GOP Lawmakers Break With Trump, Join Democrats to Curb His Iran War Powers

Here's something that doesn't happen every day: Republican lawmakers are breaking ranks with their own president on a war. A growing number of GOP members of Congress have sided with Democrats in pushing to limit President Trump's authority to keep fighting in Iran — and the story is still unfolding this week.

The quick backstory: The U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran back on February 28, after Iranian attacks on American positions in Iraq and Syria. That strike killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and kicked off a broader regional conflict. Now, months in, there's no ceasefire agreement in sight, and Congress is starting to push back.

Here's the core issue. Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution — basically a law passed after Vietnam to stop presidents from fighting wars without Congress' blessing — a president has 60 days to conduct military operations before Congress must either formally declare war or authorize the use of force. That deadline has come and gone, and some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say Trump is now operating outside the law.

So why does this matter to you? Because the war is hitting your wallet. Gas prices have climbed, with the nationwide average topping $4.53 at one point. Consumer goods costs are up too. The longer the conflict drags on without resolution, the more that pressure continues.

In the House, three Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and Tom Barrett (Mich.) — voted with Democrats to pass a war powers resolution that would require Trump to get congressional approval to keep fighting. The most recent House vote ended in a 212-212 tie, falling just short. In the Senate, Republicans Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), and Rand Paul (Ky.) joined Democrats in a similar effort, though that vote also ultimately failed, 50-49.

Here's the kicker: Republican leaders actually pulled a planned House vote right before Memorial Day, apparently because they knew they didn't have the votes to kill the resolution. Democrats and even some Republicans cried foul. Now that Congress is back, that vote is expected to happen this week — and Democrats believe they finally have enough GOP support to pass it.

Enter Marco Rubio. The Secretary of State is on Capitol Hill this week to testify about the State Department budget, but everyone knows he's going to get grilled on the Iran war. Negotiations to end the fighting are stalled — the key sticking points include Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the Strait of Hormuz (a critical shipping lane that's been disrupted), and potential sanctions relief. Trump himself said Monday he "couldn't care less" if the talks collapsed entirely.

Even if the war powers resolution passes both chambers, Trump is widely expected to veto it — and there's no veto-proof majority in sight. So in practical terms, it's more of a political statement than a policy win. But it's a significant one: it signals that Trump's grip on his own party is slipping on this issue, and that lawmakers are feeling heat from constituents who are tired of an open-ended war with a rising price tag.

The bottom line for you: this war is costing money at the pump and in the grocery aisle, American service members have died, and now there's a real — if still uphill — fight in Congress over whether the president needs permission to keep it going.