House Votes to Pass Iran War Powers Resolution

The House of Representatives voted on Sept. 15 to pass a war powers resolution that calls for President Donald Trump to end U.S. military action against Iran.

Following a floor debate on a war powers resolution aimed at directing Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran without congressional authorization, the House voted 220-204 to pass House Concurrent Resolution 93.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) initially introduced the resolution in April.

During Tuesday’s floor debate, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said the war with Iran has been a “strategic failure,” leaving the United States with depleted weapons stockpiles and a “tab of more than $100 billion that taxpayers will have to cover.”

Meeks, who introduced a war powers resolution passed by the House in June, said on Tuesday that the resolution “made clear what the Constitution makes clear: Congress, not the president, has the power to decide when the United States goes to war.”

In his remarks, Meeks asked if the war had produced any of its promised objectives.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains a source of enormous risk to global energy markets, and Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, despite what the administration claims, clearly remain.”

The House previously passed two war powers resolutions in an effort to limit Trump’s authority to direct U.S. military actions against the Iranian regime.

However, the resolutions have only acted as a symbolic rebuke of the president’s military campaign against Iran.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973, also known as the War Powers Act, is a federal law that aims to limit the authority of the president to authorize military actions without congressional approval.

The Trump administration has disputed the War Powers Act as unconstitutional and not binding.

The House voted 215–208 in favor of a war powers resolution directing Trump to end the war in Iran on June 3.

Reps. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) joined all voting Democrats in supporting the resolution.

The vote drew a rebuke from Trump, who criticized the Republicans for joining Democrats to pass the resolution.

On June 23, the Senate voted 50–48 in favor of the concurrent resolution to limit Trump’s ability to direct U.S. military action against Iran.

However, the resolution was reversed the following day after Trump confronted Republican senators.

The House also voted 214–208 on July 23 to pass a war powers resolution directing the president to remove U.S. military forces from hostilities with Iran.

The same four Republican representatives joined Democrats in supporting the measure.

Just hours after the House approved the second war powers resolution, the Senate voted 47–49 against a similar resolution.

The United States launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, conducting strikes on thousands of Iranian military targets.

Trump announced a ceasefire in early April before the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding outlining a plan for peace on June 17.

Following the collapse of the memorandum of understanding, the United States resumed strikes on Iran in July, carrying out nearly two weeks of daily attacks.

As peace talks have stalled over the past couple of months, the Trump administration has also launched Operation Economic Outcast to increase pressure on Iran through sanctions.

On Monday, Trump suggested that his administration was open to possibly resuming negotiations with Iran.

“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly,” Trump wrote in a statement on Truth Social.

“I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage—the concept of which we are open to.”