Democrats are rallying behind several efforts to kill high-profile defense legislation as a way to protest the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
07/20/2026 07:24 PM EDT
Democrats are planning a rolling protest of the renewed war in Iran this week with efforts to block a series of military policy and defense budget measures — potentially ruining the GOP’s dreams of legislative victories heading into the summer break.
The flurry of action presents Democrats with a chance to score real wins against the Trump administration’s war effort, which burst back into public view over the weekend with the killing of three U.S. troops in the region.
And while they’re at it, they could create financial and political hardships for the White House just as Republicans are trying to build momentum ahead of the midterm elections.
“You’ll continue to hear us push back on Donald Trump’s reckless war and how it’s driving up gas prices for millions of Americans. I think people see that, people know that,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California in an interview Monday, adding that Democrats would not be taking any votes tantamount to “blessing Donald Trump’s war.”
The largest showdown is set for Wednesday, when House lawmakers are expected to vote on the annual defense policy bill, which Democratic critics have already said they will oppose because it lacks any real oversight mechanisms for the Iran war.
The GOP-led House Rules Committee last week rejected a host of amendments on the Iran issue for the defense bill consideration — including a provision from 27 Democrats to prevent any future Defense Department funds from being used to attack Tehran.
Blocking the typically bipartisan defense policy bill would raise serious questions about what Republicans can hope to finish before November. Republicans have been counting on Democratic votes to get the package over the finish line, though Senate Democrats last week blocked their chamber’s draft of the policy measure from advancing, too.
Republicans are currently pursuing at least two avenues to get the Pentagon additional dollars to support the war efforts. First, there’s a supplemental funding request pending before lawmakers, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be on hand to defend at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, alongside Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine — their first public comments since the end of the ceasefire earlier this month.
Any plan that requires Democratic buy-in to bolster the war is dead in the water, however, so House Republicans separately are pushing to approve much of this funding through a party-line reconciliation bill. But Senate GOP leaders aren’t certain such a bill has the support to pass even inside the Republican Conference.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, will force another war powers vote “in the coming days,” according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. That’s a reversal from days ago when many Democrats signaled they had effectively decided to hit pause temporarily on the nearly-weekly war power votes of the last few months, believing the NDAA and a possible third reconciliation bill as better avenues for hammering Republicans over the conflict.
But the events of the past weekend, plus Monday’s news that the Iranian-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen on Monday declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia — threatening to further restrict global oil supplies as the U.S. and Iran wrestle over the Strait of Hormuz — has Democrats reevaluating their posture.
“This carnage is the bitter fruit of Trump’s labor in Iran,” Schumer said from the Senate floor. “Trump needs to stop this catastrophe and bring our troops home, and Senate Republicans can’t let him off the hook until he does.”
Critics say hitting the Pentagon’s checkbook may be the only way to bring some level of congressional control back to the Iran debate, especially after the president ignored a war powers resolution last month approved by both the House and Senate requesting the White House seek permission before ramping up fighting in the region.
Rep. Ted Lieu of California, a member of House Democratic leadership, said in an interview Monday it was “highly problematic for the administration to hide the true cost of this war by not disclosing U.S. troops who have been injured, and not disclosing the amount of equipment and facilities that have been hit by Iran.”
He added, “It also shows that Trump is lying, because clearly the Iranian military is not obliterated.”
“This president has to tell us what those resources are going to be used for and why he has not come to Congress at all,” said Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, during an appearance on CNN Monday. “And it is the Congress’ job to stand up to this president and stop some of this nonsense unless he can absolutely explain to us … why we are in this war and how we get out.”
Speaker Mike Johnson is aiming to muscle through the defense bill regardless, not willing to be deterred after previous efforts to advance the measure failed last month amid a hard-liner rebellion over unrelated legislation.
He’ll need near unanimity from his conference to pass the $1.15 trillion package, alongside the new, $95 billion Iran war and agriculture supplemental package unveiled last week. For now, GOP lawmakers in the chamber are offering tepid support.
One Republican involved in the talks, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the money issue is especially weighing on front-line members who want more details from the administration on the Iran war money.
“A lot of members, especially from competitive districts, are looking for additional info, though I wouldn’t say their support is in jeopardy yet,” the Republican said.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), one of three Republicans who voted in favor of the last Iran powers resolution that House Democrats forced on the floor, said bluntly in an interview last week: “I’m against the war.”
He added, however, that he didn’t want to negatively impact troop pay and other resources. Pentagon leaders have already signaled that they could cut training and non-essential programs in coming weeks if new money isn’t provided to cover the unanticipated cost of the Iran fight.
Hegseth and Caine will make that pitch in their appearance before the Senate appropriators Tuesday afternoon. But Senate leaders — both Republicans and Democrats — have already signaled skepticism that the House plan is viable.
“I would expect us to pass a supplemental, but not another reconciliation bill this year,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, in an interview last week. “The way we’re going to do things in the Senate is a lot less likely to be the [House] reconciliation plan and more likely to be something else.”
Nearly any appropriations plan in the Senate will require the cooperation of Democrats, who can continue to put up procedural blocks to those GOP ideas.
Trump, meanwhile, has signaled that attacks against Iran ratchet up following the deaths of U.S. military personnel. In a Truth Social post on Monday, the president vowed, “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!”
U.S. Central Command forces have struck Iranian sites for the last nine nights in a row, the longest sustained fighting since the two countries declared a ceasefire on April 8.
Administration officials have claimed the new round of attacks constitutes a new operation against Iran, getting around legal restrictions which require congressional authorization for overseas military activities that last more than 60 days.
Connor O’Brien, Meredith Lee Hill and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.