House GOP yanks Iran war powers vote amid fears it could pass

House Republican leadership canceled a vote on the latest Iran War Powers Resolution right before it was supposed to be brought to the floor on Thursday evening. It would have been the fourth such effort in the House since the war started in late February.

The three previous votes had slowly garnered support from the few Democratic holdouts and a few Republicans. The most recent attempt ended in a 212-212 tie, and Jared Golden (D-Maine), the lone Democrat to oppose the resolution, said he would vote in favor of the next one.

That, in addition to nine Republican absences in the proceeding vote on unrelated legislation on Thursday, and the potential for a handful more Republican votes, meant that the push to rebuke President Donald Trump’s war effort was expected to succeed.

“The next time they bring it, it’s passing,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), one of three members of his party to support the measure when it was last voted on earlier this month, told Politico after the vote.

Democrats, who have pledged to keep bringing war powers resolutions to the floor until one passes, blasted Republican leadership for their maneuver to delay a vote on privileged legislation.

On the House floor, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), asked “what has happened with the Iran War Powers Resolution? (...) Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war that is costing tens of billions of dollars?” He accused his Republican counterparts of not having the “guts” to follow through with the vote.

Three members of Democratic caucus leadership — Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) — released a statement calling the decision to pull the vote “cowardly.”

“Donald Trump and (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth took us to war without clear objectives, an exit strategy, public support or the authorization required by the United States Congress,” they wrote. “The Republican-controlled House continues to behave like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump administration.”

The vote would have been subject to a White House veto. But its passage would have marked a second consecutive political setback for the Trump administration’s policy in Iran. In a procedural vote in the Senate earlier this week, four Republicans defected in a 50-47 vote that advanced a bill to restrict Trump’s ability to wage war without congressional approval.

The war remains unpopular with the American public. Even Republican voters, who broadly support the effort, are starting to say that it is increasing their cost of living.

“As tonight shows, the deck is stacked against pro-peace Americans: even when a majority of Americans oppose a war, and a majority of Congress opposes a war, Congressional leaders find ways to cancel a vote so that the war can continue!,” the pro-diplomacy group NIAC said in a statement on X.

“This cowardice makes a mockery of the democratic process - but it will not silence Americans who are in the right that oppose this catastrophic, illegal war. We will keep up the momentum until we bring this disastrous and backfiring war to a close.”

The administration, for its part, has argued that it does not need an authorization from the legislature because the hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that started at the end of February were “terminated,” and the 60-day clock for securing a congressional go-ahead was therefore stopped. But many legal experts and the members of Congress say this is an incorrect interpretation of the statute.

“The Constitution is clear: Congress decides whether this country goes to war, not one person in the White House. Instead of casting a tough vote, GOP leadership pulled it from the floor. That is a disgrace, and the American people are watching,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said on social media.

“Republicans are too scared to check executive power. Today, they pulled the War Powers Resolution rather than vote on it,” added Rep. Brittany Peterson (D-Colo.) “They knew they'd lose. So instead of ending Trump's illegal war in Iran, they killed the vote. Too weak to follow the Constitution. Too loyal to Trump to do their jobs.”

The vote may now be postponed until next month, when Congress returns from recess. Trump said this week that the U.S. would not immediately resume the war, but that it was prepared to do so if an agreement with Iran about its nuclear program is not reached.