After the vote, Jayapal told reporters she was delighted with the House result. "This is not a partisan issue. Vast majorities of Americans, of all parties, believe that this is an unconstitutional and illegal war that needs to stop," she said, citing the deaths of troops and civilians and higher fuel costs due to the conflict.
Ahead of November midterm elections in which polls show Trump's Republicans facing a difficult fight to keep their House of Representatives and Senate majorities, Democrats are seeking to link the unpopular Iran war with affordability.
However, opponents of the resolutions criticized their supporters as seeking to score political points and undercut the president at a time of war.
"This regime that we are fighting does not care about our partisan politics," Republican Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana said in a speech in which he accused the resolution's supporters of "defending these lunatics who want us all dead" and praised Trump for attacking Iran.
The U.S. Constitution gives only Congress, not the president, the power to authorize the use of military force and send troops into foreign conflicts, although there is significant precedent for presidents ordering short-term operations to counter an immediate threat.
Trump recently announced a ramp-up in attacks on Iran, and the deaths of more U.S. service members. Trump on Thursday promised "major military punishment" for Iran and its Houthi allies, after the Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.
Additionally, two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the U.S. military launched another nightly round of airstrikes on Iran, prompting Iran to fire at U.S. bases in neighboring countries.
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