Senate Republicans closed ranks Wednesday behind President Donald Trump, rejecting a Democratic push to curb the administration’s military authority in Iran and handing the White House a political victory amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The Senate defeated a resolution from Tim Kaine aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue military operations tied to the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran.
The measure would have required explicit congressional authorization for further hostilities against Tehran.
The vote largely followed party lines, echoing a previous Senate vote rejecting similar war-powers limits on Iran military action.
Only Rand Paul, a longtime critic of expansive presidential war powers, joined Democrats in supporting the resolution. Meanwhile, John Fetterman broke with his party and sided with Republicans in opposition.
The outcome delivered a clear signal that Senate Republicans are largely backing Trump’s decision to launch strikes under the operation dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
The administration mounted an aggressive effort to shore up support on Capitol Hill in the days leading up to the vote. Senior officials held multiple classified briefings with lawmakers to explain the rationale behind the strikes and the broader strategy toward Iran.
Those briefings appeared to move several undecided Republicans toward the White House position, helping ensure the resolution’s defeat.
Democrats argued the vote represented a dangerous erosion of Congress’ constitutional authority to decide when the United States goes to war. Kaine framed the resolution as a basic check on presidential power.
“It’s time for the president to keep promises, not break them,” he said ahead of the vote. “That’s why I’m so glad that we’re going to put everybody on the record … Nobody gets to hide and give the president an easy pass or an end run around the Constitution.”
Other Democrats warned the conflict could expand beyond the current air and naval operations. Chris Murphy cautioned that the administration had refused to rule out deploying ground forces.
“They refuse to take off the table the insertion of ground troops,” Murphy said, warning the conflict could spiral. “This is going to make the operations in Libya look like child’s play.”
Republicans countered that the president acted squarely within his authority as commander in chief.
Lindsey Graham argued that the War Powers Act itself represents an unconstitutional attempt by Congress to limit presidential authority.
Others stressed that Congress still retains the ability to cut off funding if lawmakers disagree with a military campaign.
“We don’t need 535 commanders in chief,” said Markwayne Mullin, urging colleagues to reject the resolution.
There was also growing frustration among some Republicans with Kaine’s repeated efforts to force war-powers votes.
Senate Republican leaders privately met Tuesday to discuss the upcoming vote ahead of a classified briefing with senior national security officials including: Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, Dan Caine, Pete Hegseth.
John Barrasso noted that Kaine has introduced multiple war-powers resolutions targeting Trump’s military actions since he returned to office.
“These resolutions have been used only 11 times in 50 years,” Barrasso said. “The senator from Virginia alone accounts for nearly half of them.”
Barrasso also argued Kaine had not introduced similar measures during the presidencies of Barack Obama or Joe Biden.
Despite Wednesday’s vote, the clash underscores a long-running constitutional tug-of-war between Congress and the White House over control of military action.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, while presidents have frequently relied on commander-in-chief authority to conduct limited military operations without formal authorization.
With tensions in the Middle East still rising, lawmakers in both parties acknowledge the war-powers fight is far from over.
BREAKING: The Senate War Powers resolution vote fails 47 to 53. Sen. John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote against it, while Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to support it. pic.twitter.com/lsThoANKui
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