The Senate voted in favor of a war powers resolution to limit President Donald Trump’s military authority over Iran which directs him to pull United States military troops out of the conflict with Iran.
In a 50-48 vote on Tuesday, the Senate adopted the war powers resolution, which instructs Trump to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” CBS News reported.
The resolution was described as being “concurrent,” which means Trump’s signature is not needed, according to the outlet.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Rand Paul (R-KY) joined with Senate Democrats in supporting the war powers resolution, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) opposed it.
The Senate’s adoption of the war powers resolution comes after the House voted on June 3 in favor of the resolution “after three previous failed attempts,” according to the outlet.
In a video posted to X by CSPAN, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, called upon his colleagues to oppose the measure, adding that there are “no armed forces at this moment that are engaged in hostilities with Iran.”
“I’m going to urge everyone to vote no on this. It is wrong on so many levels. Starting with the fact that a concurrent resolution process, which this attempts to do, has been held unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. So, whatever happens with this, it’s going to have no effect. The President isn’t going to pay any attention to it. That’s one thing,” Risch explained. “The second thing that’s wrong with this is a direction to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities. There are no Armed Forces at this moment that are engaged in hostilities with Iran.”
“The third thing, and the most important thing is that voting on this, whether it passes or fails, sends a message to Iran,” Risch continued. “If this passes, the Iranians are going to simply stand up and walk away from negotiations. They’re going to say, ‘This thing’s over, that Congress has told the President of the United States leave us alone. We can do whatever we want to do,’ and they will walk away.”
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