Senate Republicans shut down Sen. Cory Booker's war powers resolution aimed at curbing President Trump's military authority in Iran. The vote wasn't close.
The Senate defeated the measure 53-47, with the GOP caucus standing nearly united behind the commander-in-chief as he prosecutes Operation Epic Fury. Only Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., crossed party lines to back the resolution. On the other side, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., broke from his own party to help kill it.
Booker's resolution would have required Trump to pull U.S. armed forces from hostilities involving Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized the action. Democrats framed the push as a constitutional check. Republicans saw something else entirely.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has lauded the administration's continued strikes in Iran, told Fox News Digital exactly what he thought of the maneuver:
"I think they're impeding the war effort. We've spoken on this. I find it to be cheap politics."
Graham called the repeated use of war powers resolutions "an abuse of the process, and I'm tired of it." He has a point. This wasn't the first attempt. Earlier this month, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., tried the same play, and Republicans held the line then, too.
A cohort of Senate Democrats still has four more war powers resolutions teed up. They plan to dominate the Senate floor with these votes unless Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth testify publicly about the conflict.
Republicans pushed back hard on that demand. They argued Rubio and Hegseth had consistently briefed lawmakers in classified settings and spoken with the media about the war. Dragging them before cameras during active combat operations serves politics, not oversight.
The conflict carries real costs. Breitbart reported that 13 American service members have been killed and about 200 wounded. Brent crude has surged to nearly $110 a barrel, up from an average of $71 before the war began. Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a major flashpoint.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged the pressure point but expressed confidence in the mission. He said the nation's war planners were doing a "masterful job" and that Trump was well within his authority as president to carry out Operation Epic Fury.
Thune addressed the Strait of Hormuz directly:
"The Strait of Hormuz, obviously, is an issue that we're all paying a lot of attention to. But I feel confident that the administration and those who are leading our military efforts there ultimately will be successful in getting things open up there."
Booker told Fox News Digital he wasn't thinking "about this in politics." Then he immediately pivoted to a political argument:
"We need to focus on what the issues of the people are and put before them a president who promised to bring your prices down and keep us out of wars, who is now bringing us into more wars and driving up our prices as a result."
That's a campaign speech, not a constitutional argument. If Democrats genuinely cared about war powers, they'd work with the administration on authorization, not stage serial floor votes designed to embarrass the president during an active military operation.
As Newsmax reported, Graham put the constitutional question bluntly:
"What we can't do in my view is become the commander in chief. You can't have 535 people becoming the commander in chief and that's what the War Powers Act does."
Fetterman's break from Democrats deserves notice. The Pennsylvania senator voted with Republicans to kill the resolution. He has shown a willingness to buck his party on national security that few of his colleagues share.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats show no sign of stopping. With four more resolutions queued up, expect more floor drama this week. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled as much, declaring "enough is enough", a phrase that cuts both ways when your party keeps losing the same vote.
The pattern is clear. Democrats want to:
Republicans have blocked every attempt. The president has the authority, and the majority has the votes, a dynamic Trump has leveraged across multiple legislative fights this session.
The broader Senate landscape remains turbulent. From internal GOP debates over White House personnel to Trump's direct involvement in shaping Senate races, the upper chamber is a battleground. But on Iran, the Republican conference has held firm.
You don't win a war by committee. And you don't protect the troops by tying the commander-in-chief's hands for a headline.
