June 28 (UPI) — Senate Democrats have failed in their attempt to curtail President Donald Trump‘s ability to use the military against Iran without congressional approval.
The vote Friday night was 53-47. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with Democrats to approve the resolution, and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote no in invoking the War Powers Act of 1973.
“If we are to ask our young men and women to fight, and potentially give their lives, then we in this body can at least muster the courage to debate if American military intervention is warranted,” Paul who has advocated for restrained foreign policy, said on the Senate floor before the vote.
“Abdicating our constitutional responsibility by allowing the executive branch to unilaterally introduce U.S. troops into wars is an affront to the Constitution, and the American people,” he said.
Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel, told reporters he voted against the resolution “simply because I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat, to do this kind of military exercise.”
Days before Trump authorized B-2 stealth bombers to strike three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, Sen. Tim Kaine had already introduced a resolution under the War Powers Act of 1973, which limits a president’s power to enter an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. Israel first struck Iran on June 13 in an effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Congress has not issued a formal declaration of war since World War II.
The War Powers Act was approved after President Richard Nixon expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Congress sought Nixon’s power to continue expanding the war amid deep national displeasure about the war. Nixon vetoed the bill, which was overridden by a near unanimous vote of Congress.
In this new situation, the White House would need approval from the House and Senate before U.S. forces could use further military action against Iran.
“I think the events of this week have demonstrated that war is too big to be consigned to the decision of any one person,” Kaine said on the Senate floor. “War is too big an issue to leave to the moods and the whims and the daily vibes of any one person.”
In 2020, eight Republicans joined Democrats in preventing Trump from acting against Iran during his first term in the White House.
“I’ll be voting with Republicans against the war power resolution. When we’re talking about nuclear weapons, the president should have the discretion he needs to act,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who supported the 2020 resolution, posted Thursday X.
Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, joined her Republican colleagues to vote against the bill.
“I continue to believe that Congress has an important responsibility to authorize the sustained use of military force. That is not the situation we are facing now. The President has the authority to defend our nation and our troops around the world against the threat of attack,” Collins wrote on X after the vote.
In the House, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky had also introduced a war powers resolution but decided not to press for a vote amid the cease-fire in the Iran-Israel conflict, which announced Monday as his supports hit out against Massie.
The Pro Trump PAC MAGA Kentucky released an ad titled “What Happened to Thomas Massie?” seeking his ouster from the House in 2026 after an interview about the resolution on Sunday morning.