The Senate on Tuesday approved a war powers resolution instructing President Donald Trump to halt the war in Iran, a largely symbolic rebuke.
The Senate approved the measure 50-48, with Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Bill Cassidy joining Democrats in support and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., voting against it.
The House approved the same concurrent resolution in June by a 215-208 vote, with four Republicans joining every Democrat; as a concurrent resolution it will not be sent to Trump and does not carry the force of law.
Passage marked the first time both chambers have approved a concurrent resolution instructing a president to end military action since the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and the vote came as the Pentagon asked Congress for some $80bn, most of it to pay for the war with Iran.
The Senate voted to take away President Trump's power to wage war with Iran, and Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, a sponsor of the bill, said there is "more work to be done." The measure would require the president to seek Congress's authorization to use military force against Iran.
Trump dispatched JD Vance to Switzerland to negotiate a settlement intended to resolve the conflict the U.S. began alongside Israel in February; Vance departed Switzerland after high-level talks and said the talks had laid a "good foundation" for a final deal. Vance and Trump have insisted Iran agreed to allow the United Nations to examine Iranian nuclear sites, a claim Iran has denied.
A White House official brushed off the Senate's action, saying the vote "has no significance," that it was driven by "Republican absences" and that "there are no hostilities from which to remove U.S. forces, as hostilities terminated with the ceasefire on April 7th."
Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick did not vote. McConnell was hospitalized this month and his office said he would not vote this week; Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin and, had McConnell and McCormick been present and opposed, the measure would have failed on a 50-50 tie.
Both the U.S. and Iran have insisted that the April ceasefire remains in place even as the countries occasionally exchange strikes.
Trump responded to the vote on Truth Social, calling the four Republicans "losers" who "have just made my job more difficult" and saying the Senate's action "has provided aid and comfort the Enemy." He also told aides, according to reporting, "I will get it done, one way or the other."
The Senate had voted on a war powers resolution nine other times, but none of those votes reached the simple majority threshold necessary to pass it until Tuesday.
Several Republican senators, including Roger Wicker, Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, have pushed back against Trump's 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran.
The vote came a day before Trump was due to speak with Senate Republicans at their weekly lunch.