Senate rejects Iran war powers limits

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted 53-47 on Wednesday to block a war-powers resolution that would require congressional approval before the United States continues military action against Iran, according to Reuters and The Associated Press.

The vote fell largely along party lines, with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania opposing the measure and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky backing it, as reported by the BBC and CBS News.

Vote splits along party lines

The measure was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, and sought to curb presidential war powers in the Iran conflict, according to ABC News and The Guardian.

The vote came days after the United States and Israel began striking Iran on Saturday, a campaign that has drawn Iran’s response in the region, per the BBC, CBS News and the AP.

House vote expected

A similar war-powers measure is expected to come up in the House of Representatives on Thursday, according to Reuters and The Guardian.

Democrats argued that the president should seek explicit congressional authorization for continued hostilities in Iran, while Republicans defended the commander-in-chief’s authority to act, as noted by ABC News, the BBC and CBS News.

The Senate’s action leaves the resolution stalled in the upper chamber for now, but it put lawmakers on record on the Iran war and set the stage for the House vote, according to the AP and Reuters.

The 53-47 tally underscored the partisan divide over how to check presidential war powers during the Iran campaign, with cross-party defections limited to Paul and Fetterman, as detailed by the BBC and the AP.

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