Senate Passes War Powers Resolution, Deepening Divide With Trump

As pressure from President Donald Trump mounts on the United States Senate to pass a controversial voter-eligibility bill, Republican lawmakers added to tensions by passing a War Powers Resolution in a 50-48 vote yesterday.

The resolution, which passed the House of Representatives in early June, calls on the president to withdraw U.S. forces from operations against Iran in the Middle East, blocking him from resuming the war. While the Senate vote does not make the measure binding, it underscores growing opposition among some Republicans to Trump’s approach to military and diplomatic negotiations.

Last week, Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian leaders outlining a 60-day negotiation period toward a more permanent agreement in exchange for Iran ending its nuclear program. The announcement drew criticism from some of Trump’s strongest supporters, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who objected that Congress was not consulted before the agreement was reached.

"I believe President Trump is getting very poor advice on Iran," Sen. Cruz said on his podcast after the deal was made public.

Although Sen. Cruz did not vote for this latest resolution, he and other Republicans were still especially against the alleged $300 billion package for Iran, arguing that no money should be going toward Iran.

“Giving the Iranian regime that chants ‘death to America’ billions and billions of dollars is a bad idea,” Sen. Cruz said.

Sen. Cruz made similar comments to the Daily Wire last week, prompting Donald Trump Jr. to accuse him of “lying thru his teeth about the deal.”

“We’re not giving them a cent and he knows that,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X. “Using fake news about the peace deal to undermine @realDonaldTrump is the opposite of MAGA.”

Much like Sen. Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told CBS News just a few days before the vote that he disapproved of how this agreement does not designate how to confirm that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. But, Sen. Cornyn also did not vote for the resolution.

"I supported the President's Operation Epic Fury because I believe he has delayed the Iranian regime's ability to get a nuclear weapon, which is very, very important," Sen. Cornyn said. "But my hope would have been that he would have finished the job and basically eliminated that threat in the future."