President Donald Trump dodged a rebuke of his authorization of strikes against Iran, this time in the House, after a handful of centrist Democrats voted to tank a bipartisan war powers resolution.
The resolution, sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), failed 219-212. Four Democrats joined almost all Republicans in voting against the legislation, which would halt Trump’s ability to conduct war in Iran unless he received approval from Congress.
The Senate voted down a similar war powers resolution on Wednesday. Even if it had passed both chambers, Trump would have been likely to veto it.
Among the four Democrats who voted no were Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Greg Landsman (D-OH).
Defections from Democrats were expected. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters ahead of the vote that he was working to get “strong Democratic support” for the war powers resolution but noted that there was a “handful of people who are undecided.”
“As is the case, in any other instance, we’re down to the wire. … We continue to talk with each other,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries and several House Democratic committee leaders have blasted Trump for providing no evidence of the immediate threat posed by Iran that would authorize the strikes, which began early Saturday morning.
“Donald Trump is not a king, and if he believes the war with Iran is in our national interest, then he must come to Congress and make the case,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on the House floor Wednesday.
Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) were the two Republicans who voted for the war powers resolution. Davidson announced he would be a “yes” on the House floor on Wednesday, sharing similar sentiments with his Democratic colleagues that Congress, not the president, should make the call on declaring war.
“America is a republic, not an empire,” Davidson said. “So I encourage everyone to honor their oath and support our Constitution. Vote yes on this resolution.”
House Republican leadership has been staunch supporters of Trump’s actions in Iran. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said passing a war powers resolution would be a “frightening prospect.”
“The idea that we would take the ability of our commander in chief, the president, take his authority away right now to finish this job, is a frightening prospect to me,” Johnson told reporters after lawmakers of both parties were briefed on the Iran operation by Trump administration officials on Tuesday.
Democrats leaving that meeting were largely unanimous in their assessment of the briefing — that it was worthless.
“We got no additional information on what the imminent threat was,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) told reporters after the briefing. “There were a lot of references to the 47 years of Iran being a problem. … That is in the past. Imminent means immediate threat to the U.S. That was just not addressed at all.”