Senate’s latest war powers resolution fails in 49-50 vote as some Republicans side with Democrats
Meanwhile, the latest attempt by Congress to rein-in president Donald Trump’s attacks in the Middle East failed in the Senate on Thursday.
The war powers resolution failed in a 49-50 vote.
Democratic senator John Fetterman voted with Republicans to sink the measure. But notably, Republicans senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul voted in favor of the motion to prevent Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran.
Mitch McConnell was absent for the vote as he recovers from a June fall and has not received clearance to return to work.
Key events
On Wednesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer gave a speech on the chamber floor in which he implored Republicans to abandon their support of Trump’s war in Iran.
“Are Senate Republicans listening? The country is clamoring for you to end this war,” he said. “I urge and plead with my Republican colleagues: listen to the American people. Vote to end this war. We’re going to keep forcing Republicans to vote until we do.”
On Thursday before the vote was finalized, Schumer posted on X:
Trump’s war with Iran has been one of the greatest foreign policy dumpster fires in American history, and it seems to be expanding with new attacks now targeting Egypt. Our troops’ lives are unnecessarily at risk fighting a war that was totally avoidable. All while Trump is too busy playing keyboard warrior on Truth Social. We must end this war now.
A reminder that today a new poll was released on American attitudes about the US-Iran war, with most people believing this is not worth fighting. Trump’s approval rating also showed a slump, according to the new AP-NORC poll.
The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.
About two-thirds of US adults say the war with Iran has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who voted in favor of the latest war powers resolution to prevent Trump from continuing an operation against Iran, wrote on X:
Senate Republicans just voted to continue Donald Trumps war with Iran for the 13th time.
– Rising gas prices
– Increasing grocery bills
– 18 U.S. service members have been killed
– Over 600 Americans have been injuredWe must end Trump’s war.
Senate’s latest war powers resolution fails in 49-50 vote as some Republicans side with Democrats
Meanwhile, the latest attempt by Congress to rein-in president Donald Trump’s attacks in the Middle East failed in the Senate on Thursday.
The war powers resolution failed in a 49-50 vote.
Democratic senator John Fetterman voted with Republicans to sink the measure. But notably, Republicans senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul voted in favor of the motion to prevent Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran.
Mitch McConnell was absent for the vote as he recovers from a June fall and has not received clearance to return to work.
Cornyn: talks over Blanche’s nomination are over for now
Republican senator John Cornyn said talks over Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general were over, likely through the weekend, after Donald Trump said he might withdraw his candidate.
“I don’t discount the possibility that this is just part of a negotiating technique,” Cornyn said of Trump’s comment on social media.
Democratic senator Dick Durban, the ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, called drama over Todd Blanche’s nomination “a crisis of his own doing.”
In an interview with CNN, Durbin also stood behind senator John Cornyn, one of the Republicans stalling the confirmation vote.
“I think John has made a good stand on an important issue,” Durbin said. “He’s also raised the issue of the future liability of the Trump empire when it comes to tax crimes. I mean, these are legitimate issues he’s raising and I’m sure he’s not the only Republican worried about it.”
US-Iran strikes risk regional war in Middle East – podcast
As we’ve been reporting, the US military has carried out a wave of airstrikes against Iran in response to Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan. The strikes were launched after Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” following a days-long pause in fighting. Iran has expanded its military strikes in the region, raising fears of an all-out war.
In today’s edition of The Lastet podcast, Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian senior international correspondent Peter Beaumount.
And House judiciary Democrats have this response:
Trump has been forced to bench his own pick for Attorney General because even Senate Republicans could not stomach installing the President’s forever personal defense lawyer as America’s top law enforcement officer.
Todd Blanche sealed his fate by refusing to disavow Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund for cop-beating MAGA foot soldiers or retract his family-sized Super Pardon for the Trumps and all their businesses. It didn’t help that he refuses to end the disgraceful Epstein files cover-up or stand up to any of Trump’s demands that DOJ prosecute his perceived foes or drop charges against his friends and J6 foot soldiers.
The Senate must reject this dangerous nomination for good and demand an Attorney General who serves the Constitution and the American people, not Donald Trump and the Epstein class.
Senator Cornyn responds to Trump on Blanche showdown: ‘Potus is mistaken’
In response to that, John Cornyn wrote on X:
POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis
A swing vote on the Senate judiciray committee, Cornyn, of Texas, told reporters yesterday he would not support Todd Blanche’s nomination until he received written confirmation that the $1.8bn slush fund was not moving ahead.
He also wants to clarify that a provision in the Trump-IRS settlement giving the president, his sons and related businesses blanket immunity from tax audits for all matters up until this year could not be applied to future matters, or to people who were not parties to the settlement.
Under pressure, Blanche announced in June that the DOJ was scrapping the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, but has repeatedly declined to say so in writing. Pressed by Cornyn during his confirmation hearing, Blanche acknowledged that Trump or the other plaintiffs in the case could try to enforce the settlement agreement. He also did not say the tax immunity provision was dead.
Cornyn was defeated in his GOP primary in May by Ken Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump. Tillis is not seeking re-election.
Trump says he may pull Blanche’s attorney general nomination until dissenting senators leave office
Donald Trump has said he may pull and delay Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general as he looks to avoid concessions to holdout Republicans John Cornyn and Thom Tillis saying he might re-nominate Blanche once they’re out of office.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform:
Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting. Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention. I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office.
Cornyn and Tillis both leave office next year, with Tillis not seeking re-election and Cornyn having lost his primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger.
The Senate judiciary committee vote on Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general was scrapped last night, after the two senators demanded further assurances about the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
Cornyn and Tillis demanded additional assurances in writing that the so-called ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ is dead and pressed for clarification on the scope of the tax immunity deal.
Cornyn has said he wants the administration to modify that piece of the settlement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.
In an interview with Politico yesterday, Senate majority leader John Thune doubled down on his desire to let Republican senators out for the five-week summer recess and onto the campaign trail ahead of November’s midterms – but first he has to get past Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to cancel it.
Just yesterday, Trump insisted in the Oval Office – despite all evidence to the contrary – that Thune “has the votes” to kill the filibuster and pass his unpopular restrictive voting bill (the so-called Save America Act), despite Thune making clear many times the party doesn’t have the votes to pass either measure.
The president even openly questioned whether Thune was the right person for the job. “We will find out, and I will let you know,” Trump told reporters.
Thune hadn’t yet heard those comments when he sat down with Politico. But he nonetheless reiterated that he doesn’t have anywhere near the votes for either measure. He said of the president:
He gets obviously frustrated with me because he sees me as the person that’s the impediment to some of the things he wants to get done. But as I continually point out … I don’t make this stuff up. Math is math, arithmetic is arithmetic. … And part of it, too, is the active role he played in some of these primaries.
He thinks I can wave the magic wand. I wish it were that easy.
Asked about the Oval Office comments later yesterday evening, Thune replied: “That’s a decision that’s made by my colleagues.”
He then joked that if Trump “could find somebody else to do this job, it might be a big relief”, adding:
It is what it is. You just roll with it.
Thune also expressed hope that Republicans would be able to spend election season “drawing contrast with our Democrat opponents rather than us shooting each other”.
He effectively ruled out holding a test vote on killing the filibuster, warning that forcing effectively symbolic votes would risk dividing the party and serve no practical end.
You end up … basically for the 60 or 90 days heading into an election, fighting among Republicans, which to me seems really counterproductive, going into an election that’s pretty high-stakes.
Senate panel advances nomination of Trump’s pick for CDC director
The Senate health committee has voted to advance the nomination of Donald Trump’s pick for CDC director, career civil servant Erica Schwartz, bringing her closer to confirmation by the whole Senate.
Schwartz’s resume includes medical and law degrees, a stint as deputy surgeon general, and a leadership position at the US Coast Guard. Her nomination now goes to the Senate for a floor vote. If confirmed, Schwartz will lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s top public health agency, which is still reeling from months of leadership turmoil.
The advancement comes after Schwartz secured a key vote from Bill Cassidy, who said this morning he was confident that she would defend science. He had previously expressed concern over whether she would challenge her potential future boss, RFK Jr, like her predecessor did, if he proposed taking actions at odds with scientific evidence and good public health practice.
At her hearing earlier this month, Schwartz pledged to “never betray the science”, but also repeatedly declined to dissent from some of the actions Kennedy has taken.
Nonetheless, she also secured a vote from Tim Kaine – the only Democrat who voted in support – who said earlier this week he would vote for her as the US tackles measles and other public health crises. Kaine has also previously apologized to former CDC director Susan Monarez for opposing her nomination, after she was ousted by the White House after refusing to go along with Kennedy’s sweeping changes to US vaccine policy, including the childhood vaccine schedule.
Also this morning, the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee voted to advance the nomination of Sean Kaufman, Trump’s pick for assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
