US House votes for a third time to end the Iran war as conflict drags on

The vote took place late Tuesday, and for a third time, the US House voted to end the war in Iran, attempting to cut President Donald Trump's ability to continue military action.

The roll call, 220-204, was similar to earlier efforts this summer, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats voting to bring an end to the conflict. None of the resolutions have made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.

"Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?" said Democrat Representative Seth Moulton, who served as a Marine during the Iraq War and pushed the resolution forward.

He said it’s time for Congress to "actually ask tough questions, as the Constitution directs us to do, rather than be subservient to another warmongering administration."

Republican Representative Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned which military resources Democrats would want to remove from the region where he said Iran remains a threat.

Mast said Trump is against "forever wars, and that is what he is ending" — the decades of hostilities from Iran.

"They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States," Mast said. "Enough is enough."

Last war powers vote before midterms

The action is likely the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. The war that Trump launched on 28 February has dragged on, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months.

Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

Voters are confronting high prices, particularly for gas at the pumps, as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil resources through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the war has cost more than $38 billion (€33 billion), as of 1 August, and is projected to be costing between $2 billion (€1.74 billion) and $3 billion (€2.62 billion) monthly, depending on the intensity of the fighting. The budget office projected inflation will be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected heading into 2027 due to the war.

Trump himself had promised not to involve the US in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate. Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.

In the previous House actions, four Republicans voted to halt the war in Iran, but that number rose to seven in Tuesday’s war powers vote, including GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Representative Zachary Nunn and Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

They joined GOP Representatives Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky voting in favor of the war powers resolution, with all Democrats.

War powers put to the test

Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration’s military action remain a long shot so long as the president is able to fend off or veto the measures.

The House first approved a war powers resolution in June, and followed up with another one in July, all seeking to halt US action in Iran. The Senate on its 10th try also approved a war powers resolution to end the conflict, but GOP senators quickly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a closed-door lunch.

While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander in chief to engage in some military actions. The War Powers Act, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, sought to put a more specific time limit on the president’s power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday the need to bring gas prices down.

But the Republican speaker said he believes the Iran conflict is entering a "new phase" as allies step up to help stabilize the region. When that happens, he said, "you’re going to see, as the president said, anytime gas prices will go down again, the cost of groceries will as well."

Johnson said Trump expects the shift after the election, and the speaker added, "I’d love it to happen today."