Newsman: The US Congress has officially opted not to immediately halt U.S. involvement in the rapidly escalating Iran war after a pair of back-to-back votes went down unsuccessfully in the Senate and House of Representatives.
A House vote on March 5 over a war powers resolution failed mostly on party lines. The blocked measures would’ve immediately halted American hostilities against Iran. Republicans nearly uniformly batted it down, with the help of a few Democrats. It came after a similar doomed vote the prior day in the Senate.
Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, voted with Democrats to immediately halt American hostilities against Iran. Four Democrats bucked their party, guaranteeing the resolution would fail. They were Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio and Juan Vargas of California.
Most Republicans in both legislative chambers held together in opposition to them, standing by President Donald Trump’s decision to attack the country and launch a regional war that has killed more than 1,000 people, primarily Iranians and at least half a dozen Americans, in just days.
Some Democrats urged their colleagues to instead support a separate, more tempered war powers measure that will come up for a vote at a later date.
The House on March 5 also overwhelmingly reaffirmed that Iran “remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism.” The bipartisanship nature of that vote demonstrated just how complex the politics of the Iran war are – especially with American troops already in harm’s way.
