In a dramatic late-night reversal that capped a day of intense White House pressure and partisan friction, two Senate Republicans who had previously backed a measure calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from the ongoing conflict in Iran flipped their votes Wednesday, bowing to aggressive public and private berating from former President Donald Trump. Trump had lashed out at GOP lawmakers who supported the earlier resolution, branding them “losers” who were offering what he called “aid and comfort to the enemy.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was reported to have engaged in a shouting match with Trump over the Iran policy during a closed-door GOP lunch earlier the same day, ultimately joined nearly all other Senate Republicans in opposing the war powers resolution pushed by Democrats. Just one day prior, Cassidy had backed a separate, non-binding symbolic measure that called for the removal of U.S. troops from the Iran conflict. The second Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, also switched his position, moving to vote “present” after direct urging from the president.
The hastily scheduled late vote was organized explicitly by Senate Republican leaders to placate Trump, who had publicly fumed over the initial symbolic resolution that passed the upper chamber earlier in the week. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the lead Democratic sponsor of the resolution that Republicans successfully blocked Wednesday, called the entire process nothing more than an effort to appease what he described as Trump’s “temper tantrum.”
Kaine argued that after both chambers of Congress, when previously led by Republican majorities, took the historic step of voting to affirm that any expanded war against Iran would be illegal without explicit congressional authorization, Trump traveled to the Capitol to intimidate Republican senators who had upheld their constitutional oaths of office. Kaine emphasized that Wednesday’s flipped votes do not erase Congress’s formal stated position that further military action against Iran cannot proceed without a formal congressional vote of approval.
Following the successful block of the resolution, Trump celebrated the outcome in a late-night post on his personal social media platform. He thanked top Senate Republican leaders and specifically highlighted the vote reversals by Cassidy and Paul as a key victory. Notably, Cassidy, who lost his re-election bid last month, had publicly stated just hours before the vote that he would not be bullied by the administration. After flipping his position, he said the White House had provided him with a thorough national security briefing on Iran that addressed many of his core concerns. Multiple reports indicate Trump called Cassidy a “lunatic” during their private confrontation at Wednesday’s lunch.
Wednesday’s vote unfolded against the backdrop of fragile diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, aimed at reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict that Trump launched in late February. The military campaign has killed thousands of Iranians, disrupted global economic activity, and driven up consumer prices across the United States.
Earlier on Wednesday, the White House formally submitted a request to Congress for an $87.6 billion emergency supplemental funding package, nearly $70 billion of which would go toward covering operational military costs incurred during the Iran war.
Democratic lawmakers across the chamber have uniformly rejected the funding request, framing it as a waste of critical taxpayer resources that could be directed toward domestic priorities. Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement that the tens of billions in military spending requested by the Trump administration could instead be used to shore up American healthcare, provide food assistance to hungry children, and ease the financial burden working families face covering basic daily needs. Boyle added that Trump is forcing American taxpayers to continue paying for a reckless, unnecessary war that has pushed gas and consumer goods prices sharply higher, put U.S. military personnel in unnecessary danger, and done nothing to improve security in the Middle East.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, said she would refuse to rubber-stamp tens of billions more in funding for what she called a disastrous, unnecessary war of choice. She argued that the president tells the American public there is insufficient funding for core domestic priorities like healthcare, affordable housing, and childcare, while simultaneously claiming there should be unlimited taxpayer money for an unpopular war most Americans do not support.