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THIRD TIME'S NOT THE CHARM

Senate rejects Iran war powers effort for third time in a month

The vote again fell largely along party lines, with only Sens. John Fetterman and Rand Paul defecting from their parties

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The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at sunset on May 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.

For the third time in a month, Senate Republicans on Tuesday evening blocked an effort by Democrats to halt U.S. operations in Iran.

The war powers resolution, this time led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), is part of a series of efforts by Senate Democrats to disrupt business on the Senate floor to force a reckoning and public testimony by Cabinet officials about the war in Iran.

Democrats have four other such resolutions filed, which they could call up for votes at a time of their choosing, using special procedures allowing lawmakers to force votes on war powers resolutions.

The Senate again rejected the resolution 53-47, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) once again voting in favor of the war effort and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) again voting against it.

The mostly party-line vote comes in spite of recent comments by some Senate Republicans pushing for the war to come to an end.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), another leader of the Democratic war powers push, said that the group plans to continue to force weekly votes on the issue. He acknowledged before the vote that the results might not change this week, but suggested that some Republican colleagues might be won over if the war continues to drag on, troops are sent to invade Iran or oil prices continue to spike.

Kaine indicated that he was not encouraged by President Donald Trump’s comments that he considered the U.S. to have “won” the war in Iran or his recent claims of engaging in productive talks with the regime.

“If he announces that it’s over, that will be good news,” Kaine told Jewish Insider. “Now, the consequences are not going to be over for a very long time, and Virginians are going to be suffering the consequences of something that lacked a rationale and lacked a plan for a very long time, in all likelihood. But the minute he announces it’s over, that will be positive — if he doesn’t change his mind, but he could change his mind.”

The House is expected to vote this week on a similar measure led by Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY). A separate House measure led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and other pro-Israel moderates which would limit the war effort to 30 days — a period which will expire next week — could also come to a vote soon.

At least one House Democrat who voted previously against a war powers resolution and backed the U.S. operations in Iran has said he plans to vote for the Meeks resolution this week.

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