The Senate narrowly voted down a measure Thursday that would have forced President Donald Trump to remove U.S. armed forces from “hostilities” with Iran.
In a 50-49 vote, the Senate voted against advancing a war powers resolution to constrain Trump’s ability to wage war without approval by Congress.
Three Republicans — Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) — voted for the measure. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote against it. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) missed the vote because of ongoing health issues.
The vote was procedural, meaning it would have needed another vote before final passage.
The vote came amid tensions between Trump and several retiring lawmakers over the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have refused to back Blanche’s nomination unless the Justice Department agrees in writing that the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead for good. The impasse led Trump to attack Tillis and Cornyn on Truth Social Thursday morning, while also floating the idea of withdrawing Blanche until the three senators leave office next year.
“I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office,” Trump wrote.
Despite the tension, both Tillis and Cornyn voted against tying Trump’s hands on Iran.
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GOP support for the Trump administration’s actions in Iran has remained steady after a fragile ceasefire fell apart on July 8. Since then, four service members have died from Iran-launched strikes. Trump attended a dignified transfer for those soldiers last week.
The resolution was introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and was similar to other war powers resolutions that Democrats have introduced in both the House and Senate.