Senate votes to limit Trump’s Iran war powers in rare rebuke
By Morgan Rimmer, CNN
(CNN) — The Senate adopted a resolution on Tuesday directing the president to remove military forces from the conflict with Iran, a significant rebuke to Donald Trump and a strong message that the war lacks support in Congress.
Democrats have repeatedly forced votes to limit Trump’s war powers in both the House and the Senate — a campaign that has gradually picked up more GOP support in recent weeks, drawing the president’s ire.
GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted against it. The final tally was 50-48. The absences of GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, who have previously voted against advancing war powers resolutions, contributed to the measure’s adoption.
The measure passed the House earlier this month. But because it is what’s known as a concurrent resolution, it does not require the president’s signature and, by definition, does not carry the force of law.
A White House official dismissed the Senate vote, saying the resolution “has no significance” and blaming the measure’s adoption on “Republican absences.”
“Concurrent resolutions do not go to the president and have no force of law,” the official said.
The official said the resolution directs the president to remove US armed forces from hostilities against Iran, “yet there are no hostilities from which to remove U.S. forces, as hostilities terminated with the ceasefire on April 7th.”
A House Democratic aide who has been involved in the effort to pass the war powers resolution told CNN earlier this month, however, that they believe the measure would be binding and it would be a legal matter to work out.
This is the 10th time the Senate has voted on an Iran war powers measure since the beginning of the year. An earlier Senate-led resolution advanced last month, but has not had a follow-up vote yet as Democrats work to ensure they have the support needed to pass it.
The House passed the concurrent resolution 215-208, with four House Republicans voting with Democrats and immediately facing the president’s anger. Trump called the four members “GRANDSTANDERS” and their action “unpatriotic” in a post on Truth Social after the vote.
Some Democratic senators, including Tim Kaine, have argued that passage of a war powers resolution is necessary, even after the US reached an agreement with Iran and amid ongoing negotiations with Tehran.
“I think it’s a good time to have the vote to say, ‘Hey, if we’re really in a period of maybe some stability here, let’s not just allow it to start up again without Congress being involved in that decision,” he told reporters last week.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
