Four Republicans Hand Pramila Jayapal a Big Victory on Iran

Four House Republicans handed Squad member Pramila Jayapal a major victory on the floor of the House of Representatives, giving Democrats a major public-relations win and emboldening the already surging Democratic Socialist wing of the Democratic Party. 

Today, the House PASSED my bipartisan War Powers Resolution to end the war in Iran by a vote of 214-208.

This is a big victory for the vast majority of Americans who want President Trump to end this illegal war and focus on their lives right here at home. pic.twitter.com/ZaE3NtTJdP

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) July 23, 2026

Senate Republicans who opposed the war had the decency to abstain from voting for a similar resolution in the Senate; otherwise, it would have passed there as well. 

The House voted Thursday to curtail President Trump’s ability to wage war with Iran in one of the last roll calls before lawmakers broke for a five-week recess.

The lower chamber adopted the so-called war powers resolution demanding Trump wind down the military campaign against the Islamic Republic by a 214-208 vote.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Warren Davidson ( R-Ohio), and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joined all 210 Democrats in backing the measure, the second war powers resolution to pass the chamber in recent months.

Shortly after, on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate failed to advance a similar Iran war powers resolution in a 47-49 vote. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who previously backed the resolution to handcuff Trump militarily, voted no, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky,) and Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski didn’t vote.

The mixed vote follows the deaths of four American service members in attacks by Iran over the weekend and came amid fears that the Pentagon is burning through cash and needs more resources from Congress to keep up the war effort. 

The largely symbolic resolution, introduced in the House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), puts Republicans on the spot before they head home to their districts for the next several weeks to campaign for the midterms. 

Democrats are all over X crowing about their bipartisan victory, and that was the point. The vote was symbolic, but it helps drive a narrative that complicates the president’s policymaking and already weak messaging on his policy. 

This morning, I joined every Democrat and four Republicans in voting again to stop this war with Iran. It’s unpopular, it’s unaffordable, it’s unlawful, and it’s time for it to end. https://t.co/8felJdbSru

— Chrissy Houlahan (@RepHoulahan) July 23, 2026

The Democrats have had unified messaging on the war from the very beginning, while Republicans have most certainly not. They are correct that this is the most unpopular war in our lifetimes at least, but at least some of that has to do with how it has been nothing but a partisan football for the Democrats, while Republicans have failed to unify and amplify the president’s messaging. 

Today we passed a War Powers Resolution to end a pointless war that only serves Trump’s ego and Hegseth’s bloodlust. It needs to pass the Senate. We need to end this war. The Trump administration will likely ignore the constitution and Americans to continue the forever war they… pic.twitter.com/Cwr7SQB5yf

— Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) July 23, 2026

Don’t get me wrong; I think that elected officials are not obliged to bow down to every whim of the president, and Trump would have been better served by selling his reasoning more aggressively at the beginning of the war. I even understand the reservations that many legislators have regarding the policies. 

With that said, and I mean it, what these people are advocating is that Iran grasp victory out of the jaws of defeat, and they are aiding the enemy by reducing deterrence and giving them reason to believe that their chances of victory increase the longer the war goes on. 

We are past the point where debate about the wisdom of starting the war is anything but a topic of historical debate; we are in it, and it is every legislator’s responsibility to do what they can to win it, even if they think it was stupid to start the war in the first place. 

If we lose, it is unarguable that the United States would be worse off. And a vote to stop the war now is a vote to lose the war. 

X is filled with videos of Democrats singing from the same sheet music. They have every reason to crow because they believe that defeating Trump is more important than beating Iran. 

What is the excuse for the Republicans who voted to humiliate Trump? It’s not that they opposed Trump’s starting the war, because that ship has sailed. What they are voting for is a loss for America, a loss for Trump, and a victory for China, Russia, and most of all the ‘Death to America’ Iranians. 

Shameful.  

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