An F-35C Lightning II prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday resisted another attempt by lawmakers to curtail President Donald Trump’s ability to continue his military offensive against Iran, blocking a resolution that would have required Congress to weigh in on the campaign.
The 219-212 vote followed the failure of a similar war powers resolution in the Senate on Wednesday as Republicans maintained the president was within his legal authority as commander in chief to carry out joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in defense of the U.S.
The House’s measure was introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and marked the latest effort by lawmakers to assert Congress’ constitutional power to declare war.
Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, a former Army Ranger, were the only Republicans to support the resolution, which would have removed troops from unauthorized hostilities against Iran. Four Democrats voted against it.
Floor debate over the resolution largely centered on whether the war with Iran was imminent, as Republicans argued in defense of Trump’s unilateral decision to attack the country, or whether the potentially open-ended campaign was a war of choice.
“We have seen Iran as an imminent threat against America, not just for the last four days, not just for the last four months or four years, but for the last 40 years,” said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an Army veteran who lost both legs in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan. “Why do they continue to be an imminent threat? Because they have never faced an imminent response, until President Trump.”
But Democrats said they saw no evidence of an imminent threat from Iran in the briefings senior Trump administration officials held for lawmakers in the days after the Pentagon’s Operation Epic Fury commenced.
“I can tell you with authority that in the last 10 years, Iran’s ability to create mayhem, while still very substantial, is at an ebb,” said Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “If the argument is imminence, that’s absurd. There was no imminent threat to the United States Friday or Saturday of last week.”
Trump, in his legally mandated notification to Congress on Monday, did not mention an imminent threat of attack and instead referenced the president’s “responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests both at home and abroad.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. struck Iran “proactively in a defensive way” after determining that Israel was going to attack Iran with or without the U.S., and Iran’s response would likely include firing missiles at American military bases in the region.
The 1973 War Powers Act allows the president to use military force to repel sudden attacks against the U.S., its territories or its armed forces but requires congressional consent for troop deployments in such cases within 60 to 90 days.
Presidents of both parties have interpreted the law liberally and claimed a right to order the military into limited military interventions, including the unauthorized bombing of Libya by former President Barack Obama in 2011 and Trump’s raid on Venezuela in January.
It remains unknown how long the campaign against Iran will last; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth predicted Wednesday that the conflict could extend for up to eight weeks.
Proponents of the war powers resolution said they feared an escalating war with no coherent strategy or endgame that will put troops increasingly at risk. Six service members have been killed in the war.
“It is for you that I wrote this resolution,” said Massie, addressing troops in a floor speech on Wednesday. “It is for you that all of us are here on this floor working so hard to force this vote so that you will have a clear mission that you deserve, so that you will know when you achieve it, you can come home.”
Other Republicans said Congress needed to stand down and focus on providing support to the military while it seeks to destroy Iran’s defense infrastructure and naval assets as well as degrade the country’s industrial capacity to produce drones and missiles.
“We should not pass any resolution that will end this critical operation before achieving these military objectives,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “Doing so would needlessly risk the lives of American service members and American allies.”
Thursday’s vote followed a series of failed war powers resolutions introduced by lawmakers in the House and Senate since the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear sites last summer.
Six House Democrats introduced another resolution this week that calls for an end to military operations in Iran within 30 days unless Congress authorizes the use of military force or declares war. The measure is expected to be voted on the week of March 23.
