The chamber rejected a resolution to force the president to end the war after he criticized Republicans for undermining his administration’s negotiations.
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The Senate rejected a resolution Wednesday to block President Donald Trump from resuming the war with Iran after he complained that the passage of a similar resolution Tuesday undermined ongoing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.
The resolution failed 50-47 on a late-night procedural vote. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who voted with Democrats for Tuesday’s resolution, flipped and voted against advancing this one. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who has voted for every previous resolution since the war started, voted present rather than directly opposing Trump.
“My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times,” Paul wrote on X. “But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so. My vote of present is a way to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”
Two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), voted with Democrats to advance the resolution. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (Pennsylvania), voted against it.
The vote is a defeat for Democrats who celebrated the passage of a similar war powers resolution Tuesday as a symbolic rebuke of the unpopular war.
Trump berated the four Republicans who voted for Tuesday’s resolution publicly and privately, writing on social media that they “provided aid and comfort [to] the Enemy.” He questioned why any Republican would vote for such a resolution during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, which led to a shouting match with Cassidy.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) described Trump as “mad as a murder hornet” about the vote during lunch.
“Put yourself in his shoes,” Kennedy told reporters. “He’s right in the middle of delicate negotiations and the Senate votes to get out of Iran.”
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Democrats have forced repeated votes since the start of the war in February to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 states that the president must remove U.S. forces engaged in hostilities abroad without congressional authorization if Congress passes such a resolution, though the White House and some Republicans have argued that it is unconstitutional.
Wednesday night’s vote was the second procedural vote on this resolution after the Senate voted last month to advance it. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), who introduced the resolution, said he did not want to force the next vote on it until he secured enough Republican support to be sure it would pass.
But it was Republicans — not Democrats — who forced Wednesday’s vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the No. 2 Senate Republican, worked with the administration after the contentious lunch to convince Senate Republicans who supported previous resolutions to switch their votes, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the discussions.
Cassidy, who pressed Trump during the lunch on why the war had dragged on so long, said Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, briefed him Wednesday afternoon.
“I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” Cassidy wrote on X.
Kaine blamed the defeat on the “temper tantrum” that Trump threw during his lunch with Republican senators and said it did not negate the passage of Tuesday’s resolution to block Trump from resuming the war.
“The vote is of no consequence and does not undo the expressed position of Congress that further war against Iran is illegal unless Congress votes for it,” Kaine said in a statement.
But Trump immediately hailed it as a victory, thanking Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Thune on social media for their efforts.
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“This vote puts Iran on notice!” Trump wrote.
