Politics

House Republicans Canceled the Iran Vote Because They Were Going to Lose It

By Mike Harper · May 22, 2026

For months, House Republican leaders have brought the Iran war powers resolution to the floor, allowed it to fail, and declared the war still has congressional support. On Thursday, they didn’t bring it to the floor at all.

House GOP leadership abruptly canceled a scheduled vote on a war powers resolution that would compel President Trump to withdraw from the Iran war — because it had become clear, as members checked in for the day, that Republicans did not have enough votes to defeat it. The resolution would have passed. Leadership pulled it rather than let that happen.

“We had the votes without question and they knew it, and as a result they’re playing a political game.”

That was Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the Democratic sponsor of the resolution and top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking to reporters after the cancellation was announced. Meeks said House Democratic leaders had counted their votes and confirmed they had a majority — including enough Republican crossovers — to pass the war powers resolution for the first time in the conflict’s history.

House Republican Leader Steve Scalise told reporters the vote was “delayed” to give absent members a chance to participate. Speaker Mike Johnson did not answer questions as he exited the House chamber.

The practical consequence of the cancellation is a delay to June — when the House returns from Memorial Day recess. But the political consequence is more significant than the timing. For the first time since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, House Republican leadership acknowledged — through its silence and its procedural maneuver — that it does not have reliable votes to protect Trump’s war-making authority in its own chamber.

Bloomberg reported that “GOP absences threatened an embarrassing defeat” and that leadership acted specifically to prevent that defeat from becoming a public record. The war powers vote has now failed to advance on two consecutive days — Wednesday and Thursday — the second day because leadership refused to allow a vote they couldn’t control.

The Senate is tracking the same trajectory. Four Republican senators voted with Democrats on a war powers resolution this week — the closest it has ever come to passing — and three others were absent. GOP Senate leadership is now actively working to ensure absent members are present for any future Senate vote, specifically to prevent the same outcome that nearly happened in the upper chamber.

The war that Trump launched without congressional authorization is now actively fracturing the congressional coalition that has sustained it for nearly three months. Gas at $4.39 per gallon. Inflation at 3.8% — the highest since 2023. The Strait of Hormuz still closed. And the House of Representatives unwilling to vote on whether the war should continue.

“Republicans can run from Trump’s disastrous war,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar said Thursday, “but they can’t hide.”