From The New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Defeats War Powers Rebuke of President After Fiery Clash
What We’re Covering Today
Hill Clash: In an orchestrated move, Senate Republicans voted 50 to 47 to defeat a war powers resolution just one day after approving a nearly identical measure rebuking President Trump’s handling of the war in Iran. The abrupt reversal came after Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill and angrily confronted Republican senators during a closed-door lunch at the Capitol. Read more ›
Iran Costs: The president asked Congress on Wednesday to approve $87.6 billion in extra spending this year for the war with Iran and a few other programs. About $70 billion would go toward the Pentagon’s “operational costs” during the war, the Trump administration said in a letter to lawmakers. Read more ›
Rutte Meeting: President Trump criticized European nations for not doing enough to support the war in Iran on Wednesday during a White House meeting with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO. “Just be loyal,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about what he wants from America’s allies. “I just want their loyalty.” Read more ›
Iran War
President Trump celebrated the late-night vote thanking Republican leaders a social media post that falsely claimed that the Senate had “changed its vote on Iran.” The vote did not change an earlier resolution that rebuked Trump on Iran, instead it was a a procedural vote that attempted to stop another such resolution from coming up for a full vote. Still, Trump said that the new vote “puts Iran on notice.”
In a stunning move, Senate Republicans voted 50 to 47, with one member voting ‘present’, to turn back a war powers resolution just one day after approving a nearly identical measure rebuking President Trump’s handling of the war in Iran. The abrupt reversal came after Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill and angrily confronted Republican senators during a closed-door lunch at the Capitol. The late night vote did nothing to alter the earlier resolution, but it amounted to a remarkable effort by Republican leaders to appease an angry president.
Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, gave Senator Bill Cassidy a briefing on Iran at the White House this afternoon, Cassidy said in a post on social media.
“I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” he wrote.
The briefing came after a contentious closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill where Cassidy sparred with Trump on a range of topics, including the war with Iran. Trump was irate at Cassidy and three other Republican senators for joining Democrats to pass a war powers resolution yesterday.
Senate Republicans have just given notice for a late-night war powers vote hours after a closed door meeting with President Trump where he castigated the G.O.P.-controlled chamber for allowing an earlier resolution to be adopted. Republicans plan to defeat it, as a way to appease Trump. Either way, the vote will not nullify or have any impact on the resolution that succeeded earlier this week.
Reporting from the Capitol
President Trump was angry.
“He was mad as a murder hornet,” Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, said of the president’s mood during a closed-door lunch on Wednesday with G.O.P. senators.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) described Trump as “mad as a murder hornet” about the vote during lunch.
“Put yourself in his shoes,” Kennedy told reporters. “He’s right in the middle of delicate negotiations and the Senate votes to get out of Iran.”
Democrats have forced repeated votes since the start of the war in February to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 states that the president must remove U.S. forces engaged in hostilities abroad without congressional authorization if Congress passes such a resolution, though the White House and some Republicans have argued that it is unconstitutional.
Wednesday night’s vote was the second procedural vote on this resolution after the Senate voted last month to advance it. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), who introduced the resolution, said he did not want to force the next vote on it until he secured enough Republican support to be sure it would pass.
But it was Republicans — not Democrats — who forced Wednesday’s vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the No. 2 Senate Republican, worked with the administration after the contentious lunch to convince Senate Republicans who supported previous resolutions to switch their votes, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the discussions.
Cassidy, who pressed Trump during the lunch on why the war had dragged on so long, said Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, briefed him Wednesday afternoon.
“I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” Cassidy wrote on X.
Kaine blamed the defeat on the “temper tantrum” that Trump threw during his lunch with Republican senators and said it did not negate the passage of Tuesday’s resolution to block Trump from resuming the war.
“The vote is of no consequence and does not undo the expressed position of Congress that further war against Iran is illegal unless Congress votes for it,” Kaine said in a statement.
But Trump immediately hailed it as a victory, thanking Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Thune on social media for their efforts.
“This vote puts Iran on notice!” Trump wrote.
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