The House passed a resolution Wednesday to block President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, ratcheting up pressure on the administration to find a way to end the unpopular war.
The 215-208 vote marked the first time that such a measure has cleared the House or Senate on a final vote since the start of the conflict more than three months ago. The Senate <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/H4ys9/www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/19/senate-votes-advance-resolution-block-further-strikes-iran/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">advanced a similar resolution last month on a procedural vote, reflecting growing impatience with a war Congress hasn’t authorized.
The effort faces sizable hurdles, however, before Congress could force Trump to end hostilities.
In the House, four Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Tom Barrett (Michigan), Warren Davidson (Ohio) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) — joined Democrats in voting to force Trump to end the war.
“We are trapped in a war that won’t end because an incompetent president launched it thinking of only his own ego while failing to prepare for the consequences,” Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (New York), the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during debate on the House floor. “Diplomacy is the only exit from this, not more bombing, not more bluster.”
Democrats have forced repeated votes on war powers resolutions in both chambers since the start of the conflict, which polling shows is unpopular. A <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/H4ys9/www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/us/politics/poll-trump-republicans-midterms-iran.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New York Times-Siena College poll conducted in mid-May found that 64 percent of registered voters think Trump made the wrong decision in going to war; 30 percent believe he made the right decision.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 — the law Democrats used to force the vote — requires presidents to remove U.S. forces from any conflict that Congress has not authorized within 60 days. Trump hit the deadline May 1 but <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/H4ys9/www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/01/trump-iran-congressional-deadline/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dodged it by arguing that hostilities have been “terminated”since a ceasefire took effect, even as the United States continues to enforce a naval blockade of Iran.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Florida), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, echoed Trump’s argument that the war is effectively over.
“We are not in hostilities,” he said. “We are out there with almost the exact same number of forces that we continually keep in the region.”
To reach Trump’s desk, the Senate resolution would require a final vote in the chamber, which could be tough if every senator is voting. Three Republican senators who have opposed similar resolutions in the past missed the procedural vote on the Senate resolution last month, allowing it to advance. If they had voted the way they have in the past, it would have failed 50-50.
The House would also need to pass the Senate version before it reached Trump’s desk. Trump would almost certainly veto it, forcing the Senate and the House to override his veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers before the resolution could take effect. No war powers resolution has ever overcome a veto