The measure, which now heads to the Senate, would require the withdrawal of all U.S. armed forces engaged in hostilities with Iran unless Congress formally declares war or authorizes the use of military force.

The vote came hours after the Senate declined to take up its own version of the resolution, effectively stalling a bipartisan effort to reassert congressional war powers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to block the legislation, arguing that it would send a dangerous signal of disunity to adversaries abroad. The split outcome underscores the difficulty of legislating foreign policy in a divided government.

Eight Republicans joined all but one Democrat in the House to pass the measure, a margin that fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised veto from President Trump. The White House has argued that the resolution would hamstring the commander in chief’s ability to respond to threats from Tehran, particularly after the January drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi framed the vote as a constitutional necessity, not a judgment on the president’s strategy. “This is about the power of the purse and the power to declare war,” she said in a statement. “Congress must not abdicate its responsibility.” The resolution invokes the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a law passed in the wake of the Vietnam War to limit presidential authority to commit forces without congressional consent.

The Senate’s inaction came despite months of bipartisan negotiations led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, who had gathered 59 co-sponsors for his war powers resolution. McConnell’s procedural maneuver to block debate left the measure in limbo, a move that Kaine called “a failure of leadership” in a floor speech. “We are not asking to micromanage the military,” Kaine said. “We are asking to fulfill our oath to the Constitution.”

The divergent paths of the two chambers reflect a broader struggle over the scope of executive war-making authority. While the House vote carries symbolic weight, it is unlikely to alter U.S. force posture in the Persian Gulf, where roughly 60,000 American troops remain deployed. The administration has maintained that its actions against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria fall within the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, a law originally aimed at Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Allies and adversaries watch closely

European allies have expressed concern over the possibility of a wider conflict, while Iranian officials have signaled that any escalation would be met with retaliation. The House resolution, if enacted, would require the president to certify that Iran poses an imminent threat before any further military action, a standard that critics say could tie the hands of commanders on the ground.

The legislation now faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a handful of Republicans have expressed openness to debating war powers but have not committed to overriding a filibuster. With the president’s veto threat looming, the measure’s path to becoming law remains narrow, even as lawmakers in both parties acknowledge the need for a renewed debate on the limits of executive power in matters of war and peace.