US House approves war powers resolution to halt military action against Iran, in a rebuke of Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House for the first time on Wednesday approved a war powers resolution that would halt the US military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long conflict that has reordered politics at home and abroad.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war, abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. 

But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.

“Enough is enough,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort.

“It is time for the president to do the right thing,” he said. 

“The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.”

The roll call on Wednesday was 215-208, but the next steps are uncertain.

Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority. 

Still, the tally, with four Republicans joining Democrats, was a rebuke of the president’s war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House chamber.

It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the US war against Iran. 

The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political pushback from his party.

Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the US war swells.

Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end US entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East.

Johnson insisted Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week, and Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume the flow of commerce.

Since the US joined Israel in launching the February 28 strikes on Iran, Americans have seen gas prices spike at the pumps, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.

Iran has been able to interrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer.

“We’re working on that final piece,” said Johnson, R-La. 

“The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopened for commerce. That's what he’s working on.”

While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain. 

Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. 

Meanwhile, military strikes between the US and Iran continue to flare.

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