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Four Democrats split from the rest of their party to vote down the War Powers Resolution which would have halted President Donald Trump from continuing strikes against Iran without first gaining Congressional approval.
Much like it was in the Senate the day before, the measure was defeated in the Republican-led House of Representatives Thursday evening with a 212-219 vote.
With voting largely representing party lines, all but two GOP lawmakers moved against the measure—Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a lead sponsor of the resolution, and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
“The Constitution is clear… Our Constitution provides Congress initiatory powers of war,” said Massie during a rousing debate on the House floor. Massie has broken ranks from President Donald Trump and strayed from party lines on other key topics, such as the row over Greenland, often earning him the wrath of the Commander-in-Chief.
However, it’s arguably the Democrat votes that have garnered the most discussion.
Some Democratic members of the House who had previously stated an intention to vote against the War Powers Resolution, which was first introduced by Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna of California in June last year, reversed course. The impact of Trump joining forces with Israel last weekend to launch surprise strikes on Iran and the widening war that has since emerged prompted some to change their position.
“When it appeared we might preemptively vote on the War Powers Resolution while the U.S. and Iran were in the middle of negotiations, I said I would be a ‘no’ vote because I believed that calling up the resolution at that time could undermine negotiations and telegraph to the Ayatollah that we weren’t applying maximum pressure and that he could delay a deal,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida said as he explained his change of heart. “A lot has changed in a week.”
While Moskowitz argued that “no one will miss” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in…
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