Three Winners at the Latest DNC Meeting: Israel, Ethnic Cleansing, and Genocide
Why did pro-Israel groups voice so much pleasure and praise—not only for the sidelining of pro-human-rights resolutions but also for the process that sidelined them? Because, of course, the sidelining worked.
A medical worker rushes a child to the ambulance for treatment after Israeli airstrikes destroy buildings in Gaza City, Gaza on October 09, 2023.
(Photo by Belal Khaled/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Norman Solomon
Apr 16, 2026
Why did pro-Israel groups voice so much pleasure and praise—not only for the sidelining of pro-human-rights resolutions but also for the process that sidelined them? Because, of course, the sidelining worked.
A medical worker rushes a child to the ambulance for treatment after Israeli airstrikes destroy buildings in Gaza City, Gaza on October 09, 2023.
(Photo by Belal Khaled/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Norman Solomon
Apr 16, 2026
Common Dreams
In the aftermath of last week’s big meeting of the Democratic National Committee in New Orleans, supporters of the US-Israel alliance have been quite content. “We’re pleased that the DNC Resolutions Committee rejected a set of divisive, anti-Israel resolutions,” the president of Democratic Majority for Israel said. The CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a former national security advisor to Kamala Harris, expressed gratitude to the DNC’s leadership.
Why did pro-Israel groups voice so much pleasure and praise—not only for the sidelining of pro-human-rights resolutions but also for the process that sidelined them? The answer has to do with the DNC’s mechanism that thwarted changes in positions on Israel. A panel named the Middle East Working Group gummed up all efforts to align the DNC with the views of most Democratic voters, even while supposedly hard at work.
Last Friday, the transparent thinness of the pretense caused Politico to headline an article this way: “Inside the DNC’s Middle East (Not) Working Group.” But the not-working group had been functioning quite well—as a charade for delay and obfuscation.
The day before the derisive headline appeared, the DNC Resolutions Committee dispensed with a resolution about events in Gaza and the West Bank. Its provisions included a declaration that the DNC “supports pausing or conditioning US weapons transfers to any military units credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law or obstruction of humanitarian assistance.”
Given the crystal-clear polling, the failure of the Democratic Party leadership to oppose military aid to Israel threatens to seriously damage the turnout needed to defeat Republicans at election time.
That resolution critical of Israel went nowhere, which is to say it went to the so-called working group, also known as a “task force.”
Assisting the diversion as chair of the Resolutions Committee was political strategist Ron Harris, described in his home state of Minnesota as a “longtime Democratic Party insider.” He made false claims during the meeting: “I know that the task force has met once a month since it was created…. I have the confidence that work is happening…. These are people working really really hard over a very thorny issue…. They are doing their work…. They’re hearing from experts and all sorts of things.”
The falsehood that the task force had met “once a month,” when actually it had scarcely met, was enough reason for me to contact Harris and ask where he’d gotten that (mis)information. He replied that it was “according to the DNC staffer coordinating the process.”
The basic problem with the working group is not only that it hasn’t done much of anything in the nearly eight months since DNC Chair Ken Martin announced it with great fanfare. The underlying hoax is that it was set up not to reflect the views of registered Democrats nationwide.
Polling is clear. Three-quarters of Democrats agree that “Israel is committing genocide,” and a large majority are more sympathetic to Palestinians than to Israelis by a 4-to-1 margin. But only a minority of the Middle East Working Group’s eight members has a record of supporting Palestinian rights, while several are firm supporters of Israel. The oil-and-water mix seems destined for stalemate or mere platitudes. But stalemate and platitudes appear to be just fine from here to the horizon for DNC leadership.
Such stalling mechanisms and scant real representation are as old as the political hills. In this case, an unfortunate boost has come from James Zogby, who for decades bravely worked inside the Democratic Party and elsewhere to advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, in sharp contrast to US foreign policy.
As the most prominent person in the Middle East Working Group, Zogby has hailed it as an important step forward. Aligning himself with Martin’s approach from the outset, he said that the new chair’s move to set it up was “politically thoughtful.”
Zogby can remember when, in the 1980s, party leaders did not want to hear the “p-word”—Palestinians. He has portrayed the current sparse intra-party discussion related to Israel as major progress. “Don’t count me among those who left New Orleans complaining of defeat,” Zogby wrote in an April 14 piece for The Nation.
After that article appeared, I spoke with Zogby, and he summarized his approach this way: “I have a tendency to feel like sometimes there are little victories, and I latch onto them. Moving to catch up to where Democrats are.”
Compare that approach to this assessment days ago from Mike Merryman-Lotze, the American Friends Service Committee’s director of Just Peace Global Policy: “The failure of the DNC to take even minimal action in the face of ethnic cleansing and genocide is shameful.”
When my RootsAction colleague India Walton loudly interrupted the DNC’s business as usual during its general session a week ago, she was challenging a political culture of conformity that has ongoing deadly consequences. The context involves a simple and crucial choice—between excessive patience or urgency that’s grounded in life-and-death human realities. Those realities exist very far away from the transactional atmosphere of entrenched political institutions.
All this matters for at least two profound reasons: One is that, on the merits, silent or euphemistic complicity with Israel’s methodical policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide is abhorrent.
And given the crystal-clear polling, the failure of the Democratic Party leadership to oppose military aid to Israel threatens to seriously damage the turnout needed to defeat Republicans at election time (as polls have shown was the case with Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign for president). “Eight-in-10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents currently have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 69 percent last year and 53 percent in 2022,” the Pew Research Center reported last week.
In these exceedingly dystopian times, when realism is more important than ever, it’s a grave mistake to let rose-colored glasses distort vision and substitute undue patience for vital urgency.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.
Full Bio >
In the aftermath of last week’s big meeting of the Democratic National Committee in New Orleans, supporters of the US-Israel alliance have been quite content. “We’re pleased that the DNC Resolutions Committee rejected a set of divisive, anti-Israel resolutions,” the president of Democratic Majority for Israel said. The CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a former national security advisor to Kamala Harris, expressed gratitude to the DNC’s leadership.
Why did pro-Israel groups voice so much pleasure and praise—not only for the sidelining of pro-human-rights resolutions but also for the process that sidelined them? The answer has to do with the DNC’s mechanism that thwarted changes in positions on Israel. A panel named the Middle East Working Group gummed up all efforts to align the DNC with the views of most Democratic voters, even while supposedly hard at work.
Last Friday, the transparent thinness of the pretense caused Politico to headline an article this way: “Inside the DNC’s Middle East (Not) Working Group.” But the not-working group had been functioning quite well—as a charade for delay and obfuscation.
The day before the derisive headline appeared, the DNC Resolutions Committee dispensed with a resolution about events in Gaza and the West Bank. Its provisions included a declaration that the DNC “supports pausing or conditioning US weapons transfers to any military units credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law or obstruction of humanitarian assistance.”
Given the crystal-clear polling, the failure of the Democratic Party leadership to oppose military aid to Israel threatens to seriously damage the turnout needed to defeat Republicans at election time.
That resolution critical of Israel went nowhere, which is to say it went to the so-called working group, also known as a “task force.”
Assisting the diversion as chair of the Resolutions Committee was political strategist Ron Harris, described in his home state of Minnesota as a “longtime Democratic Party insider.” He made false claims during the meeting: “I know that the task force has met once a month since it was created…. I have the confidence that work is happening…. These are people working really really hard over a very thorny issue…. They are doing their work…. They’re hearing from experts and all sorts of things.”
The falsehood that the task force had met “once a month,” when actually it had scarcely met, was enough reason for me to contact Harris and ask where he’d gotten that (mis)information. He replied that it was “according to the DNC staffer coordinating the process.”
The basic problem with the working group is not only that it hasn’t done much of anything in the nearly eight months since DNC Chair Ken Martin announced it with great fanfare. The underlying hoax is that it was set up not to reflect the views of registered Democrats nationwide.
Polling is clear. Three-quarters of Democrats agree that “Israel is committing genocide,” and a large majority are more sympathetic to Palestinians than to Israelis by a 4-to-1 margin. But only a minority of the Middle East Working Group’s eight members has a record of supporting Palestinian rights, while several are firm supporters of Israel. The oil-and-water mix seems destined for stalemate or mere platitudes. But stalemate and platitudes appear to be just fine from here to the horizon for DNC leadership.
Such stalling mechanisms and scant real representation are as old as the political hills. In this case, an unfortunate boost has come from James Zogby, who for decades bravely worked inside the Democratic Party and elsewhere to advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, in sharp contrast to US foreign policy.
As the most prominent person in the Middle East Working Group, Zogby has hailed it as an important step forward. Aligning himself with Martin’s approach from the outset, he said that the new chair’s move to set it up was “politically thoughtful.”
Zogby can remember when, in the 1980s, party leaders did not want to hear the “p-word”—Palestinians. He has portrayed the current sparse intra-party discussion related to Israel as major progress. “Don’t count me among those who left New Orleans complaining of defeat,” Zogby wrote in an April 14 piece for The Nation.
After that article appeared, I spoke with Zogby, and he summarized his approach this way: “I have a tendency to feel like sometimes there are little victories, and I latch onto them. Moving to catch up to where Democrats are.”
Compare that approach to this assessment days ago from Mike Merryman-Lotze, the American Friends Service Committee’s director of Just Peace Global Policy: “The failure of the DNC to take even minimal action in the face of ethnic cleansing and genocide is shameful.”
When my RootsAction colleague India Walton loudly interrupted the DNC’s business as usual during its general session a week ago, she was challenging a political culture of conformity that has ongoing deadly consequences. The context involves a simple and crucial choice—between excessive patience or urgency that’s grounded in life-and-death human realities. Those realities exist very far away from the transactional atmosphere of entrenched political institutions.
All this matters for at least two profound reasons: One is that, on the merits, silent or euphemistic complicity with Israel’s methodical policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide is abhorrent.
And given the crystal-clear polling, the failure of the Democratic Party leadership to oppose military aid to Israel threatens to seriously damage the turnout needed to defeat Republicans at election time (as polls have shown was the case with Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign for president). “Eight-in-10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents currently have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 69 percent last year and 53 percent in 2022,” the Pew Research Center reported last week.
In these exceedingly dystopian times, when realism is more important than ever, it’s a grave mistake to let rose-colored glasses distort vision and substitute undue patience for vital urgency.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.
Full Bio >
“It’s well past time for him to step aside for leaders who actually represent the views of the party’s base.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference in the US Capitol on April 14, 2026.
(Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 16, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Sen. Chuck Schumer faced fresh calls to step aside as the Senate Democratic leader on Wednesday after he broke with the overwhelming majority of his caucus and voted against a pair of resolutions aimed at preventing the Trump administration from selling more US bombs and bulldozers to Israel.
“Mr. Schumer, you are out of touch with the base of this party, and with your own caucus,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who first called on Schumer to resign as Democratic leader last year, said in a short video posted to social media following Wednesday’s votes. “Step aside.”
The two resolutions, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), called for halting the sale of around $450 million worth of bulldozers, 1,000-pound bombs, and related military equipment to the Israeli government, which has repeatedly used American weaponry to commit war crimes in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria.
Despite facing record support from the Senate Democratic caucus—with 40 votes to block the sale of bulldozers and 36 votes to block the sale of bombs—the resolutions failed to pass, as Senate Republicans united against them.
But strong Democratic opposition to new US weapons sales to Israel was seen as evidence that the party is slowly catching up to its base, which overwhelmingly supports restricting American military aid to Israel.
“The fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high-water mark in holding Israel accountable for violating US and international law,” said Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy.
Williams went on to rebuke Schumer, who has led the Senate Democrats for nearly a decade, for opposing the resolutions “against the supermajority of his own caucus and Democratic voters.”
“It’s well past time for him to step aside for leaders who actually represent the views of the party’s base,” said Williams.
Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action and a New York City resident, said Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)—who also voted against both resolutions—“are betraying their constituents and woefully out of line with the Democratic voter base.”
“Instead of sending the bombs that Israel uses to commit war crimes, the people of New York want our representatives to invest in lifesaving policies here at home,” said Miller. “We need to stop arming Israel so that the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, and across the region, can live. Millions of lives depend on it.”
The votes on the Israeli arms measures came after the Senate rejected another war powers resolution aimed at withdrawing US forces from the illegal assault on Iran, which President Donald Trump launched without congressional approval—and in partnership with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—in late February.
Schumer vocally supported the Iran war powers resolution. But one of his colleagues, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), said the efforts to end the US-Israeli war on Iran and the push to halt weapons sales to Israel are interconnected.
“A vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message,” Markey said in a statement late Wednesday. “Why would we send American military weapons that could prolong, escalate, or worsen this horrible situation in the Middle East? I say no more.”
J Street, the pro-Israel liberal advocacy organization, similarly connected the two fights following Wednesday’s votes.
“We continue to oppose Trump and Netanyahu’s war of choice against Iran, and applaud those senators whose principled stand in today’s vote reflects the American public’s strong opposition to both the Iran war and to Israel’s actions in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank that undermine efforts for peace in the region,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s president.
‘Cowardly Bullshit’: Handful of Dems Join Senate GOP to Block Ban on US Bombs, Bulldozers to Israel
“The fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high water mark in holding Israel accountable,” said one observer, who called the final vote “still troubling.”
Protesters hold a banner reading “Stop Sending Arms to Israel” outside the White House in Washington, DC in this undated photo.
(Photo by Amnesty International)
Brett Wilkins
Apr 15, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US senators on Wednesday voted down a pair of resolutions aimed at blocking US bomb and bulldozer sales to Israel as it continues its genocidal war on Gaza and devastating bombardment and mass displacement in Lebanon.
Upper chamber lawmakers voted 59-40 against advancing SJ Res. 32, a joint resolution introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) “providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed foreign military sale to the government of Israel of certain defense articles and services.”
At issue are $295 million worth of Caterpillar D9 series bulldozers, spare parts, and related services. Israel often uses the bulldozers to destroy homes and other civilian structures in Gaza, the illegally occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Lebanon.
In 2003, American human rights activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9 while attempting to stop the demolition of a home in Rafah, Gaza.
Entire villages and hamlets have been razed using the dozers as Israel ethnically cleanses the occupied territories to make way for Jewish-only settler colonies.
The SJ Res. 32 roll call was followed by a 63-36 vote against advancing SJ Res. 138, which was introduced by Sanders and Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The measure rejects the proposed sale of 12,000 BLU–110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies and associated items and services.
Experts point to Israel’s use of 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs in densely populated Gaza—and the Israeli military’s loosened rules of engagement effectively allowing unlimited civilian casualties in strikes targeting a single Hamas militant of any rank—as a major reason why so many Gazans are being killed and injured.
Sanders said on social media after the votes, “Today, more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block US military aid to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his horrific, illegal wars.”
“We are making progress,” the senator continued. “When we started this effort there were just 11 votes, now there are 40.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said following Wednesday’s votes:
A vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for [President Donald] Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message.
Why would we send American military weapons that could prolong, escalate, or worsen this horrible situation in the Middle East? I say no more. The Senate should express its opposition to Trump and Netanyahu’s needless war in Iran and seek to stop it in any way it can.
There is no military solution to this crisis. We must solve this at the negotiating table. We must stop these arms sales and end this war now.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy (CIP) and a former adviser to Sanders, slammed Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) who voted to block the resolutions, for their “cowardly bullshit.”
Duss noted that just last September, Coons said that “if there is no change in direction from the Israeli administration, for the first time I would seriously consider” voting to block arms transfers to Israel.
“Israeli behavior has only gotten worse since then,” Duss said.
Wednesday’s votes followed numerous previous failed attempts to limit US arms transfers to Israel since it launched its genocidal retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing.
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at CIP, said on X that “the fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high water mark in holding Israel accountable for violating US and international law.”
“It is still troubling that a few Democrats and all Republicans voted to supply the arms,” he added.
The Biden and Trump administrations have lavished Israel with more than $21 billion in armed aid since October 2023, despite the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
“The fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high water mark in holding Israel accountable,” said one observer, who called the final vote “still troubling.”
Protesters hold a banner reading “Stop Sending Arms to Israel” outside the White House in Washington, DC in this undated photo.
(Photo by Amnesty International)
Brett Wilkins
Apr 15, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US senators on Wednesday voted down a pair of resolutions aimed at blocking US bomb and bulldozer sales to Israel as it continues its genocidal war on Gaza and devastating bombardment and mass displacement in Lebanon.
Upper chamber lawmakers voted 59-40 against advancing SJ Res. 32, a joint resolution introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) “providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed foreign military sale to the government of Israel of certain defense articles and services.”
At issue are $295 million worth of Caterpillar D9 series bulldozers, spare parts, and related services. Israel often uses the bulldozers to destroy homes and other civilian structures in Gaza, the illegally occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Lebanon.
In 2003, American human rights activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9 while attempting to stop the demolition of a home in Rafah, Gaza.
Entire villages and hamlets have been razed using the dozers as Israel ethnically cleanses the occupied territories to make way for Jewish-only settler colonies.
The SJ Res. 32 roll call was followed by a 63-36 vote against advancing SJ Res. 138, which was introduced by Sanders and Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The measure rejects the proposed sale of 12,000 BLU–110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies and associated items and services.
Experts point to Israel’s use of 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs in densely populated Gaza—and the Israeli military’s loosened rules of engagement effectively allowing unlimited civilian casualties in strikes targeting a single Hamas militant of any rank—as a major reason why so many Gazans are being killed and injured.
Sanders said on social media after the votes, “Today, more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block US military aid to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his horrific, illegal wars.”
“We are making progress,” the senator continued. “When we started this effort there were just 11 votes, now there are 40.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said following Wednesday’s votes:
A vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for [President Donald] Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message.
Why would we send American military weapons that could prolong, escalate, or worsen this horrible situation in the Middle East? I say no more. The Senate should express its opposition to Trump and Netanyahu’s needless war in Iran and seek to stop it in any way it can.
There is no military solution to this crisis. We must solve this at the negotiating table. We must stop these arms sales and end this war now.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy (CIP) and a former adviser to Sanders, slammed Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) who voted to block the resolutions, for their “cowardly bullshit.”
Duss noted that just last September, Coons said that “if there is no change in direction from the Israeli administration, for the first time I would seriously consider” voting to block arms transfers to Israel.
“Israeli behavior has only gotten worse since then,” Duss said.
Wednesday’s votes followed numerous previous failed attempts to limit US arms transfers to Israel since it launched its genocidal retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing.
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at CIP, said on X that “the fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high water mark in holding Israel accountable for violating US and international law.”
“It is still troubling that a few Democrats and all Republicans voted to supply the arms,” he added.
The Biden and Trump administrations have lavished Israel with more than $21 billion in armed aid since October 2023, despite the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
Lone Democrat—Jared Golden—Helps GOP Tank Another Iran War Powers Resolution
“It is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation,” said one peace advocate. “Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning.”
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was pictured at a news conference in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 16, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
With the decisive support of one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a war powers resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s illegal assault on Iran, over six weeks after it began.
The final vote was 213-214, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joining nearly every House Democrat in supporting the resolution, which would have forced Trump to withdraw American troops from hostilities in Iran absent congressional authorization. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) didn’t vote, despite criticizing the war and telling reporters last month that she would “most likely” support the Democratic resolution.
In the lead-up to Thursday’s vote, Democratic leaders—including the resolution’s chief sponsor, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York—faced backlash for slowwalking the legislative effort to end the war even as it appeared that momentum was on their side. Earlier this month, the House Democratic leadership opted to punt the war powers vote until after spring recess, during which the Trump administration and Iran’s government reached a tenuous ceasefire deal.
Three of the four House Democrats who voted against an Iran war powers resolution in early March flipped their votes on Thursday: Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio, and Juan Vargas of California. Golden, who also voted against the earlier resolution, is not running for reelection.
“While we are encouraged to see growing support,” said Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian, “it is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution.”
“Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning,” said Kharrazian. “They previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership’s priorities: strategy or politics.”
“We urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict,” Kharrazian added. “The American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.”
The House voted marked the sixth time an Iran-related war powers resolution has failed in the House or Senate since Trump started bombing on February 28.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said Thursday that he supported the war powers effort on Thursday because “Trump’s war of choice was not authorized by Congress, was started without a plan or an exit strategy, and has achieved none of the contradictory objectives used to justify it.”
“Trump’s war in Iran is deeply unpopular,” Pocan added, “and it’s time to end what never should have started.”
Ryan Costello, policy director with the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement that “the narrow defeat of a resolution to definitively end the war on Iran is another tragic missed opportunity, but the gap between public opposition to the war and votes to end it is narrowing.”
“All but one House Democrat voted unanimously in support of the resolution but were joined by just one Republican,” said Costello. “Golden will need to answer to his Maine constituents, many of whom are veterans and pro-peace Americans who question why Washington so consistently sends brave servicemembers into ill-advised, disastrous wars of choice that kill civilians and sabotage the global economy. So too do all of the Republicans who chose again not to use their power to convince President Trump to take an off-ramp and end this disastrous war that puts Benjamin Netanyahu’s dreams, not the American people and American security, first.”
“It is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation,” said one peace advocate. “Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning.”
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was pictured at a news conference in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 16, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
With the decisive support of one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a war powers resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s illegal assault on Iran, over six weeks after it began.
The final vote was 213-214, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joining nearly every House Democrat in supporting the resolution, which would have forced Trump to withdraw American troops from hostilities in Iran absent congressional authorization. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) didn’t vote, despite criticizing the war and telling reporters last month that she would “most likely” support the Democratic resolution.
In the lead-up to Thursday’s vote, Democratic leaders—including the resolution’s chief sponsor, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York—faced backlash for slowwalking the legislative effort to end the war even as it appeared that momentum was on their side. Earlier this month, the House Democratic leadership opted to punt the war powers vote until after spring recess, during which the Trump administration and Iran’s government reached a tenuous ceasefire deal.
Three of the four House Democrats who voted against an Iran war powers resolution in early March flipped their votes on Thursday: Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio, and Juan Vargas of California. Golden, who also voted against the earlier resolution, is not running for reelection.
“While we are encouraged to see growing support,” said Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian, “it is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution.”
“Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning,” said Kharrazian. “They previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership’s priorities: strategy or politics.”
“We urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict,” Kharrazian added. “The American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.”
The House voted marked the sixth time an Iran-related war powers resolution has failed in the House or Senate since Trump started bombing on February 28.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said Thursday that he supported the war powers effort on Thursday because “Trump’s war of choice was not authorized by Congress, was started without a plan or an exit strategy, and has achieved none of the contradictory objectives used to justify it.”
“Trump’s war in Iran is deeply unpopular,” Pocan added, “and it’s time to end what never should have started.”
Ryan Costello, policy director with the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement that “the narrow defeat of a resolution to definitively end the war on Iran is another tragic missed opportunity, but the gap between public opposition to the war and votes to end it is narrowing.”
“All but one House Democrat voted unanimously in support of the resolution but were joined by just one Republican,” said Costello. “Golden will need to answer to his Maine constituents, many of whom are veterans and pro-peace Americans who question why Washington so consistently sends brave servicemembers into ill-advised, disastrous wars of choice that kill civilians and sabotage the global economy. So too do all of the Republicans who chose again not to use their power to convince President Trump to take an off-ramp and end this disastrous war that puts Benjamin Netanyahu’s dreams, not the American people and American security, first.”
