Photo: Reuters
This is reported by CBS News.
Fifty senators voted against the resolution, 49 voted in favor. Republicans Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski supported the Democrats, Senator John Fetterman was the only Democrat who voted against.
The document, drafted by Senator Jeff Merkley, called for the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from the war zone in Iran unless such action is authorized by Congress. Democrats have already tried to advance similar resolutions six times since the conflict began on February 28; until the last vote, Paul was the only Republican to support the initiative.
Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the president must halt military operations after 60 days unless Congress votes to declare war or passes legislation authorizing the use of force. As the deadline approached, the administration said the rule did not apply because the countdown ends after the April 7 cease-fire. In a May 1 letter to congressional leaders, Trump said “hostilities” with Iran “have been terminated.”
Democrats dispute that position. Merkley told reporters before the vote that he does not accept the argument for suspending the 60-day deadline, noting that the war “is at a different stage and could escalate again.”
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch supported the White House position, saying that “the hostilities mentioned in the resolution are not present now.” Sen. Tim Kaine, one of the sponsors of the restrictions, called the vote a test for Republicans on their “consistency” on the role of Congress.
In early May, State Department head Marco Rubio said that U.S. President Donald Trump, like all his predecessors in office, considers unconstitutional the law providing for restrictions on the head of state on the issue of combat operations.
