Powerful speech by Senator Sheehy

United States Naval academy graduate and U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy spoke on the U.S. Senate floor casting his vote against the Iran War Powers Resolution.

The Senate voted 47–49, failing to advance a legally binding joint resolution sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the sole Democrat to vote against it, while Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted with Democrats. Key Republicans like Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were absent or voted present, preventing the measure from clearing the chamber.

Iran War Powers Resolution

Senate reverses course on Iran war powers resolution after Trump rallies Republican holdouts

The U.S. Senate handed President Trump a clear win late Wednesday, rejecting a Democratic war powers resolution that would have directed him to withdraw American forces from hostilities with Iran unless Congress authorized the mission.

The procedural motion failed 47-50-1, a sharp reversal from just one day earlier, when four Republican senators had defected to help pass a nearly identical measure.

The turnaround came after Trump met with GOP senators in a closed-door session that multiple outlets described as heated. Within hours, two key Republican holdouts, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, changed their positions, collapsing the bipartisan coalition that had briefly embarrassed the White House.

The result killed Sen. Tim Kaine's resolution, which would have ordered Trump to "remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran" without congressional authorization.

Had it cleared both chambers, Trump would have needed to veto it. Instead, the measure never got that far.

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Thank God for John Fetterman

Senate blocks Democratic push to curb Trump's Iran war powers in one-vote defeat

The Senate on Tuesday rejected a Democratic-led effort to force President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, falling one vote short in a 47-to-48 tally that landed the same day Trump was promoting a framework agreement with Tehran.

The motion would have discharged Sen. Raphael Warnock's war powers resolution from committee and brought it to the full chamber for debate. Four Republicans crossed the aisle to support it. One Democrat, Pennsylvania's John Fetterman, voted no.

Tuesday's vote was the latest in a string of failed attempts to reassert congressional authority over the Iran conflict. CBS News reported that the Senate had tried and failed seven times before it finally advanced a war powers resolution last month, when senators approved a separate motion to discharge a resolution from committee by a 50-to-47 vote. Three Republican members were absent for that earlier tally.

This time, all senators appeared to be present, and the math worked against the resolution's backers. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky sided with nearly every Democrat. But Fetterman's defection, the only one in his caucus, made the difference.

The resolution itself, Senate Joint Resolution 172, would direct the president to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized the use of force through a declaration of war or a specific statutory authorization.

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Tlaib goes down in defeat for big Lie

House rejects Tlaib war powers resolution on Lebanon in lopsided 324-92 vote

The House dealt Rep. Rashida Tlaib a decisive defeat Thursday, voting 324 to 92 to block her war powers resolution that would have directed President Trump to withdraw U.S. armed forces from Lebanon within seven days. The margin was not close, and the Michigan Democrat's own party leadership helped ensure it wasn't.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar all came out against the measure before the vote, issuing a joint statement that undercut Tlaib's central premise. CBS News reported that the three Democratic leaders declared flatly that there are no U.S. servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon.

That left Tlaib arguing for a withdrawal from a conflict her own leadership said does not exist, at least not in the way her resolution described it.

Tlaib forced the vote after weeks of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. She framed the United States as an "active participant" in what she called Israel's "ethnic cleansing campaign" and "war crimes." Those are her words, labeled as framing claims, not established facts.

On the House floor Wednesday night, Tlaib made a specific accusation about the Trump administration's role:

"The Trump administration is providing intelligence, coordinating strikes and demonstrating overt command over Israeli decisions."

She offered no publicly cited evidence for that claim during floor debate. The resolution itself directed the president to pull U.S. armed forces "from Lebanon" within a week of adoption, broad language that drew objections from both sides of the aisle.

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Vote fails to limit Trump's Iran War Powers

House Narrowly Rejects Democrat Attempt To Limit Trump’s Iran War Powers

House Republicans narrowly blocked a Democratic effort to curb President Donald Trump’s authority to continue U.S. military operations against Iran, underscoring the party’s support for the administration as it signals the conflict could soon wind down.

The House voted 213–214 against a war powers resolution introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) that would have required Trump to end hostilities absent explicit congressional approval.

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was the only Democrat to oppose the measure, joining Republicans. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the sole Republican to support it, while Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present.

With a slim majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) could afford only two GOP defections in a party-line vote.

The failed resolution comes amid an ongoing push by House Democrats to force a vote asserting Congress’ constitutional authority over military engagement. They plan on voting every week.

In the Senate, Republicans have also stymied similar efforts. On Wednesday, GOP lawmakers blocked a war powers resolution that would have required congressional authorization for continued military action. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the only Republican to support the measure.

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Democrats' War Powers Resolution fails in Senate

Senate Rejects Measure Aimed at Blocking Trump’s Iran War Operation

The war powers resolution failed to advance in the Senate. The House will vote on a similar measure today.

A resolution to require President Trump to seek congressional approval for any further action in Iran failed to advance in the Senate, five days after the U.S. and Israel launched a military campaign against the Iranian regime.

The vote was 47-53, largely along party lines. If passed, the resolution would have blocked further U.S. military action in Iran without congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Act.

That legislation passed during the Vietnam War to give Congress a legal check on executive war authority. The 1973 act also requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces into hostilities and to end the deployment within 60 days unless Congress authorizes or extends it.

President Trump did notify Congress and the Senate via the Gang of Eight within the 48 hours rule.

Specifically, the Gang of Eight includes the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate Committee and House Committee for intelligence as set forth by 50 U.S.C. § 3093(c)(2).

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Senate votes to expand War Powers Act

Senate Advances Resolution to Limit Trump's War Powers After Venezuela

The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump's ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a later vote for final passage. It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the House.

Still, it was a significant gesture that showed unease among some Republicans after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

Trump's administration is now seeking to control Venezuela's oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.

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War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)

Biden Flexes War Powers: Is America Bracing for a Conflict?

President Joe Biden has officially notified Congress that he has authorized military force against terror groups funded and trained by Iran.

In a letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, Biden named Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the mastermind behind attacks on US military forces in Iraq and Syria.

He cited US strikes against facilities used by the IRGC and IRGC-affiliated groups for command and control, munitions storage, and other purposes, emphasizing that these strikes were conducted to protect American personnel and deter further attacks.

Letter from the White House...

Senators want to strip Biden of War Powers

Bipartisan group of Senators introduce bill to STRIP Biden of war powers

U.S. senators introduced bipartisan legislation on Wednesday to repeal decades-old authorizations for the use of military force used to justify years of attacks in the Middle East, an effort to shift back the authority to declare war to Congress from the White House.

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