Senate fails to block US involvement in Iran war

WASHINGTON – The Senate on March 4 failed to advance a war powers resolution to halt military hostilities against Iran and end American involvement in the escalating regional war.

The measure failed on a 47-53 vote. Most Republicans – except for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky – voted to oppose the measure. Most Democrats, except for Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, supported it.

While the blocked vote dealt a blow to Democrats' efforts to stymie the conflict in its early days and reassert the role of Congress in going to war, it succeeded in accomplishing a more political goal: pushing Republicans to officially declare their support for President Donald Trump's campaign to reshape the Middle East.

In doing so, lawmakers in the GOP will be forced to fully own the unpredictable consequences of the widening conflict. For those who've built political careers on isolationist tendencies and fierce criticism of "forever wars," that could be a tricky feat, especially in a midterm year.

"Nobody gets to hide and give the president an easy pass or an end-run around the Constitution," Sen. Tim Kaine, the chief architect of the war powers effort in Congress, said the day before the vote.

Even if they voted down the resolution, Republicans weren’t entirely uncritical of the Trump administration. Sen. John Curtis of Utah said Congress should’ve been more widely consulted ahead of the weekend strikes in Iran.

“Yes, I wish I would have been consulted. I wish my vote would have been asked for before this,” he said in a statement. “But the president did act within his legal bounds to do what he has done."

The near-total Republican unity was evidence of tough lessons learned. In January, five GOP lawmakers bucked the president and supported advancing a similar measure that aimed to cease hostilities in Venezuela after the U.S. military arrested the country's then-president. They immediately drew the president's ire. After Trump publicly denounced them, several of the Republicans – including Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana – ultimately reversed their votes when the bill went up for final passage.

Publicly, Senate Republicans have projected confidence about the Trump administration's strategy in Iran. However, they've expressed hope the war won't drag on longer than the four-to-five weeks the president has predicted.

"They are achieving great success with what they've done so far," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, on March 3.

Just days into the conflict, there's already talk in the halls of the Capitol about a potential need to set aside emergency cash for the war. House Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO on March 4 there's an "open dialogue" between congressional leaders, the White House and Pentagon about potentially setting aside billions of dollars in supplementary funding. The timeline for passing that legislation is still unclear, though, and it would give Democrats in the Senate an opportunity to exert more political leverage over the future of the war.

War powers resolutions enjoy special privileges in both legislative chambers, meaning the minority party can force votes on them even against the wishes of the majority party − in this case, the GOP.

The House of Representatives is set to take up a war powers resolution of its own over Iran on Thursday, March 4. Some defections on both the Republican and Democratic sides are expected.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.