Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the ranking member, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, prepare to hear from U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz on his 2027 budget request, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday again blocked Democratic legislation that would halt President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, but the number of GOP senators voting against the war grew.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the war for the first time since it began at the end of February. Two other Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted against the war, as they had done previously.
The war powers legislation ultimately failed to advance 49-50, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to oppose it, yet the close tally reflected growing unease with Trump’s war. Several other Republican senators have signaled they want Congress to weigh in on the direction of the conflict.
“There will be a day — and it might be soon, I believe — where this Senate will say to the president, ‘Stop this war,’” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has spearheaded his party’s tactic of forcing repeated votes on the war, said before the vote.
