The Senate on Tuesday thwarted Democrats’ latest attempt to force President Trump to seek authorization for the war in Iran, with Republicans largely banding together behind the president amid skepticism about a cease-fire deal he has yet to share with Congress.
The vote was 48 to 47 on Democrats’ ninth bid to force action on a measure that would direct Mr. Trump to remove U.S. troops from the conflict and win approval from Congress before continuing.
It reflected a determination among Democrats to continue aggressively pushing back on Mr. Trump’s handling of the war, and a sentiment among a few Republicans — four of whom crossed party lines in favor of taking up the resolution — to insist on a role for the legislative branch in overseeing it.
But Democrats notably opted not to force a vote on a similar resolution that advanced after drawing the same four Republican supporters, suggesting that they did not believe they would have the support within the G.O.P. to win final approval of such a measure.
“I am hopeful that this war may come to an end beginning this week, but let’s be clear: This temporary truce agreement with Iran brings us back to the status quo, at best,” Senator Raphael Warnock, the Georgia Democrat who introduced the resolution, said ahead of the vote. “We’ve learned, due in part to recent history, that it’s easier to get into a war than it is to get out.”
He and other Democrats said they were skeptical that the cease-fire and negotiations announced by Mr. Trump and Iranian leaders this week would bring about a guaranteed end to the war and thought it was still appropriate to bring up the issue for a vote.
Top Republicans have refrained from praising Mr. Trump’s agreement, noting that they have yet to see it or receive any details about it.
“I think we’re all hoping to get more information, more detail about that, and I expect that will be forthcoming,” said Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader. “But I fully believe that the president and his team are moving in the right direction.”
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to oppose considering the measure, as he has with each previous resolution. Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only Republicans to support taking it up, as they did last month when the Senate advanced a similar resolution.
Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that taking such a vote while Mr. Trump was abroad and seeking to negotiate a diplomatic end to the conflict would undermine those efforts and bring “tremendous aid and comfort to our enemy.” The president is attending the Group of 7 summit in France.
Mr. Risch also took issue with the content of the resolution, which seeks to “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.”
He contended that American forces “are not engaged in hostilities within or against Iran. They have been, but it’s been over for some time,” he said. That echoed the argument from the administration that the conflict ended when a cease-fire was declared in April, despite thousands of troops remaining deployed in the region and strikes continuing to flare up periodically in the time since.
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