The GOP-controlled Congress has directed President Donald Trump to end his military campaign in Iran five times since the conflict began nearly seven months ago.
The latest effort to rein in the president’s war powers just weeks before the midterms was notable: It attracted fresh support from three Republicans, including two in Iowa battleground districts where farmers are struggling against rising costs inflicted by the war.
Seven House Republicans bucked their party on Tuesday to join Democrats in voting to stop Trump from continuing the U.S. military conflict against Iran.
Most GOP lawmakers have shown little interest in halting the president’s authority over the U.S. war with Iran. But in a 220-204 vote, the lower chamber delivered its most resounding political rebuke yet of the exceedingly unpopular war days before lawmakers are slated to trade Washington for the campaign trail in the final sprint to Election Day.
Among those heading home to campaign are Republican Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa, both of whom are locked in tight re-election races in the farm state. They broke with their party Tuesday for the first time to call for an end to the president’s war.
Their decision to defy Trump and the party he leads represented a last-ditch opportunity to distance themselves from the president before voters head to the polls.
The Iran war, which has cost taxpayers an estimated $38 billion, has taken a unique toll on farmers. The prices of gas, diesel and fertilizer — all critical agriculture inputs — have soared as materials required for their production remain stranded on container ships, unable to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz to reach the global market.
Wartime inflation has also created political pressure for vulnerable Republicans tasked with defending their party’s congressional majority in November.
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who is leaving Congress when her term ends in January, also voted for the first time on Tuesday in favor of ending the war.
The other House Republicans who voted Tuesday to rein in Trump’s war powers included Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — who sponsored a resolution of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war — Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. All have voted in the past to direct the president to end the war.
The Senate has twice voted to adopt similar, largely symbolic resolutions. They do not hold legal weight but aim to compel Trump to either stop the war or obtain approval from Congress for its continuation. Four Senate Republicans sided with Democrats in those efforts to rein in Trump’s war powers.
In May, Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in support of ending the Iran war.
Those same four in June drew Trump’s rage when they voted in favor of a House-passed war powers resolution. The measure ultimately passed the upper chamber in a 50-48 vote that amounted to Capitol Hill’s strongest pushback on the Iran war.
Trump at the time called the four Republican senators “losers” in a post on Truth Social. Cassidy’s defection came after he lost his bid for reelection to a Trump-backed challenger in his Louisiana primary. Cassidy had also voted to support an Iran war powers resolution in 2020.
Paul has been a critic of Trump’s Iran war since it began in February, while Murkowski and Collins cited a belief that Congress needs to reassert its constitutionally mandated role in authorizing the president to go to war.
While Paul and Murkowski are not up for reelection until 2028, Collins is locked in a tight race for a sixth Senate term against local Democratic challenger Troy Jackson.
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