of choice that tests the balance of power in the US Constitution.
“The founders were not fools,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., argued that the Constitution is clear that only Congress can decide matters of war.
He said whether lawmakers support or oppose Trump’s military action, they should have a debate. “It’s up to us, we have to vote on it.”
Although views in Congress fall largely along party lines, there are crossover coalitions. Both the House and Senate resolutions were bipartisan, and drew bipartisan support and opposition. The House also votes on a separate resolution certifying that Iran is a major state sponsor of terrorism.
The war powers resolution, if signed into law, would immediately freeze Trump’s ability to wage war without Congress authorizing military action. It is possible that the president would veto the measure.
Alternatively, a small group of Democrats proposed a separate war powers resolution that would allow the president to continue the war for 30 days before seeking federal approval. He is not expected to come to vote.
Trump officials offer varying reasons for the war
After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump sought to gain support for a conflict that Americans of all political stripes had previously been wary of entering. Trump administration officials have spent hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week trying to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.
Six members of the US military were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait, and Trump said more Americans could die. Thousands of Americans abroad have sought flights, many lighting up telephone lines to congressional offices as they seek help trying to escape to the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the war could drag on for eight weeks, twice as long as the president himself had originally estimated. Trump has left open the possibility of sending US troops into what has, until now, been aerial bombing. Hundreds of people in this region have died.
The administration says the aim is to destroy missiles Iran believes are protecting its nuclear program. It also said that Israel is ready to take action against Iran, and US bases will face retaliation if the US does not strike first. On Wednesday, the US said it had attacked an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka.
“This administration can’t even give us a straight answer as to why we launched this first war,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky who is often outside his party.
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who rallied to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, also pushed down the war powers resolution, overruling House Speaker Mike Johnson’s earlier objection.
Johnson warned that it would be “dangerous” to limit the president’s authority while the US military is already at odds.
Senators sit at their desks to vote
In the Senate, Republican leaders successfully, albeit narrowly, defeated a series of military power resolutions related to several other conflicts during Trump’s second term. However, this one was different.
Underscoring the gravity of the moment Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers filled the room and sat at their desks as the vote continued.
“Today every senator — every single one — is going to pick a side,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote. “Do you stand with the American people who are tired of perpetual wars in the Middle East or do you stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they blast us into another war?”
Senator John Barrasso, the second-in-command of the Senate Republicans, said that “Democrats would rather prevent Donald Trump than end Iran’s national nuclear program.”
The legislation failed 47-53 mostly along party lines, with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in favor and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
