US House passes war powers resolution directing Trump to end Iran conflict
The Guardian · L · trust 61/100
Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, in Washington DC on 25 June 2025. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, in Washington DC on 25 June 2025. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images House of Representatives US House passes war powers resolution directing Trump to end Iran conflict Resolution, which follows similar one in June, is largely symbolic, as Democrats have few levers to force compliance
Prefer the Guardian on Google The US House of Representatives on Thursday for the second time passed a war powers resolution directing Donald Trump to withdraw the US military from the conflict with Iran, amid renewed fighting that has driven oil prices to their highest levels in weeks and claimed four American lives.
The resolution proposed by Democrat Pramila Jayapal passed by a 214-208 vote, largely along party lines. The same four Republicans who had helped pass a nearly identical resolution in June – Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – joined with all Democrats in attendance to vote in favor.
The war powers resolution passed last month was later approved by the Senate, in a significant bipartisan rebuke of the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran in February and sparking a regional conflict that opinion polls have consistently shown is unpopular with the US public.
“This is not a partisan issue,” Jayapal said following the vote. “Vast majorities of Americans, of all parties, believe that this is an unconstitutional, illegal war that needs to stop. It was not authorized by Congress, and it has cost us incredible tolls: [the] lives of 18 service members, millions who have been displaced and thousands who have been injured.”
Later on Thursday, the Senate rejected a similar resolution proposed by Democrat Chris Van Hollen in a 47-49 vote, largely along party lines.
The House measure’s passage is nonetheless largely symbolic, as the Trump administration has argued war powers resolutions are unconstitutional, and Democrats’ minority status in the House and Senate leaves them with few options to force compliance.
Read more In debate ahead of the vote, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, Greg Meeks, accused the president of violating the law.
“Let me be clear: this body has already spoken. The war powers resolution passed with bipartisan support in the House and the Senate. The Trump administration was required to end its hostilities against Iran . It has not,” Meeks said.
He later announced plans to introduce a resolution to compel Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, to bring a lawsuit against Trump to make him adhere to the resolutions. That proposal would face long odds, as Johnson is a close ally of Trump, as well as a lengthy wait, since the House is out of session through the majority of August.
The resolution’s passage nonetheless underscore the continued ability of Democrats to seize on divisions among House Republicans – as well as their narrow majority in the chamber – to embarrass the president.
Massie’s libertarian politics have brought him into conflict with Trump, and he lost his primary in May after Trump endorsed his opponent. Davidson harbors similar beliefs, while Barrett and Fitzpatrick represent swing districts and are top targets in November’s midterm elections.
“If we want a war, or need one, we should apply the lessons from history and our Constitution,” Davidson said on social media following the vote, listing steps including “define the mission”, “declare/authorize the war” and “multiply allies, not enemies”.
“Otherwise, avoid / exit the war with diplomacy or maneuver,” he said.
The resolution’s passage offered a contrast to the day prior, when House Republicans had advanced both a $95bn budget blueprint that will chiefly be spent on military needs related to the Iran war, and a $1.15tn defense spending bill.
The former is facing major delays in the Senate, while the latter is set to see major revisions, since it requires Democratic votes to pass and Johnson allowed the insertion of strict new regulations on voters that the minority party refuses to support.
Fighting has meanwhile renewed in the Middle East, with Iran attacking US military bases around the region in recent days amid retaliatory American airstrikes. The Tehran-aligned Houthis in Yemen have threatened to halt Saudi oil shipments through the Red Sea, and announced on Thursday they had attacked two tankers, which drove crude prices upwards.
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