Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined four other Republican senators who voted for a resolution that would direct President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. military from the current war effort against Iran as a petty parting shot against him for losing the GOP primary race to Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), who was endorsed by Trump, and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming.
The Senate voted 50-47 to push the War Powers Resolution out of the Senate’s Foreign Relation sCommittee, three other Republicans besides Cassidy — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY) — opting to vote alongside Democrats. According to reports, Cassidy’s vote in favor of the resolution is the first time he’s “supported advancing a war powers resolution” during his senatorial career.
The resolution, according to a report from CBS News, “would direct the president to ‘remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran.’” The resolution, which is led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), would direct President Trump to “remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.”
The report then went on to say, “The vote marked only a first step in the Senate. And even if both chambers approved the resolution, the president would be expected to veto it. But Democrats say the move would carry significance, and have the potential to change the president’s thinking in the war.”
Cassidy was one of seven total GOP senators who voted to convict the president in his impeachment trial following the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to Breitbart News. Prior to losing against Letlow and Fleming, Cassidy was allegedly “furious at the NRSC” and with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) because he believed “they haven’t fully supported his reelection bid.”
However, Thune reportedly helped Cassidy to raise “more than $650,000 for Cassidy at a January event in Baton Rouge.” Along with the four GOP senators who defected, the resolution also got a boost due to three other Republicans opting not to cast a vote at all. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) opted not to cast a ballot on the issue, a move likely stemming from anger and frustration at President Trump having endorsed his primary opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Sens. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also did not vote, helping to tip the scales toward Democrats in the vote. “Vote by vote, Democrats are breaking through Republicans’ wall of silence on Trump’s illegal war,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went on to say in a statement after the measure was pushed through.
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“Today proved our pressure is working: Republicans are starting to crack, and momentum is building to check him. We are not letting up,” Schumer added. Kaine noted that the war’s economic toll and astronomical gas prices are impacting regular Americans daily. “We’re coming up on Memorial Day. A lot of people do a lot of driving, they’re going to be paying a lot for gas — a whole lot more than they paid last year, and they remember that,” he told the press.
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