House Votes To End War In Iran, Dealing Trump Another Loss

House lawmakers on Thursday again rebuked President Donald Trump’s handling of the war in Iran, as hostilities flare in the Middle East.

Four Republicans broke ranks to help approve a Democratic-led war powers resolution in a 214-208 vote. It was the second time the House has narrowly rejected the renewed war.

The vote is another sign that lawmakers are increasingly unhappy with the conflict, as peace talks flounder and the two sides sharply escalated hostilities in recent weeks — resulting in the deaths of four U.S. military personnel in the Middle East over the weekend.

The Senate could follow suit later this morning in a separate war powers vote. The resolutions are legally untested and largely symbolic. The House measure would not go to Trump to sign into law, and the president would almost certainly veto any binding legislation that restricts his authority.

Both the House and Senate cleared legislation to end the war in June. Trump is certain to ignore those votes and is likely to do so again this time.

But Democrats again demonstrated that they can pick off enough Republicans to hand Trump an embarrassing loss. Democrats have relied on the war powers measures — one of the few tools at their disposal — to force Republicans on the record over the unpopular conflict, as the GOP risks being blamed for high gas prices just months ahead of midterm elections.

"What this reflects is that we will continue to put pressure on this president to stand up and to stop this war," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the sponsor of the resolution. "Working in a bipartisan way, we want to make sure that all the Republicans stand up for the Constitution, for their conscience, and for their constituents."

Four Republicans who previously voted to end the war did so Thursday: Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

The war, launched in February by the U.S. and Israel, is now in its fifth month and shows no signs of ending soon. A shaky ceasefire first declared in April collapsed earlier this month, as the U.S. and Iran traded attacks and Trump reimposed a naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

The White House had argued that the ceasefire stopped a 60-day deadline to end the conflict without congressional buy-in under the War Powers Resolution. The president then notified lawmakers last week that the nation was once again at war with Tehran, in a bid to reset the 60-day clock. Critics contend that the administration’s justification is a misreading of the war powers law, noting that the U.S. has engaged in hostilities — namely a naval blockade — even during the ceasefire.

Despite the handful of GOP defections, most Republicans stuck with Trump.

“There were a small number of Republicans that joined us to pass this bill, but it is important to note that the vast majority of Republicans did not follow their consciences and did not listen to their constituents, and voted instead just to keep on spending billions more dollars on this war,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said the vote shows “that you have a number of members that have zero recognition” for the sacrifice of U.S. troops and the attacks by Iran in the region.

The Senate is slated to vote Thursday morning to advance a separate war powers measure from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Leo Shane contributed to this report.