WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives, on June 3, passed a resolution to withdraw U.S. troops from armed hostilities with Iran.
Lawmakers voted 215–208 for the Democrat-led measure. Four Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the resolution.
The measure invokes the 1973 War Powers Resolution to halt the Iran conflict or otherwise force President Donald Trump to obtain congressional approval to continue the military operations against Iran that began on Feb. 28.
House and Senate lawmakers have rejected several previous attempts to pass such legislation. The Senate would still need to pass this latest measure for it to have a chance of becoming law, and Trump could still issue a veto.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the timing of the Democrat-led resolution could interfere with Trump’s efforts to negotiate a lasting peace agreement with Tehran.
“The president is now in the process of concluding a peace agreement, and we have to allow him the latency to do that,” Johnson told The Epoch Times ahead of the scheduled vote. “And I think a war powers resolution right now is very untimely, and a very negative and dangerous thing in the country.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said Congress should have already acted to pull U.S. forces back from the Iran conflict.
The 1973 War Powers Resolution states a president must remove U.S. forces from any hostilities lacking congressional authorization within 60 days. However, a president may extend that timeline by 30 days to enable a safe troop withdrawal.
Washington and Tehran officially reached a ceasefire on April 7, but Trump subsequently implemented an armed blockade of Iranian ports and trade, and U.S. and Iranian forces have exchanged fire on several occasions.
Asked if she expected enough Republicans would join in support of the latest war powers vote, DeLauro told The Epoch Times, “I’m hoping that they will see the light.”