Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: For the first time, the Senate, the Upper Chamber of the US Congress, on Tuesday approved the War Powers resolution in rebuke to President Donald Trump over the Iran conflict, refused to provide any more money, and asked him to end hostilities immediately, the media reported.
It was the 10th time the Senate had tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50–48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts. The US Congress is heading for mid-term polls in November 2026.
While the resolution is largely symbolic and does not carry the full force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from several Republican lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and Senate over the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday, “We should not spend another dime of taxpayer dollars on Operation Epic Failure,” ridiculing Trump’s Operation Epic Furywhich he claimed ended on April 8 with Iran ceasefire.
The Senate voted to limit President Trump’s ability to conduct military operations against Iran without congressional authorization after four Republicans joined with Democrats in a stinging rebuke to the President a week after he electronically signed a controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian while in Switzerland.
The fresh resolution, passed by the Senate on Tuesday afternoon in a 50-48 vote, directed Trump to remove US armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by Congress, other than to defend America, an ally or partner from “imminent attack.”
The resolution, previously passed by the Lower Chamber, the House, is nonbinding but marks the first time both chambers of Congress have passed the same measure to curb Trump’s power to wage the war against Iran.
The vote also comes as the Pentagon is seeking USD 80 billion from Congress mostly for the Iran war as it backfills munitions and stockpiles, as lawmakers warily watch President Trump’s efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund.
For the first time, both chambers of Congress passed a resolution directing a president to withdraw US armed forces from hostilities since the War Powers Resolution, commonly known as the War Powers Act, was enacted in 1973. While likely to remain largely symbolic, the vote was a setback for Trump, who until recently had enjoyed near-unanimous support from Republican members of Congress.
Trump’s response
Trump responded angrily on Tuesday night on his Truth Social platform, calling the vote “poorly timed and meaningless,” and saying it “provided aid and comfort” to Iran.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, “Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people.”
Schumer said Americans have paid the price for “Trump’s historic blunder in Iran. It’ll go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made.”
In the past, four GOP senators have voted for the war powers resolutions, and they did so Tuesday – Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against.
Trump bashed the four Republicans as losers, saying, “These senators have made my job more difficult.”
On this vote, the absence of two Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital recently for an undisclosed matter, left the GOP without a full majority to halt the effort. Senator Dave McCormick also missed the vote.
Trump will meet with GOP senators after Vice President JD Vance leaves to negotiate with Iran to end its nuclear ambitions – which had been among the stated rationales for the ongoing war since it started on February 28 this year.
The terms of the Iran deal are spelled out in a MoU that Trump signed last week, starting a 60-day clock for the sides to reach a broader agreement over ending Iran’s nuclear programme.
But Republicans have particularly objected to the demand for USD 300 billion fund to help Iran rebuild, which is far greater than the USD 1.7 billion then-President Barack Obama refunded the country under his administration’s 2015 Iran deal.
On Tuesday, a White House official said the Senate vote has no significance because the resolutions do not go to the President and have no force of law and the measure passed only because two Republicans were absent.
It directs Trump to remove US forces from hostilities, which the White House says were terminated with a ceasefire on April 7.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is seeking USD 80 billion in supplemental funding to shore up defense supplies in the aftermath of the Iran war, which is drawing scrutiny when many Americans are reeling from high gas prices and costs of living.
The Pentagon early on had estimated the war cost USD 11.3 billion during its first week, and senators said experts put the overall price tag of Operation Epic Fury higher, at some USD 100 billion.
The Trump administration is seeking USD 1.5 trillion in defense funding this year – a nearly 50 per cent increase – including USD 350 billion that it wants in a so-called budget reconciliation package. Johnson and GOP leaders are working to pass that package on their own, over the objections of Democrats, much the way they approved Trump’s big tax cuts bill last year.
The 2025 tax cuts package also included a sizable increase for the military.
Some Republicans recently balked at Trump’s USD 1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate political allies he says have been targeted by federal authorities and stalled a USD 70 billion bill to fund his immigration crackdown. Poll results released on Tuesday showed that just one in four Americans believe the war with Iran was worth its costs, and a majority worry that a truce with Tehran is unlikely to last.
Comments are closed.