House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to prevent an outcome that would show mounting opposition.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. , joined by GOP leaders, prepares to talk to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long war that has reordered politics at home and abroad.two weeks ago when the war powers resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as TrumpHouse Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “All we need are a handful of Republicans to join us and we can end this reckless and costly war of choice — a war that has cost the American taxpayer over $100 billion — that’s extraordinary — and left our country in a weaker position relative to Iran.
”It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the U.S. war against Iran, and the first time the House was able to pass the measure. Theits own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the U.S. war swells.
Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end U.S. entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East. Johnson insisted Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week as Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz for commerce, especially the flow of oil. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson arrives for an early-morning meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer.
“We’re working on that final piece,” said Johnson, R-La. “The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopen for commerce. That what he’s working on. ” While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain.
Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the U.S and Iran continue to flare. The war powers resolution from the House would not immediately stop the war, but it would provide a symbolic if not legal step against further military action.
If approved, it would then go to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the U.S. campaign against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday testifying at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Iranians would think that the administration’s “hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think ”we won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?
” It’s not the only action Congress is taking in the national security arena as Democrats, in the minority, work to peel off Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran. The House is also voting Wednesday on another Democratic-led effort that would authorize U.S. support for Ukraine’s military operations as it battles Russia and to help reconstruct the war-torn country.
The House this week is also expected to consider a war powers resolution to block U.S. action in Lebanon. While Congress has the authority under the Constitution to declare war, the president also has power as the commander in chief to engage in military action, creating a legal dispute over which branch of government has ultimate say in matters of war and peace.
Under the war powers act, the White House has a 60-day window to seek approval from Congress for military action. The administration, however, has indicated that because a ceasefire has been declared in the current conflict in Iran, the hostilities have ceased.
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