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House Republicans narrowly voted down a resolution Thursday to end the war with Iran, marking the third time a war powers resolution has failed in the lower chamber since the conflict began.
The vote was 212-212, with three Republicans crossing the aisle to support the measure: Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Tom Barrett (Mich.). One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (Maine), bucked Democratic leaders to oppose it.
In the House, a tie vote means a measure fails.
The vote is a victory for President Trump and GOP leaders in the Capitol, who have argued that the president has the unilateral authority to confront Tehran militarily. They’ve also warned that ending the war would empower Iran’s Islamic regime at the expense of the national security of the United States and Western allies.
Across the aisle, it marks yet another defeat for Democrats — and a small handful of Republicans — who have fought to assert Congress’s constitutional authority to dictate the use of military force abroad.
Still, Democrats are vowing to put a steady string of war powers resolutions on the floor in the coming weeks. That strategy, being led by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), is designed to force public debate on a conflict that’s unpopular with most voters — and put Republicans on the record defending it.
And supporters will get a boost in the next round from Golden, a former Marine who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, who said he opposed Thursday’s resolution only because it includes a withdrawal deadline, March 30, that’s long past. When the next “clean” resolution hits the floor, Golden said he’ll support it.
“I supported this resolution when it was introduced, but unfortunately its proposed 30-day deadline lacks any real meaning now that we are more than 70 days into this conflict,” Golden said Wednesday in a statement. “It no longer passes the straight-face test. I look forward to voting for a clean, relevant resolution as soon as possible.”
Thursday’s resolution was sponsored by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), one of Congress’s most vocal supporters of Israel, who had initially opposed the idea of forcing Trump to win congressional approval before striking Iran, citing the security threat Tehran posed to the U.S. and its interests in the Middle East. That changed by the time that resolution hit the floor on March 5, just days after the conflict began, with Gottheimer bashing the administration for failing to offer either a clear reason for starting the war or an explicit plan for ending it.
His resolution cites the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires a president seeking to continue the use of military force to win approval from Congress within 60 days of launching the initial attacks. Gottheimer’s bill expedited that timeline, setting a deadline of 30 days.
A similar bill was blocked in the Senate on Wednesday, marking the seventh time Trump’s Senate allies have killed a Democratic war powers resolution. The Senate resolution did pick up some additional GOP support, however, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) joining Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Rand Paul (Ky.) in voting in favor.