House Republican leadership canceled scheduled votes on a war powers resolution aimed at halting military operations against Iran for the second consecutive day Thursday, in what Democrats charge was a calculated move to avoid a bipartisan rebuke of the administration's undeclared war.
Speaker Mike Johnson pulled the measure from the House floor after eight Republicans were absent and at least two GOP moderates indicated they would vote with Democrats to constrain presidential war-making authority. The resolution, which had already advanced in the Senate with support from four Republicans, would invoke Congress's constitutional power to end unauthorized military action.
"They're claiming they have two more days to bring it," Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-sponsored similar legislation, told Punchbowl News. "I was prepared to vote for it."
The GOP's procedural retreat marks a rare instance of congressional war powers asserting themselves against an administration that has conducted military strikes without formal authorization. According to the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress can force the withdrawal of forces engaged in hostilities abroad if no declaration of war has been approved.
Democrats accused leadership of running scared from their own members. "Republicans can run from Trump's disastrous war, but they can't hide," said Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Thousands are dead, and gas and grocery prices are up."
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts charged that Republicans refused a vote "because they knew it would pass," adding the GOP only cares about "appeasing Trump."
The showdown reflects a deeper constitutional tension between executive authority and congressional oversight. As Americans like to say, 'all politics is local'—even in the nation's capital. Swing-district Republicans like Tom Barrett of Michigan, who also signaled support for the resolution, face pressure from constituents weary of an expanding conflict that has driven up fuel costs and threatened broader regional war.
Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, demanded answers on the House floor: "Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war that is costing tens of billions of dollars?"
The National Iranian American Council called the cancellation an act of "cowardice" that mocks democratic accountability. Leadership has not announced whether they will reschedule the vote or let the measure die through procedural delay.
