WASHINGTON — The House offered a rare rebuke to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, passing a Democratic-led measure to end his war with Iran over objections from Republican leadership.
It was one of two Democratic-led measures opposed by the White House that advanced in the GOP-led House. Lawmakers later passed a motion that would unlock a vote on sending aid to Ukraine.
The Iran war powers resolution, offered by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, had been heading for a vote before the House left for its Memorial Day recess May 21. But it was abruptly pulled from the floor when it appeared too many Republicans were absent to defeat it.
On Wednesday, it passed 215-208, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting yes: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
The resolution directs Trump to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran, unless Congress votes to declare war or authorizes using military force against it. It would not force him to end the conflict, however; it is a symbolic expression of disapproval of the war with Iran.
Republicans had rejected three other attempts to pass a war powers resolution this year. The most recent vote ended in a 212-212 tie, and Democrats celebrated, saying that more Americans are turning against the war and that it was only a matter of time before they would be successful.
Wednesday’s vote gives momentum for the resolution in the Senate, which had already advanced its own war powers resolution on the floor last month but had not yet held a final vote. The Senate version has teeth, however, and it would require Trump to end the war without congressional approval. But it would need to pass the House, and then Trump could veto it.
A White House official responded to the House vote by noting that a handful of GOP lawmakers were absent for it and that previous efforts on similar resolutions were unsuccessful.
The House resolution was opposed by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and most Republicans, who complained that it undermines Trump and his top negotiators when they are trying to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., called Wednesday’s action “just a total BS vote.”
“I think there’s no Democrat, no Republican, that can tell you what forces they would want pulled from Iran. There’s really nothing they actually want pulled from there. They just want a stupid political vote, which is what this is,” Mast said Wednesday. That “weakens the president’s hands as he’s negotiating with Iran.”
In the same vote series Wednesday, the House voted 218-204 in favor of a motion to “discharge,” or bring forward, legislation that would provide aid to Ukraine. That vote took place after the so-called discharge petition reached 218 signatures — a simple majority of the chamber — on May 13, allowing supporters to bypass Johnson and GOP leadership and bring the measure directly to the floor.
Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, a Republican-turned-independent, joined all Democrats and two Republicans, Fitzpatrick and Don Bacon of Nebraska, in signing the Ukraine petition.
Kiley and six Republicans voted Wednesday to discharge the bill. That sets up a final vote Thursday.
“This vote is not a process vote,” said Meeks, who also led the discharge effort. “It’s a statement on whether this Congress and all of its members stand with and support Ukraine and the people of Ukraine and its fight for freedom, its fight for democracy and its fight for liberty.”
