June 23, 2026
For the first time, both the House and the Senate have passed the same War Powers Resolution to rein in President Trump and stop him from restarting any kind of military action in Iran.
Just a short time ago, the Senate passed the resolution with a final vote of 50 to 48, with two senators not present and not voting.
Four Republicans joined Democrats and Independents to vote yes, including Senators Collins (R-Maine), Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Paul (R-Kentucky). One Democrat voted no and joined all the Republicans—Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
Now, the reason why this was able to pass in the Senate is because Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania were absent. That changed the math.
McConnell was absent because he’s been in the hospital, and McCormick is absent because he’s campaigning with President Trump in Pennsylvania.
As I reported in this video a few weeks ago, the House passed this same War Powers Resolution with a final vote of 215 to 208. Same deal as the Senate—four Republicans joined all the Democrats to get this done, and it was able to pass in the House because of several Republican absences, which changed the math.
So now what?
Well, that’s really the question here. And I can answer it in legal terms, practical terms, and political terms.
According to the War Powers Act of 1973, if Congress passes a War Powers Resolution, which they just did, that means the president must either immediately withdraw American troops from the hostilities outlined in the resolution, or he must get approval from Congress to continue with whatever military action those troops are involved in.
Legally, President Trump, like every president before him, believes the War Powers Act violates his own constitutional power as commander in chief.
Trump has said publicly that Congress can’t stop him in Iran. And like I said, that’s not just a Trump thing. All presidents have said something similar.
Now, the last time we saw something like this was during the Obama administration in 2011, when the United States, along with our NATO partners, were involved in a military operation in Libya.
Congress was not happy because President Obama did not get authorization for that military action. Obama said he didn’t have to because it did not qualify as “hostilities,” which sounds very similar to what Trump is saying now about Iran.
Technically, Congress did not pass a War Powers Resolution against Obama back in 2011, but they did pass several measures to politically rebuke him, and Republicans did sue the president to stop the military action. But that didn’t go anywhere.
But now that Congress has actually passed a War Powers Resolution against Trump specifically regarding Iran, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next because the Supreme Court has never weighed in on this constitutional issue.
So we don’t know who’s right or whether Congress can rein in the president’s powers when it comes to military hostilities.
In practical terms, this resolution may be too little, too late.
And that’s because, according to President Trump, the “war” with Iran is over, and now we’re just in this 60-day window of negotiation. So technically, the U.S. military is not engaged in any “hostilities,” though some may argue what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz may qualify as “hostilities.”
Now, if the 60 days run out and there’s no final deal with Iran, or for some reason Trump decides to start striking Iran again, then this resolution may be a problem for him.
But politically, today’s passage of this Iran War Powers Resolution is a powerful rebuke of Trump and what he’s been doing in Iran.
And even though it was only a total of eight Republicans who voted against him, this resolution was still able to pass the Republican-controlled House and Senate, which is a big deal, especially with this Republican Congress that usually goes along with whatever Trump wants.
But it does make sense because polling shows this Iran war is very unpopular with voters, and most of these Republicans who voted yes today have contested midterm elections and angry voters to deal with.
See how your Senator voted today here.
See how your Representative voted on June 3 here.
