Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
The United States and Iran are in a war. The war started about seven months ago. Many Americans want the war to stop.
On September 24, senators voted on a new plan. The plan said stop the war now. Congress must agree before more fighting.
The vote was very close. 49 senators said yes. 50 senators said no. The plan did not pass. The war can go on.
Four Republican senators voted with the Democrats. Their names are Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis. One Democrat, John Fetterman, voted no.
- war
- fighting between two countries
- vote
- to choose yes or no on something
- senate
- a group of people who make laws in the US government
- resolution
- a formal decision or plan that a group votes on
- Congress
- the part of the US government that makes laws
- Republican
- a member of one of the two main US political parties
- Democrat
- a member of the other main US political party
- approve
- to agree that something can happen
Level 2 — Elementary
For almost seven months, the United States and Iran have been fighting each other. The conflict has affected oil prices and shipping in the Middle East.
On September 24, the US Senate voted on a resolution about the war. The resolution would have stopped President Trump from continuing military action unless Congress voted to approve it.
The vote failed by a single vote, 49 in favor and 50 against. Because it did not pass, the war can continue without a new vote from Congress.
Four Republican senators broke from their party to vote for the resolution: Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis. One Democrat, John Fetterman, voted against it. The House of Representatives had already passed a similar resolution in July.
- conflict
- a serious disagreement or fight
- military action
- the use of armed forces to fight
- authorize
- to give official permission for something
- oppose
- to disagree with or vote against something
- political party
- an organized group of people with shared political goals
- shipping
- the business of moving goods by ship
- Representative
- a member of the House, the other part of Congress
- single vote
- just one vote, often the deciding one
Level 3 — Intermediate
The US Senate narrowly rejected a war powers resolution on September 24 that sought to limit President Trump's authority to continue military operations against Iran, in a vote that fell just one ballot short of passing, 49 to 50.
The measure, known as a concurrent resolution, would have directed the president to remove US forces from hostilities with Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized continued combat. Even if it had passed, the resolution would not have carried the force of law, since it does not require a presidential signature, making Thursday's vote largely symbolic.
Four Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, broke with President Trump to support the resolution, while Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against it.
The vote comes almost seven months into a conflict that has disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed gasoline prices higher across the United States, a factor that analysts say is shaping public opinion ahead of the midterm elections. The House of Representatives passed its own version of the resolution in July by a vote of 214 to 208.
- war powers resolution
- a measure meant to limit a president's ability to wage war without Congress
- concurrent resolution
- a resolution passed by both chambers of Congress that does not have the force of law
- hostilities
- acts of warfare between opposing groups
- bipartisan
- involving members of two different political parties
- symbolic
- representing an idea rather than having direct legal effect
- disrupt
- to interrupt the normal flow of something
- analyst
- a person who studies and explains events or trends
- midterm elections
- US elections held partway through a president's term
Level 4 — Advanced
In a vote whose narrowness underscored the fracturing bipartisan unease over an open ended military campaign, the Senate on Thursday rejected, 49 to 50, a war powers resolution that would have compelled President Trump to withdraw American forces from hostilities with Iran absent explicit congressional authorization.
The measure, a concurrent resolution, was always destined to be more a statement of political sentiment than binding law: it requires no presidential signature and carries no enforcement mechanism, even in the event of passage. Its defeat nonetheless denies opponents of the seven month campaign a symbolic rebuke of the administration's war making, while allowing the White House to claim a vindication of its Iran policy on the Senate floor.
Four Republicans, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, crossed party lines to back the resolution, a defection large enough to nearly offset the defection of Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania in the opposite direction, and to illustrate how uneasily the conflict sits within both parties' coalitions.
The rejection arrives as the war's economic toll becomes harder to separate from its human one: disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has kept gasoline prices elevated for months, a pocketbook grievance that lawmakers on both sides increasingly cite as shaping voter sentiment ahead of the midterms. The House passed a companion resolution in July, 214 to 208, leaving the chambers at odds over how, or whether, to constrain the commander in chief's conduct of the war.
- fracturing
- breaking apart or splitting into smaller pieces or factions
- compel
- to force someone to do something
- binding
- legally required to be followed
- rebuke
- a sharp expression of disapproval
- vindication
- proof that a decision or belief was correct
- defection
- an act of abandoning one's party or cause for another
- coalition
- an alliance of groups working together for a common purpose
- constrain
- to limit or restrict someone's freedom to act
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