WASHINGTON, June 25 (DC Times Online) — The Senate rejected Sen. Tim Kaine’s Iran war powers resolution 50-47 on Wednesday after President Donald Trump met with Republicans in a closed-door lunch and pressed them to stand behind his approach to Iran.
The measure would have directed Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities involving Iran unless Congress authorized further action. Rand Paul voted present.
Fox News reported that Trump told Republicans the earlier war-powers effort would weaken his negotiating position with Iran. The vote came one day after the Senate approved a separate House-passed Iran resolution 50-48, and Kaine’s resolution had advanced last month on a 50-47 procedural vote.
Trump criticized Senate Republicans at the lunch, and Sen. Bill Cassidy later said Trump “raised his voice” and “I lost my temper.”
After the vote, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it “puts Iran on notice.”
