House Republicans Cancel Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution

House Republicans cancelled a scheduled vote Thursday on a war powers resolution aimed at ending the US military engagement with Iran, a measure that likely would have passed had the vote proceeded.

The cancellation, which averted political embarrassment for President Donald Trump, signals that congressional support for the president’s military action is diminishing.

The top three House Democrats — Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar — called Republican leadership “cowardly” for pulling the vote.

“For nearly three months, Donald Trump has forced America and our men and women in uniform into a reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth took us to war without clear objectives, an exit strategy, public support or the authorization required by the United States Congress,” the Democrats said in a statement.

“The Republican-controlled House continues to behave like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump administration. Republicans cowardly pulled a scheduled vote on a War Powers Resolution – legislation that would have passed with bipartisan support and required the President to end the conflict in the Middle East,” they added.

The vote has been postponed until lawmakers return from a recess in June, but it appears likely the resolution could pass then.

According to Politico, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who broke with his party last week to vote for the previous Iran war powers resolution and was attacked by Trump on Wednesday, said the delay would not stop the resolution from passing soon. “The next time they bring it, it’s passing,” he said.

Among House Republicans absent Thursday but expected to be present for the June vote was Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a critic of the joint US-Israeli war on Iran. Massie lost a primary election this week to a Trump-backed candidate who was encouraged to run after the president was angered by Massie’s role in forcing the Justice Department to release investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender with whom Trump socialized for nearly two decades.

Earlier this week in the Senate, four Republicans joined Democrats in advancing the war powers resolution. It was the eighth time the chamber had attempted to move the bill forward.