The United States Senate, with a Republican majority, signaled growing opposition to continuing the war in Iran in a procedural vote this Tuesday (19), in a move that reflects growing political discomfort with an external conflict that has been imposing a heavy financial cost on Americans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose re-election bid was blocked by President Donald Trump in an internal Republican dispute on Saturday, joined three other GOP senators in voting to move past that stage and move toward a final vote on a resolution seeking to end hostilities. It was the first time Cassidy supported the measure, indicating that Trump’s retaliatory campaign against him ultimately freed the senator to openly oppose the president.
The vote, 50 votes to 47, is a clear sign of erosion of support for military action at a time when Trump is considering launching a new attack on Iran. It is not yet clear whether the resolution will, in fact, be approved by the Senate.
Trump said he had postponed a new bombing of Iran, initially scheduled for Tuesday, at the request of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries. But he threatened Iran with “another major attack” if Tehran does not agree to close a deal with him.
The eventual approval, by the Senate, of the “war powers” resolution that calls for an end to hostilities — and which still depends on a future vote — would not immediately interrupt military operations. The measure would also have to be approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before it goes to the president for his signature, allowing Trump to veto it before it takes effect.
Still, the symbolic impact of a formal Senate rebuke of the war would be enormous—displaying divisions within the American government both to the public at home and to the rest of the world.
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Trump, however, still has time to try to turn votes in the Senate before considering the war powers resolution.
Three Republicans — Thom Tillis of North Carolina; John Cornyn of Texas; and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — did not vote. Trump has already publicly clashed with Tillis and, on Tuesday, declared support for Cornyn’s Republican opponent.
Earlier this year, the Senate had decided to move forward with a similar resolution on the conflict in Venezuela, but ended up rejecting the text in the final vote, after Trump said that Republicans who supported the measure should not win another election.
This time, the senators’ political calculation may be changing. Americans have shown growing irritation with the economic cost of the war, which raised the national average price of regular gasoline to $4.53 per gallon on Tuesday, at a time when people were already complaining about the cost of living.
According to research by New York Times/Siena released on Monday, 64% of Americans say going to war with Iran was the wrong decision.
Resistance is also growing in the Chamber, which registered a tie in a vote last week on stopping the war.
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