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The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution Tuesday seeking to block US military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Donald Trump's efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund. It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50-48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts. While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not fully carry the force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month. "Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer said Americans have paid the price for "Trump's historic blunder in Iran. It'll go down in the histor
Two Republican senators flagged histories of Qatar and Pakistan of "harbouring terrorists" against the backdrop of US Vice President J D Vance's remarks professing "love" for Islamabad. "It should be clear to everybody by now who our friends really are. Qatar and Pakistan have long histories of harbouring terrorists, and right now they seem far more invested in propping up Iran's decades-long terror campaign than achieving a meaningful peace," Senator Rick Scott said in a post on X on Monday. The Florida senator's remarks came against the backdrop of Vance's "we love Pakistan" remark in Switzerland, where he, along with leaders from Pakistan and Qatar, were negotiating technical details of a peace deal with Iran. "There is still room for a workable agreement that benefits everyone. HOWEVER, what everybody needs to get through their heads here is that there is ZERO chance Iran comes out of this able to build a nuclear weapon," Scott said. Senator Tim Sheehy from Montana, in an ...
The Senate tried and failed again Tuesday to advance a war powers resolution that would halt the US military action against Iran, in what has become an almost weekly effort to rein in President Donald Trump as the administration floats a new plan to bring an end to the nearly four-month long war. Senators of both parties have have been sceptical of the Trump administration's emerging Iran deal and frustrated by the White House's refusal to share details. They are expecting a briefing from the administration, but nothing has been scheduled before Friday's planned deadline for the two sides to sign the agreement. The vote was 47-48, with four Republicans joining most Democrats in supporting the war powers resolution. That fell short of the majority needed to advance it. "Join me in putting a check on this president's lawless warmongering," said Senator Raphael Warnock, who proposed the resolution, in a speech before the voting. "The time is always right to do what's right," he said.
Bill Gates said Wednesday that he made a "grave error in judgment" by ever meeting with Jeffrey Epstein as the Microsoft co-founder faced questions behind closed doors from lawmakers about his relationship with the disgraced financier. In an opening statement provided to The Associated Press, Gates said he "should never have met with Epstein in the first place," but that he "never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct". The tech billionaire became the latest powerful figure linked to Epstein to testify before the House Oversight Committee. As Gates arrived at the Capitol, he noted that he was there voluntarily and said he hoped his testimony would be useful. "I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, the important work, of the committee, to find justice for the victims," he said. The committee chairman, Republican US Rep James Comer, formally requested that Gates testify after he appeared multiple times in a trove of documents relea
US Senator John Cornyn, the co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, has greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for becoming the longest-serving elected prime minister and said his tenure has been "nothing short of transformational". On Wednesday, Narendra Modi became India's longest-serving prime minister, with an unbroken tenure of 4,399 days in office, surpassing the record of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. "Congratulations to Prime Minister @narendramodi on becoming India's longest-serving elected Prime Minister - 4,399 days of leadership earned through the trust of 1.4 billion people across three democratic mandates," Cornyn, the Republican Senator from Texas, said in a post on X. "From lifting 250 million out of poverty to making India the world's fastest-growing major economy, PM Modi's tenure has been nothing short of transformational. The US-India partnership has never been stronger," Cornyn said. Nehru, who was first elected to the post in 1952, took the oath of office
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham termed "problematic" the role of Pakistan as a mediator in the United States' war with Iran. Graham's remarks came as Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif said he is not in favour of Islamabad joining the Abraham Accords, which deal with establishing diplomatic, economic and security ties between Israel and Arab nations. Asif also talked about his country's long-standing position to not accept Israel until the Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital is established. "It has been apparent to me for quite a while that Pakistan as a mediator is more than problematic. Their animosity towards Israel is long standing," Graham said in a post on X. He asked Pakistan to respond to US President Donald Trump's call to mediators in the US-Iran war to join the Accords. "As to the defence minister's comments about the Abraham Accords, saying that Pakistan would never join because they don't trust Israel: The clip may be a
After three terms in the US House and two unsuccessful campaigns for the US Senate, Colin Allred said he's heard plenty about voters' suspicions that politicians are just trying to make a buck in Washington. "'What about the stock trading in Congress? What about people getting rich in Congress?'" Allred said they ask him regularly. "And I have to say to them, you're absolutely right about that, too. We need to be better." He's challenging Rep. Julie Johnson in the Democratic runoff for a Dallas-area House seat on Tuesday, and he's one of several candidates trying to harness populist anger over congressional stock trading. Allred has denounced Johnson for trades involving companies like Palantir, a data analytics firm with ties to President Donald Trump's administration. Johnson said her trades were handled by a financial manager, and she accused Allred of being "only out for himself". She pointed to financial disclosures that showed Allred's wealth nearly doubling during his own tim
Republicans struggled Thursday to find the votes to dismiss legislation that would compel President Donald Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran, delaying planned votes on the matter into June. The House had scheduled a vote on a war powers resolution, brought by Democrats, that would rein in Trump's military campaign. But as it became clear that Republicans would not have the numbers to defeat the bill, GOP leaders declined to hold a vote on it. Republicans are also working to ensure they have the votes to dismiss another war powers resolution in the Senate that advanced to a final vote earlier this week, when four GOP senators supported the resolution and three others were absent from the vote. The actions by congressional leaders showed the increasing difficultly of maintaining political backing for Trump's handling of the war. Rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly willing to defy the president over the conflict. Frustration with Iran war grows on Capitol ...
A proposal to fund USD 1 billion in security additions for the White House campus and the president's new ballroom fails to meet procedural rules, according to the Senate parliamentarian, dealing a blow to Republican plans to include it as part of a bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies for the next three years. The parliamentarian's ruling, described late Saturday by Senate Democrats, said that a project as large and complex as President Donald Trump's massive East Wing renovation is too broad to be included in the budget bill, which only needs a simple majority - and no Democratic votes - to pass. It's unclear if Republicans will be able to salvage any part of the billion-dollar Secret Service proposal, which would have funded security for Trump's ballroom along with other parts of the White House, including a new visitor screening centre, training for agents and extra reinforcements for large events. Republicans said Saturday night that they are revising the legislation ..
The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, bringing new leadership to the world's most powerful central bank at a fraught moment for the global economy. Warsh was confirmed Wednesday in a largely party-line vote. His nomination had been thrown into doubt in recent months after Republican Sen Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he would block the nomination while the Justice Department investigated Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The Powell probe was dropped in April, clearing the way for the Senate to confirm Warsh. Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged colleagues to support Warsh during a floor speech Wednesday morning, saying it's critical that a Fed chair "understand not only the macro" but also "appreciate the microeconomy: and that's the hardworking Americans, their jobs and their livelihoods". "Kevin Warsh is just such a person," Thune said. Warsh, 56, a former top Fed official, will become chair at an unusually difficult time fo
After weeks of delay, the House on Thursday voted to fund much of the US Department of Homeland Security, excluding immigration enforcement. The bipartisan package would end the agency's longest shutdown and avoid another round of airport disruptions. The bill now heads to President Donald Trump to sign, although much of his immigration agenda - which has been central to the dispute over funding - is paid for separately. Meanwhile in the Senate, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff faced another day of intense questioning as the Trump administration seeks a historic USD 1.5 trillion military budget for 2027. It's the first chance for senators to confront or praise how the leaders are handling the Iran war. One Democrat raised "serious constitutional concerns" about Hegseth's claim that the 60-day legal limit for the war is on pause during a ceasefire. Senators also questioned the defense secretary's efforts to remake military culture, the ...
Senate Republicans rejected legislation from Democrats on Tuesday that would have required President Donald Trump to end the US energy blockade on Cuba unless he receives approval from Congress. The vote on the war powers resolution showed how Republicans continue to stand behind Trump as he acts unilaterally to exert American force in a range of global conflicts, including Venezuela, Iran and Cuba - one of the US's closest neighbours yet a longtime adversary. Democrats have repeatedly forced votes on legislation to put a check on the president's ability to deploy military force in those conflicts, but none have succeeded. Tuesday's vote was the first pertaining to Cuba and would have forced the president to get approval from Congress before launching any attacks on the island nation. To dismiss the resolution, Republicans said that it was out of order because the US is not engaged in outright hostilities with Cuba. Their maneuver to dismiss the legislation succeeded on a 51-47 tall
A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced a bill in the US Congress for a three-year pause to the H1-B visa programme, contending that it has been hijacked to replace American workers with cheap foreign labour. Congressman Eli Crane from Arizona introduced the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026, which was co-sponsored by seven other Republican lawmakers. The bill proposes reforms to the H-1B programme that include reducing the annual cap from 65,000 to 25,000 with a minimum wage of USD 2,00,000 per year and disallowing H-1B visa holders from bringing dependents to the US. Congressmen Brian Babin, Brandon Gill, Wesley Hunt, Keith Self (all from Texas), Andy Ogles (Tennessee), Paul Gosar (Arizona) and Tom McClintock (California) have signed on as original cosponsors of the bill. The H-1B visa programme is used extensively by American technology companies to employ foreign workers. Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, form one of the largest groups of
The US Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House. The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump's package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes. "We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune. The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules
President Donald Trump on Friday signed a promised executive action that will pay Transportation Security Administration employees, after a deal that sought to do the same stalled in Congress. Trump signed the action with an eye toward easing long security lines at many of nation's top airports. "America's air travel system has reached its breaking point," Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments. House Republicans are rejecting a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, a revolt that risks delaying a resolution to the funding impasse now in its 42nd day that has created long lines at many of the nation's airports. "This gambit that was done last night is a joke," House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday. Johnson said that instead House Republicans would seek to pass a bill that would fund the entire department at current levels until May 22. He also said that he had spoken with President Donald Trump about the House Republican plan and the ...
The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers. The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it Friday. "We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we'll go from there," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD "Obviously, we'll still have some work ahead of us." With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the endgame emerged in the final hours before Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers miss another paycheck Friday. President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the