The US House votes to limit Trump’s war powers in Iran
The US House barely passes a resolution to limit Trump’s military power over Iran, with worries about the risk of a war getting worse shared by both parties.
The US House of Representatives decided to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to take more military action in Iran. This was a rare condemnation of the ongoing conflict from both parties.
The bill was passed by a vote of 215 to 208, with four Republicans voting with the Democrats. They are trying to limit the president’s war powers for the fourth time since the conflict started in February.
Now the measure goes to the Senate, which is run by Republicans. Its fate there is still uncertain, even if it gets a full vote. A related bill made it to the floor in May but hasn’t been discussed yet.
This move shows that Trump’s Republican Party is becoming more divided over how to handle the war and how much military power the president should have.
Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, who backed the bill, explained his choice by saying that Congress needs to keep playing its constitutional role.
“Only Congress can declare war, and that’s something we need to protect,” he said, adding that he was ready to deal with any political fallout from his vote.
The Democrats said the vote was a strong political statement against what they called an “illegal and expensive war” in Iran.
Representative Gregory Meeks said that the result indicated that lawmakers and voters are becoming more worried about keeping troops in the Middle East for a long time.
“The passage of this measure today signifies a significant shift,” Meeks stated, noting that an increasing number of Republicans were responding to the public’s opposition to another war that would never end.
The conflict got worse after the US and Israel attacked Iran in February. This led to attacks all over the region, including ones on US partners in the Gulf. As a response, Tehran has also attacked key locations, which has made things even worse in the region.
Even though a truce was agreed upon in April, fighting has continued on and off, with both sides accusing the other of new attacks.
Before the election, Trump said that talks to end the war were going well and could be over soon, which made it sound like a deal might be close.
He said, “We’ve gotten along very well with them” and that talks were “very close to signing a paper.”
