President Donald Trump scored an unexpected late-night Senate victory Thursday after two key Republican holdouts reversed course and helped sink a Democratic effort to limit his authority to take military action against Iran.
In its final major vote before leaving Washington for a more than two-week recess, the Senate rejected a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would have required congressional approval for most future U.S. military action against Iran.
The outcome marked a dramatic turnaround from just hours earlier, when Republicans appeared headed for another embarrassing defeat after a tense closed-door meeting between Trump and Senate Republicans.
During that meeting, several lawmakers, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), pressed the administration over its handling of the Iran conflict and demanded more information as Trump sought support for his signature voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.
Behind the scenes, however, the White House mounted an aggressive lobbying effort.
Trump argued that the Senate’s passage of the same resolution just one day earlier — aided by the absence of two Republican senators — had weakened the administration’s leverage as negotiators work to turn the current 60-day memorandum of understanding with Iran into a broader, long-term peace agreement.
Follow-up meetings at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff ultimately persuaded Cassidy to switch his position, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has routinely sided with Democrats on previous war powers resolutions, instead voted “present.”
“I want to thank Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff for the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran,” Cassidy wrote on X. “I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns.”
Paul emphasized that his underlying views had not changed.
“My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times,” Paul wrote on X. “But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so. My vote of present is a way to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”
The reversal handed the Trump administration a significant political victory as negotiations with Tehran continue.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the Senate’s leading Democratic voices on war powers, acknowledged that the diplomatic landscape had shifted since lawmakers first considered the measure.
“This is a different moment,” Murphy said, while warning that the ceasefire remained “precarious right now.”
Asked whether he believed Trump’s argument that congressional action weakened America’s negotiating position, Murphy dismissed the claim.
“The Iranians don’t—you know, all they have to do is read a poll and find out that people in this country don’t support the war,” Murphy said. “They didn’t support the war.”
🚨 JUST IN OVERNIGHT: US Senate BLOCKS bill to revoke President Trump’s Iran War Powers after a meeting with the Senate GOP — 47-50
BILL CASSIDY and RAND PAUL switched their vote
Now put SAVE AMERICA on the floor! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TDvX3422VN
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 25, 2026
