House passes war powers resolution
By a vote of 214-208 lawmakers in the House passed a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military action in Iran, ahead of the lower chamber’s August reccess.
Four Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Warren Davidson, Tom Barrett and Thomas Massie, voted yes, alongside all Democrats.
This is first vote on a resolution since the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Iran collapsed earlier this month.
A reminder that both chambers passed war powers resolutions in June, with little acknowledgment from the White House. This week, Pete Hegseth said that Donald Trump had complete authority continue the conflict with Iran, while he asked Congress for supplemental funding for the war.
“Let me be clear: This body has already spoken. The War Powers Resolution passed with bipartisan support in the House and the Senate. The Trump administration was required to end its hostilities against Iran. It has not,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House armed services committee.
Meanwhile, the Senate is also preparing to hold a vote on its own war powers resolution today.
Key events
Leavitt added that Trump has not had a call with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, since he issued his statement on Truth Social that the newly inked nuclear deal is “totally subject” to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords.
“This is something that [Trump] has raised in previous conversations and has also said many times in the past,” the press secretary said.
Leavitt underscores that Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is ‘contingent’ on joining Abraham Accords
The press secretary said today that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords – a recent demand that Donald Trump announced earlier today.
When pressed why the administration didn’t announce that condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
She reiterated that if Saudi Arabia doesn’t join the accords “the deal is off”.
In response to the House passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until 4 December, Leavitt noted that the White House will continue to have discussions with Senate leadership on “the best path forward” to ensure the legislation is passed in the upper chamber.
“I don’t want to get ahead of those conversations, but the most important thing for the American people to know is that this president and this White House wants the government to remain open,” Leavitt said, while continuing to blame Democrats for the government shutdowns over the past 10 months.
Karoline Leavitt has started her press briefing at the White House. We’ll bring you the latest lines.
$1.15tn defense policy bill will face pushback in Senate
After the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), it now heads to the Senate, where it will need to overcome the 60-vote threshold in order to pass.
Last week, Senate Democrats blocked a version of the bill from coming up for a vote in response to the ongoing war in Iran.
Since the House version of the NDAA includes Donald Trump’s prized voter ID legislation – it will face an uphill battle to convince any Senate Democrats to advance the legislation as it stands. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, has called the Save America act – which also enforces a ban on mail-in ballots and requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote – “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.
As I noted earlier, the Senate will also hold its own war powers resolution vote today. This will be a similar, but separate measure.
While these resolutions aren’t seen as enforceable, they’re symbolic rebukes from Congress to show the lack of support for the war in Iran.
House passes war powers resolution
By a vote of 214-208 lawmakers in the House passed a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military action in Iran, ahead of the lower chamber’s August reccess.
Four Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Warren Davidson, Tom Barrett and Thomas Massie, voted yes, alongside all Democrats.
This is first vote on a resolution since the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Iran collapsed earlier this month.
A reminder that both chambers passed war powers resolutions in June, with little acknowledgment from the White House. This week, Pete Hegseth said that Donald Trump had complete authority continue the conflict with Iran, while he asked Congress for supplemental funding for the war.
“Let me be clear: This body has already spoken. The War Powers Resolution passed with bipartisan support in the House and the Senate. The Trump administration was required to end its hostilities against Iran. It has not,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House armed services committee.
Meanwhile, the Senate is also preparing to hold a vote on its own war powers resolution today.
Taz Ali
Global oil prices have risen to more than $100 per barrel for the first time since May as violence escalates in the Middle East.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, increased by more than 6% after Iran’s Houthi allies attacked shipping in the Red Sea.
Donald Trump said he would exact “major military punishment” against the Yemen-based group as well as Iran, which he said bears responsibility for the Red Sea attack.
In a short while the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee will also vote on Erica Schwartz to be new Centers of Disease Control (CDC) director. The beleaguered agency hasn’t had a dedicated leader since its last director, Susan Monarez, was pushed out by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in August last year.
The committee will also vote on Keith Sonderling to be the new labor secretary, after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid a series of misconduct allegations – including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job.
Provided the committee confirms their nominations, consideration for Schwartz and Sonderling will then head to the wider Senate for a full vote.
We’ll also hear from White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, when she will hold a briefing for reporters at 11am ET.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as that gets under way.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll be at the Environmental Protection Agency at 2:30pm ET to talk about the ratepayer protection pledge – an agreement signed a pledge by major tech companies that says they will bear the cost of the electricity generation required to power their datacenters. Experts, however, have called the pledge “toothless” and question how it will be enforced.
Later, the president will welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers, the World Series baseball champions, to the White House at 4:30pm ET.
Donald Trump says US will ‘hold Iran responsible’ for attacks by Houthis
Trump also said the US will “hold Iran responsible” for any actions the Houthis take against shipping.
He said the Houthis had acted “very professionally and smart” until they attacked Saudi Arabian ships in the Red Sea last night.
In a post on Truth Social, he said:
A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships. Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly. Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night. Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart.
My colleague Taz Ali has more on our Middle East liveblog here:
Donald Trump says nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia is ‘totally subject’ to country joining the Abraham accords
Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social that the landmark nuclear deal the US signed with Saudi Arabia yesterday is “totally subject” to Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham accords.
The president wrote: “The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords. The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”
In addition to passing the National Defense Authorization Act – a key plank of the president’s plan to spend $1.5tn on the military in the 2027 fiscal year – House Republicans on Wednesday agreed to begin the process of writing a $95bn bill to fund the war with Iran.
The passage of this budget resolution paves the way for the creation of a reconciliation bill, which can advance through the Senate under special rules that circumvent the Democratic filibuster and requires only a simple majority to pass.
Like the NDAA, the budget resolution will also likely be used by the House administration committee to pass the Save America Act into law, which will ban mail-in ballots nationwide and impose enhanced strict identification requirements on voters when they cast ballots and register.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more here:
The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act in a 216-212 vote, with all but six Democrats opposing its passage and seven Republicans breaking ranks to oppose the measure.
These are the Democrats that voted for NDAA:
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Henry Cuellar of Texas
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Donald Davis of North Carolina
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Jared Golden of Maine
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Vicente Gonzalez of Texas
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Adam Gray of California
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Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington
These are the Republicans that voted against it:
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Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma. “While I support providing for a robust national defense, I could not in good conscience vote for this legislation as it authorizes a $263.4bn (29.6%) increase over the authorized level for the previous fiscal year,” Brecheen posted on X.
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Tim Burchett of Tennessee
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Elijah Crane of Arizona
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Harriet Hageman of Wyoming
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Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
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Thomas Massie of Kentucky
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Chip Roy of Texas
The bill now goes to the Senate.
Outcry over the $1.15tn defense policy bill passed in the House
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) typically passes in Congress each year with bipartisan margins. But the $1.15tn defense policy bill passed in a near-party-line vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in an uproar.
That’s because the NDAA’s path to enactment this year has been complicated by the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress – a war that has already cost $37.5bn, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Last week, Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of that chamber’s version of the NDAA in protest of the war.
“While millions of Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, Congress is choosing to authorize over $1tn for the Pentagon, once again funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to defense contractors instead of investing in the needs of working people,” Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Minnesota, posted on X.
She continued: “The American people are sick and tired of funding atrocities abroad and want this war with Iran to end. Yet year after year, the Pentagon fails its audit with virtually no accountability, while Congress continues to increase military spending.”
Further complicating matters, Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, acceded to the demands of rightwing lawmakers and inserted into the legislation the Save America Act, a Trump-backed proposal to ban mail-in ballots and impose new identification restrictions on voters at the polls and when they register. “This budget resolution is our best shot at enacting as much of the Save America Act into law as possible,” Johnson -posted on X.
“This means the NDAA is now tied to Trump’s attempt to steal elections by making it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote,” Jerry Nadler, a Democratic representative from New York, posted on X. “The NDAA is a costly, bad bill that funds an illegal war and undermines our democracy.”
Section 219 of the NDAA – which establishes the US-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative – also had Republican representatives protesting the bill’s passage. “Section 219 is a betrayal of our sovereignty,” Kentucky conservative Thomas Massie said on X. Far-right firebrand Lauren Boebert also said she sat out on the NDAA vote because of Section 219.
More to come.
