{"id":122406,"date":"2026-05-20T04:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/122406\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T04:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:10:53","slug":"senate-advances-bill-aimed-at-ending-iran-war-as-cassidy-after-primary-loss-flips-to-support-it-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/122406\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate advances bill aimed at ending Iran war as Cassidy, after primary loss, flips to support it"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Senate advanced legislation Tuesday that seeks to force President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Iran war,<\/a> as a growing number of Republicans defied the president\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

Since Trump ordered the attack on Iran at the end of February, Democrats have forced repeated votes on war powers resolutions that would require him to either gain congressional approval for the war or withdraw troops. Republicans had been able to muster the votes to reject those proposals, but Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy \u2014 fresh off a primary election loss in which Trump endorsed his opponent \u2014 switched sides to deliver a crucial vote to advance the legislation.<\/p>\n

The 50-47 vote tally showed that a small but\u00a0growing number of Republicans<\/a>\u00a0are willing to challenge Trump on the Iran war, even though the effort may not advance much further. Three Republicans were absent Tuesday and their votes would be enough to defeat the measure, if they maintain their stance on the war.<\/p>\n

Still, the vote showed how Republicans are increasingly uneasy with a conflict that shows no signs of ending, is stuck in a fragile ceasefire and is causing rising gas prices in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are starting to crack, and momentum is building to check him,\u201d Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement after the vote. \u201cWe are not letting up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska had all previously voted for similar war powers resolutions and did so again Tuesday. Cassidy supported the legislation for the first time, while Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was again the only Democrat to vote against it.<\/p>\n

After his primary election loss last week, Cassidy returned to Washington defiant. He said he was proud of his work to uphold the Constitution and would carefully consider how he would vote on several priorities of the Trump administration going forward.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s grip on the Senate Republican Conference is potentially slipping after Cassidy\u2019s primary loss, as well as the\u00a0president\u2019s decision Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0to endorse Republican Sen. John Cornyn\u2019s primary opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I support the administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle Iran\u2019s nuclear program, the White House and Pentagon have left Congress in the dark on Operation Epic Fury,\u201d Cassidy said on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the administration provides clarity, no congressional authorization or extension can be justified.\u201d<\/p>\n

House will also vote on war powers<\/p>\n

Across the Capitol, the House is expected to vote on a similar war powers resolution Wednesday, and Democrats are bullish about their chances of passing it. Another war powers resolution barely failed in the House last week, the vote ending in a tie.<\/p>\n

Even if Congress eventually passes legislation to compel Trump to withdraw from the conflict, it\u2019s not clear that he would comply. To circumvent requirements of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the White House has claimed that it has technically ceased \u201chostilities\u201d with Iran because there is a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Trump this week said he\u00a0ordered preparations<\/a>\u00a0for an attack on Iran on Tuesday, only to call it off to give allies in the Gulf more time to work out an agreement with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeace negotiations are stuck and so day after day after day grocery prices climb, gas prices climb,\u201d Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in a floor speech.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers want more information on Iran war<\/p>\n

On Capitol Hill, patience is clearly running out for a war that Trump launched without congressional approval.<\/p>\n

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he is supportive of Trump\u2019s decision to go to war, but that more Republicans are growing concerned about a long-term plan. The administration may have to go into more detail about that, Rounds said.<\/p>\n

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 \u201cdoes provide an avenue for that discussion and debate to occur,\u201d Rounds said.<\/p>\n

He said he believes it\u2019s not the right time to do that, and he would rather \u201cstand strong with the president\u201d at this point. \u201cBut I think a number of our members maybe just feel like it\u2019s time to have the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Republican senators voted to advance a war powers resolution on the conflict with Venezuela and compelled the Trump administration to make its case to Congress for the military campaign.<\/p>\n

A handful of GOP senators\u00a0forced a final vote on legislation<\/a>\u00a0to withdraw from the conflict. Two of the Republicans \u2014 Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri \u2014 ultimately flipped after Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed to a public hearing about the administration\u2019s Venezuela strategy.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Senate advanced legislation Tuesday that seeks to force President Donald Trump to withdraw from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[18259,1912,1275,38,41672,34,196,1915,1288,1289,2791],"class_list":["post-122406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-bill","tag-bill-cassidy","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-ending-war","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-legislation","tag-republicans","tag-senate","tag-vote"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116604953135074527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}