President Trump launched the war with Iran on February 28, 2026. It was supposed to last a few weeks. Congress has never voted to authorize it.

By the time the House finally passed a resolution telling him to stop, it had already failed three times. Two of those failures were as close as a vote in the House can get. Either one would have passed if a single Republican had voted the other way.

• April 16, 2026 — H. Con. Res. 40 failed 213 to 214. One vote.
• May 14, 2026 — H. Con. Res. 75 deadlocked 212 to 212. A tie fails.

181 Republicans still running in 2026 with a report card on this site voted no on both. Any one of them could have changed either outcome. Their names are at the bottom of this post.

What "failed by one" actually means

On April 16, flipping a single no vote to yes makes it 214 to 213, and the resolution passes. On May 14, flipping a single no vote makes it 213 to 211, and it passes.

That is the whole margin. Not a bloc, not a faction, not a deal — one member, either day, out of the 212 and 210 Republicans who voted no.

This is the same arithmetic we walked through when $70 billion for ICE passed the House by two votes. When a chamber is this close, "I was one of many" stops being true. Every no vote is the deciding one, because removing any single one of them reverses the result.

What they were voting on

The War Powers Resolution is a Vietnam-era law. It says a president needs Congress's approval to keep U.S. forces in sustained fighting past 60 or 90 days. Congress, not the president, decides whether the country stays at war.

A yes vote said: Congress wants the troops out of this fight. A no vote said: the president can keep going on his own.

Both measures were concurrent resolutions, so neither would have gone to Trump's desk. They were Congress stating its own position on its own war power. That is what makes the margins so pointed — these were the cheapest possible votes to cast, and they still came up one Republican short — twice.

The Republicans who voted yes

Three Republicans in the entire House voted to end the war on either day, and they deserve to be named, because they are the proof it was available.

• Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted yes on both. He has no page on this site.
• Tom Barrett of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania voted yes on May 14 — the 212–212 tie. Both are tracked here, and both had voted no a month earlier on April 16.

That is it. On April 16, Massie was the only Republican yes in the chamber.

Two others are worth recording precisely, because the clerk's language matters. Warren Davidson of Ohio voted Present on April 16 — the only Present vote in either roll call. A Present vote is not a no, and it is not a yes; had he voted yes it would have made the tally 214 to 214, which still fails. Lauren Boebert did not vote on April 16 and voted no on May 14. Not voting is not the same as voting no, and we are not counting it as one.

This was not for lack of asking

The April vote happened only because Democrats kept forcing the issue after being shut down procedurally. A week before it, on April 9, House Democrats asked for a vote to limit the war and the New Jersey Republican presiding over the chamber refused to recognize them and banged the gavel.

They forced a recorded vote anyway, and kept forcing them — April 16, May 14, June 3, July 23, September 15. The third one finally passed on June 3, the House passed it again on July 23, and again in September, 220 to 204. By then the war was more than six months old.

What the delay cost

The two near-misses bought the war roughly seven more weeks before the House said anything at all, and months before it said it repeatedly.

Congress's own nonpartisan budget office later put the price at $38.1 billion through August 1, rising by $2 billion to $3 billion a month. It expects oil prices to run 41% higher this year than it forecast before the war started. We calculated separately what that has meant at home: about $1,200 per household over the first six months.

Those bills did not wait for the House to get around to a position. They were accruing on April 16, and on May 14, while a resolution died by one vote and then by none.

The bottom line

The House had three chances to tell the president to end the Iran war before it ever managed to say so, and two of them came down to a single vote. On April 16, 2026, the resolution failed 213 to 214. On May 14, it failed on a 212–212 tie. Flipping one Republican no vote on either day would have passed it. One hundred eighty-one Republicans still running in 2026 with a report card on this site voted no both times; only Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has no page here, voted yes on both, with Tom Barrett and Brian Fitzpatrick joining him on the tie vote alone.

The 181 who voted no on both

Every name below is a candidate we are still tracking in 2026, recorded by the House clerk as voting Nay on roll call 114 and roll call 170. Six more Republicans with a report card here voted Nay on both and have since lost a primary or dropped out, so they are not counted in the list.

Aaron Bean, Abraham Hamadeh, Addison McDowell, Adrian Smith, Andrew Clyde, Andrew Garbarino, Andy Barr, Andy Biggs, Andy Harris, Ann Wagner, Anna Paulina Luna, Ashley Hinson, August Pfluger, Austin Scott, Barry Moore, Ben Cline, Beth Van Duyne, Bill Huizenga, Blake Moore, Bob Latta, Bob Onder, Brad Finstad, Brad Knott, Brandon Gill, Brett Guthrie, Brian Babin, Brian Jack, Brian Mast, Bruce Westerman, Bryan Steil, Byron Donalds, Carlos Gimenez, Carol Miller, Celeste Maloy, Chris Smith, Chuck Fleischmann, Claudia Tenney, Clay Fuller, Clay Higgins, Cliff Bentz, Craig Goldman, Dale Strong, Dan Meuser, Darin LaHood, David Joyce, David Kustoff, David Rouzer, David Taylor, David Valadao, Derek Schmidt, Derrick Van Orden, Diana Harshbarger, Eli Crane, Eric Burlison, Erin Houchin, Frank Lucas, French Hill, Gabe Evans, Gary Palmer, Glenn Grothman, Glenn Thompson, Greg Murphy, Greg Steube, Gus Bilirakis, Guy Reschenthaler, Hal Rogers, Harriet Hageman, Jack Bergman, Jake Ellzey, James Comer, Jason Smith, Jay Obernolte, Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd, Jeff Van Drew, Jefferson Shreve, Jen Kiggans, Jim Baird, Jim Jordan, Jimmy Patronis, Joe Wilson, John Carter, John James, John Joyce, John McGuire, John Moolenaar, John Rutherford, Josh Brecheen, Juan Ciscomani, Julie Fedorchak, Kat Cammack, Keith Self, Ken Calvert, Kevin Hern, Kevin Kiley, Lance Gooden, Laurel Lee, Lisa McClain, Lloyd Smucker, Maria Elvira Salazar, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Mario Diaz-Balart, Mark Alford, Mark Harris, Mark Messmer, Marlin Stutzman, Mary Miller, Matt Van Epps, Max Miller, Michael Baumgartner, Michael Cloud, Michael Rulli, Michelle Fischbach, Mike Bost, Mike Carey, Mike Collins, Mike Ezell, Mike Flood, Mike Haridopolos, Mike Johnson, Mike Kelly, Mike Kennedy, Mike Lawler, Mike Rogers, Mike Simpson, Mike Turner, Monica De La Cruz, Morgan Griffith, Nathaniel Moran, Nick Begich, Nick LaLota, Nick Langworthy, Nicole Malliotakis, Pat Fallon, Pat Harrigan, Paul Gosar, Pete Sessions, Pete Stauber, Randy Fine, Randy Weber, Rich McCormick, Richard Hudson, Rick Allen, Rick Crawford, Riley Moore, Rob Bresnahan, Rob Wittman, Robert Aderholt, Roger Williams, Ron Estes, Ronny Jackson, Rudy Yakym, Russ Fulcher, Russell Fry, Ryan Mackenzie, Scott DesJarlais, Scott Fitzgerald, Scott Franklin, Scott Perry, Sheri Biggs, Stephanie Bice, Steve Scalise, Steve Womack, Tim Burchett, Tim Moore, Tim Walberg, Tom Cole, Tom Emmer, Tom McClintock, Tom Tiffany, Tony Wied, Tracey Mann, Trent Kelly, Troy Balderson, Troy Downing, Victoria Spartz, Vince Fong, Virginia Foxx, William Timmons, Young Kim, Zach Nunn

Sources

Roll-call records from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House: roll 114, April 16, 2026 and roll 170, May 14, 2026. Budget office figures as covered by The Washington Sun.