The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution Tuesday seeking to block U.S. military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Donald Trump's efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund.
It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50-48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts. While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not fully carry the force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
"Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
On this vote, the absence of two Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital recently for an undisclosed matter, left the GOP without a full majority to halt the effort.
—The Associated Press
The U.S. and Iran were in dispute Tuesday over whether Tehran had agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to view bombed Iranian nuclear sites, as officials mediated talks on a permanent end to their war and violence broke out again in Lebanon.
The differing accounts came as Iran's president met with Pakistani officials mediating negotiations and while technical teams were working on details following talks in Switzerland between the U.S. and Iran.
As those talks continued, a break in the shipping bottleneck through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to be in the works.
—The Associated Press
Speaking to an adoring crowd at a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump boasted about the economy and falling gas prices as he works to rally support ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Days after signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Iran war, he promised oil prices would fall even more than they already have and reduce prices throughout the economy.
“You built this country, and you’re the ones who are making America great again. We’re in the hottest country in the world,” Trump told the cheering crowd at the factory that employs about 2,800 workers making heavy-duty trucks.
—Spectrum News' Susan Carpenter
New photos have emerged showing the Kennedy Center’s facade without President Donald Trump’s name — amid an effort by the Justice Department to appeal a judge’s ruling that the performing arts center’s renaming was unlawful.
The photos, which were first published by The Washington Post and later shared with Spectrum News by the activist group Hands Off the Arts, were taken underneath a tarp affixed to the front of the building and are the first visual confirmation that the signage on the organization’s exterior has reverted to read “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
In his decision last month, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper set a June 12 deadline for Trump’s name to be scrubbed from the building as well as the center’s website and promotional materials.
—Spectrum News' Christina Santucci
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