{"id":47760,"date":"2026-04-17T11:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47760"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:31:11","slug":"lone-democrat-jared-golden-helps-gop-tank-another-iran-war-powers-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/lone-democrat-jared-golden-helps-gop-tank-another-iran-war-powers-resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Lone Democrat\u2014Jared Golden\u2014Helps GOP Tank Another Iran War Powers Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Rep.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was pictured at a news conference in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation,\u201d said one peace advocate. \u201cDemocratic leadership\u2019s handling of this moment is also concerning.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 16, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the decisive support of one Democrat\u2014Rep. Jared Golden of Maine\u2014the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a war powers resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump\u2019s illegal assault on Iran, over six weeks after it began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final vote was 213-214<\/a>, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joining nearly every House Democrat in supporting the resolution<\/a>, which would have forced Trump to withdraw American troops from hostilities in Iran absent congressional authorization. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) didn\u2019t vote, despite criticizing the war and telling reporters<\/a> last month that she would \u201cmost likely\u201d support the Democratic resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"DENMARK-US-POLITICS-CONGRESS\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Top Democrats Face Rising Pressure to \u2018Bring the Iran War Powers Resolution to the Floor Right Now\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Dems<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Let Us Vote\u2019: House GOP Blocks Dems\u2019 Iran War Powers Resolution<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the lead-up to Thursday\u2019s vote, Democratic leaders\u2014including the resolution\u2019s chief sponsor, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York\u2014faced backlash<\/a> for slowwalking the legislative effort to end the war even as it appeared that momentum was on their side. Earlier this month, the House Democratic leadership opted to punt the war powers vote until after spring recess, during which the Trump administration<\/a> and Iran\u2019s government reached a tenuous ceasefire deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of the four House Democrats<\/a> who voted against an Iran war powers resolution in early March flipped their votes on Thursday: Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas<\/a>, Greg Landsman of Ohio, and Juan Vargas of California. Golden, who also voted against the earlier resolution, is not running for reelection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we are encouraged to see growing support,\u201d said Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian, \u201cit is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans<\/a> in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocratic leadership\u2019s handling of this moment is also concerning,\u201d said Kharrazian. \u201cThey previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership\u2019s priorities: strategy or politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict,\u201d Kharrazian added. \u201cThe American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House voted marked the sixth time<\/a> an Iran-related war powers resolution has failed in the House or Senate since Trump started bombing on February 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Mark Pocan<\/a> (D-Wis.) said Thursday that he supported the war powers effort on Thursday because \u201cTrump\u2019s war of choice was not authorized by Congress, was started without a plan or an exit strategy, and has achieved none of the contradictory objectives used to justify it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s war in Iran is deeply unpopular,\u201d Pocan added, \u201cand it\u2019s time to end what never should have started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Costello, policy director with the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement that \u201cthe narrow defeat of a resolution to definitively end the war on Iran is another tragic missed opportunity, but the gap between public opposition to the war and votes to end it is narrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll but one House Democrat voted unanimously in support of the resolution but were joined by just one Republican,\u201d said Costello. \u201cGolden will need to answer to his\u00a0Maine<\/a>\u00a0constituents, many of whom are\u00a0veterans<\/a>\u00a0and pro-peace Americans who question why\u00a0Washington<\/a>\u00a0so consistently sends brave servicemembers into ill-advised, disastrous wars of choice that kill civilians and sabotage the global economy. So too do all of the Republicans who chose again not to use their power to convince President Trump to take an off-ramp and end this disastrous war that puts Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s dreams, not the American people and American security, first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was pictured at a news conference in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025.  (Photo by Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) \u201cIt is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation,\u201d said one peace advocate. \u201cDemocratic leadership\u2019s handling of… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47760"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47761,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47760\/revisions\/47761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}