Republicans primarily supported President Donald Trump’s military invasion of the Middle East with Israel.
Names of four US soldiers killed in Iran war released
U.S. military officials have released the names of four U.S. soldiers who have died so far in the war with Iran.
WASHINGTON – The Senate failed on March 4 to advance a war powers resolution to halt military hostilities against Iran and end U.S. involvement in escalating regional wars.
The bill failed by a vote of 47-53. Most Republicans, except Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the bill. Most Democrats supported it, except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
Although the vote blockage dealt a blow to Democratic efforts to prevent early conflicts and reaffirm Congress’s role in starting wars, it succeeded in achieving a more political goal: pushing Republicans to formally declare support for President Donald Trump’s campaign to reshape the Middle East.
In doing so, Republican lawmakers would be forced to fully assume the unpredictable consequences of the growing conflict. That may be a difficult feat, especially in the interregnum, for those who have built their political careers on isolationist tendencies and fierce criticism of “forever wars.”
“Nobody can sit back and let the president easily pass the Constitution or circumvent the Constitution,” Sen. Tim Kaine, the chief architect of the war powers initiative in Congress, said the day before the vote.
Even if they voted down the resolution, Republicans were not completely uncritical of the Trump administration. Sen. John Curtis of Utah said Congress should have been more widely consulted ahead of the weekend’s attacks in Iran.
“Yes, I wish I had been consulted. I wish I had been asked to vote before this,” he said in a statement. “But the president acted within the legal limits.”
The nearly complete unity of the Republican Party was evidence that hard lessons had been learned. In January, five Republican senators rebelled against the president and supported pushing for a similar measure aimed at ending hostilities in Venezuela, where U.S. forces had arrested the then-president. They quickly drew the president’s ire. After President Trump publicly denounced them, several Republicans, including Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana, ultimately reversed their votes as the bills advanced toward final passage.
Senate Republicans have publicly expressed confidence in the Trump administration’s strategy toward Iran. But they have expressed hope that the war will last no longer than the four to five weeks the president expected.
“They’ve been very successful in what they’ve been doing,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said on March 3.
Just days into the conflict, the halls of Parliament are already debating the potential need to set aside emergency funds for the war effort. House Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO on March 4 that there are “open conversations” between Congressional leaders, the White House and the Pentagon about potentially securing billions of dollars in additional funding. But the timeline for passage of the bill remains unclear, giving Senate Democrats an opportunity to further exert political influence over the future of the war.
War powers resolutions have special privileges in both chambers, meaning that the minority party can force the resolution to pass even against the wishes of the majority party, in this case the Republican Party.
The House is scheduled to vote on its own war powers resolution against Iran on Thursday, March 4th. It is expected that there will be some defections from both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
