The House voted 220-204 on Tuesday to restrict further U.S. military action against Iran, with seven Republicans joining Democrats to support the measure. Republican defections increased from four to seven as the war’s cost, duration and political risks loom over the November midterm elections. The symbolic vote pressures the White House and Senate but does not immediately remove U.S. forces from hostilities.
Congress has repeatedly tried to reassert its role in decisions over war since fighting began on February 28. This latest vote exposed a widening, though still limited, division inside the Republican Party over how long presidential military authority should continue without a new authorization. Seven Republicans crossed the aisle in the House on Tuesday, delivering the strongest GOP challenge yet to President Donald Trump’s handling of the war with Iran.
Mace, Miller-Meeks and Nunn joined four Republicans who had backed previous efforts: Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. That movement matters because the first two House resolutions drew only four Republican votes. Newsweek reached out to every Republican mentioned above and the White House for comment via email on Wednesday morning and is awaiting responses.
Electoral geography adds another layer. Miller-Meeks and Nunn both represent Iowa, a state featuring prominently in the fight for control of Congress. Their votes do not prove that campaign considerations drove the decision, but the timing gives Democrats an opening to make the conflict part of their closing midterm argument.
And recent polling suggests they may find a receptive audience for that line of attack. A CBS News/YouGov survey conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,460 U.S. adults from September 8 to 11, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 points, found that 56 percent of likely voters would prefer a congressional candidate who opposed Trump’s approach to the conflict. Thirty-two percent favored a candidate who supported it, while 12 percent said the issue would not matter to their vote.
That same polling found 64 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of Iran, while 36 percent approved. Among likely voters, 66 percent described the conflict as very important to their congressional vote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has sought to connect the war directly to household finances.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
