Operation Epic Fury, the US Iran air campaign that began on 28 February 2026, passed the 60-day deadline set by the War Powers Resolution (the 1973 US law requiring congressional authorisation for sustained military action) without a signed authorisation on 13 May. The Senate voted 49-50 on the seventh Democratic resolution to halt the campaign, the closest result of the conflict12.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted yes for the first time, joining Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania cast the decisive no vote, holding the line against progressive pressure from within his own party. Murkowski's stated reason was direct: "You've got a timeline that has taken us beyond the 60 days. I thought that perhaps we would get more clarity from The Administration in terms of where we are, and I haven't received it"3.
Murkowski crossed having first exhausted the alternative path. She had built a bipartisan authorization for use of military force (AUMF, a Congressional war authorisation instrument) alongside Senator Todd Young, targeting a 9 May filing with six limiting conditions. That AUMF remained unfiled. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's Article 2 testimony on 12 May had destroyed its political rationale by arguing the president needed no Congressional authorisation at all. Having spent weeks constructing a legislative vehicle The White House then publicly dismissed, Murkowski moved to the only option still on the floor.
Six prior resolutions failed by double-digit margins; three Republicans have now crossed. Four would win. The Republican coalition sustaining the war in the Senate is now one vote from a binding resolution at precisely the moment the diplomatic track is running on verbal assurances without signed paper.
