Senate Narrowly Rejects Resolutions to Halt Iran War and Arms Sales to IsraelHeadlineApr 16, 2026Link copiedThe Senate has rejected a resolution seeking to rein in President Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran. On Wednesday, all Senate Republicans except for Kentucky’s Rand Paul voted against the war powers resolution, which failed in a vote of 47 to 52; every Democrat except Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman voted in favor of it. The House is set to vote on a similar measure this afternoon.
Meanwhile, senators voted down a pair of resolutions seeking to halt the sale of armored bulldozers, thousand-pound bombs and other hardware to Israel’s military, despite Israel’s repeated use of U.S. weapons to commit war crimes. The resolutions were sponsored by Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Israel did not have the right to violate international law and wage an all-out war of unspeakable destruction against the entire Palestinian people, in what experts have correctly concluded is a genocide.”
Forty of the Senate’s 47 Democrats voted for at least one of Sanders’s two resolutions. The seven Democrats who sided with Senate Republicans in opposition are Richard Blumenthal, Chris Coons, Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jacky Rosen and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader.
The nonprofit A New Policy, which was founded by former State Department officials who resigned in protest of U.S. policies on Israel, said Wednesday’s vote shows for the first time that an overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats oppose unconditional aid to Israel. They added, “American politics are changing, and eventually American policies will follow.”
Topics:IranSenateCongressDemocratic PartyBernie SandersIsraelArms Trade