Cassidy explains Iran vote change after tense Trump Senate meeting

Bill Cassidy used a Sunday television appearance to explain why he changed his vote on an Iran war powers resolution after a rancorous meeting between Donald Trump and Senate Republicans. Cassidy appeared on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan alongside Tim Kaine.

The episode came after a sequence of Senate fights over Iran. On May 19, the Senate advanced a resolution to limit Trump’s authority in Iran by a 50-47 vote, with Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Cassidy joining most Democrats. Kaine’s measure would have directed the president to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized the action.

Kaine kept pushing after that first vote. By June 23, the Senate had passed a war powers resolution, and Kaine said the conflict was about Day 110, with 13 U.S. service members dead, thousands of Iranian civilians dead, more than $50 billion already paid out of the Treasury and more than $50 billion lost in higher gas costs since Feb. 28. In February, Kaine had also said the War Powers Resolution was privileged and that the American people did not want another forever war.

Trump met with Senate Republicans on June 25 in a fractious session that included a shouting match over Iran, and Cassidy and Paul then switched their votes, helping block the resolution in a 47-50-1 tally. Cassidy said he had “lost my temper” and later said a private White House briefing from Vice President J.D. Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff addressed “many of my concerns.”