Senate Democrats block defense bill over Trump’s Iran war handling

Senate Democrats blocked a must-pass $1.15 trillion Pentagon policy bill from advancing on Tuesday, and the 50-46 procedural vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to move the National Defense Authorization Act forward. The delay hit one of the few major bills that reliably becomes law each year.

John Thune voted against the motion procedurally so Republicans could bring the bill back later, but Democrats made clear they would not help move the measure without limits on Trump’s conduct in Iran. Chuck Schumer said the Senate should not take up the defense bill while the White House had formally notified Congress that hostilities in Iran had resumed. Schumer said Trump was “waging an unauthorized war” and argued Congress could not debate the nation’s central security bill while ignoring the crisis.

Richard Blumenthal put the standoff in starker terms. “The NDAA, in my view, has become a referendum on the Iran war,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

The White House formally notified Congress on Monday that hostilities had resumed, after saying hostilities “terminated” in April. Trump told lawmakers the renewed military action began on July 7 and that it opens a new 60-day window for military operations without further congressional approval. Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, presidents must report deployments to Congress within 48 hours if war has not been authorized, and unauthorized military engagement is limited to 60 days.

On June 23, senators voted 50-48 to approve a war powers resolution directing him to halt U.S. military action against Iran. That was the first time both chambers had passed such a resolution since the War Powers Act was enacted in 1973, and four Republicans joined nearly all Democrats.

GOP hard-liners there recently tanked a competing version of the defense policy bill, leaving the annual measure caught between an Iran fight in the Senate and partisan resistance in the House.