Bill Cassidy stood up in a closed-door Republican lunch and, by his own account, lost his temper. The Louisiana senator told reporters afterward that he was angry about how little the administration had told Congress about the Iran war. President Donald Trump, Cassidy said, raised his voice too.
Hours later the Senate voted on an Iran war powers resolution that Cassidy and Rand Paul of Kentucky had helped advance on March 19. This time Cassidy voted no. Paul voted present. The resolution failed 47-50-1, and the Senate left town for a two-week recess.
The lunch
Trump had come to the Capitol to talk about a bipartisan housing bill and the SAVE America Act. He then abruptly canceled his plan to sign the housing bill. Several senators told NBC News he spent more time on the election bill and the Iran war, and the war led to the clash with Cassidy.
Cassidy, who lost his primary last month to a Trump-backed challenger, described what he told the president. The war “was supposed to last four weeks. It’s lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what’s going on.”
He said he was “voting for war powers until I get a briefing.” He got one that afternoon at the White House from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff. On X, Cassidy thanked both men and said the invitation had addressed “many of my concerns.”
Asked whether Trump had called him a “lunatic,” Cassidy answered that he could imagine the president calling him “things that would be said on the school, on the playground.”
Trump did not hide the friction but played it down. It was “a really great meeting,” he told reporters on his way out. “We like everyone in the room. I don’t like a few people, but that’s OK.”
Paul and Kaine
Paul said he voted present to “give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who introduced the resolution, said Trump had “tried to browbeat Republican senators for upholding their oaths of office.” Republicans, he said, had agreed to defeat a “superfluous” motion on a separate war powers resolution pending before the Senate. “The vote is of no consequence and does not undo the expressed position of Congress that further war against Iran is illegal unless Congress votes for it.”
The measure would have directed Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities within or against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized them. Had it passed both chambers, Trump would have been forced to veto it.
A later vote
The International Business Times reported that on Thursday, Sept. 24, another resolution failed in the Senate by one vote, 50-49. Cassidy again voted against advancing it. Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Paul and Thom Tillis voted with Democrats, and Democrat John Fetterman voted no. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland was absent. Cassidy’s yes vote would have made it 50-49 the other way.
By then the war had passed six months, with fuel prices rising. Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged public frustration and urged the administration to focus on reopening shipping routes.
Sources
- Senate Republicans reject Iran war powers resolution after clashing with Trump at Capitol meeting
- Trump Helped Oust Bill Cassidy, Then Cassidy Helped Him Dodge a One-Vote Iran War Rebuke
