Every so often the Democrats in Washington line up to do something they insist is righteous and world-saving—and then they lose. Again. By one vote. That’s exactly what happened yesterday afternoon on the floor of the U.S. House. Democrats rolled out their latest War Powers Resolution, the one they keep promising is going to finally rein in President Trump’s military campaign against Iran. The whole party marched in line. They counted the votes. They hammered the talking points. And when the tally finally came in, it was 213 to 214. Gone. Done. Over. Here’s how NBC News broke it: The House votes to reject a resolution ordering President Trump to end the war with Iran.The vote was 213-214, almost entirely along party lines. https://t.co/9K6TjS6nng— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 16, 2026 One single vote. That’s all it would have taken for the Democrats to force President Trump to pull U.S. forces out of hostilities with Iran unless Congress formally authorized it. They couldn’t find that one vote. And here’s the part that has to sting the most for the progressive wing of the party—it was one of their own who sank it. Maine Democrat Jared Golden, a Marine Corps veteran sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, crossed the aisle and voted NO. He became the ONE Democrat who refused to tie the President’s hands. Fox News laid out the full picture of what happened on the floor: House Republicans voted 213-214 to block a Democratic war powers resolution that would have required President Trump to end military operations against Iran without congressional approval.The measure, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), failed narrowly, with only one Democrat (Rep. Jared Golden of Maine) voting against it and one Republican (Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky) supporting it.House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said after the vote: “This has been the most successful military operation considering the breadth, the depth, the scope of the enemy… I believe we will be rewarded for the president’s efforts.”Congress faces an April 28 deadline under the War Powers Act to authorize or block continued military force against Iran. So that’s where we are. The Republican whip is publicly calling this one of the most successful U.S. military operations in recent memory, and the lone House Democrat willing to break ranks just handed his president a one-vote win. But the real story isn’t just this single vote. It’s the pattern. Because this is now the SIXTH time Democrats in Congress have tried to handcuff President Trump on Iran—and the sixth time they’ve come up short. Four failed votes in the Senate. Two failed votes in the House. Zero wins. A senior Heritage policy advisor summed the full scoreboard up in one post: Congressional War Powers Update In the Senate:3/4 – Kaine failed (47-53)3/18 – Booker failed(47-53)3/24 – Murphy failed (47-53)4/15 – Duckworth failed (47-52-1)In the House:3/5 – Massie/Khanna failed (212 – 219)4/16 – Meeks failed (213- 214 -1) https://t.co/dqtb30E8C3— Alexandria Paolozzi Moore (@APaolozziMoore) April 16, 2026 Look at that list. Kaine, Booker, Murphy, Duckworth—every big-name Democrat senator that the left keeps telling us is going to finally “stop Trump” has taken his or her shot. Every one of them has missed. And somehow the closest they’ve come is still a loss. By one vote. Military.com had more on how yesterday’s debate actually unfolded on the House floor: The resolution would have required President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the Iran conflict unless Congress authorized military action. Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize force within 60 days—a deadline arriving at the end of April.Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) warned: “We’re standing at the edge of a cliff and Congress must act before the president pushes off.”Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, fired back: “When Joe Biden was responding to merchant marine vessels being attacked, it was OK. No war power needed. It went on for about a year. President Trump responds—war power, war power, war power… That’s the hypocrisy.”Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) added: “President Donald Trump has sent a message that those who threaten the United States and our partners will be held accountable.” That Biden-vs-Trump hypocrisy point from Chairman Mast is the quiet knockout blow in this whole debate. Biden spent nearly a year running a shooting war against Iranian-backed Houthis and barely anyone in Congress peeped. The second Trump does anything about Iran, suddenly it’s an emergency and Democrats are sprinting to the floor with a War Powers Resolution in their hands. Americans notice that. Voters notice that. Apparently even one Maine Democrat notices it. Golden’s reasoning was pretty simple: the U.S. and Iran are currently in a ceasefire, there are active peace negotiations going on, and passing a resolution like this right now would knee-cap the American side of that negotiation. His exact words were that the resolution “would weaken our hand.” That’s not a progressive position. That’s a national security position. And it’s the position that’s actually winning. The War Powers Act deadline hits April 28. The ceasefire clock is ticking. Democrats have promised to keep forcing these votes “every week” until the war ends. Based on yesterday’s scoreboard, they’ve got a lot more losing to do before they get there.

The Senate voted down two resolutions to prevent sales of weapons and military bulldozers to Israel. One resolution failed in a 40-59 vote. Seven Democrats voted against the measure introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). NOW: US Senate votes AGAINST stopping arms sales to Israel, 40-59 A whopping 85% of Senate Democrats supported the move It was brought by Sen. Bernie Sanders pic.twitter.com/BV3eZZTDrD — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 15, 2026 More from The Times of Israel: Forty out of 47 Senate Democrats voted in favor of one of the resolutions to block a $295 million sale of bulldozers, which the initiative’s author, Senator Bernie Sanders, claimed would be used to demolish homes in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. Fifty-nine senators — mostly Republicans — voted against blocking the sale. Thirty-six Democrats backed another resolution aimed at blocking a $152 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs to the IDF, which Sanders argued would be used in Gaza and Lebanon. Sixty-three senators voted against blocking the sale. “The United States must use the leverage we have — tens of billions in arms and military aid — to demand that Israel ends these atrocities,” Sanders said, urging support for the resolutions. Israel says it does not intentionally target civilians, and that its strikes are intended to neutralize terror threats and military infrastructure. “We cannot continue to fund the extremist government of Netanyahu who has been waging a genocidal war in Gaza, who started the war in Iran, was violating all kinds of international law in the West Bank killing Palestinians,” Sanders said. “And is now at war, an expansionist war, in Lebanon,” Sanders continued. “It’s not only killed thousands of people, it has displaced over a million people and Israel now occupies something like 14 percent of the territory of Lebanon,” he said. “And the American people are saying, this really what we should continue spending billions of dollars on when we have so many problems at home?” Sanders added. Watch below: Bernie Sanders: “We cannot continue to fund the extremist government of Netanyahu who has been waging a genocidal war in Gaza, who started the war in Iran, was violating all kinds of international law in the West Bank killing Palestinians. Is this really what we should continue… pic.twitter.com/NNHDWqS13S — Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) April 15, 2026 Al Jazeera shared further: Similar bills to stop arms sales to Israel received 27 “yea” votes last year and 18 in 2024, respectively. Support for Wednesday’s resolution against the bulldozer sales was more than double the number of senators who opposed the 2024 weapons transfers. Advocates point to the cumulative effect of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, ongoing destruction of south Lebanon and the now-paused war with Iran as contributing to the political shift. “That shift reflects where the American people are,” Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday. “Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home — not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm’s way as part of Netanyahu’s illegal wars of expansion.” A Pew Research Center survey this month suggested that 60 percent of US adults, including 80 percent of Democrats, have unfavourable views of Israel. Israel is especially unpopular among young people, regardless of party. Pew’s poll found that 70 percent of respondents under age 50 — including 57 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of Democrats — expressed negative views towards Israel. But Republicans in the Senate, who have rarely broken ranks with Trump, voted unanimously against Sanders’s resolutions on Wednesday.

In a late-night vote, the House of Representatives approved a two-week extension for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Act. A bloc of 20 Republicans stopped a longer renewal of the controversial provision, Axios noted. The longer-term renewal reportedly amounted to five years. Journalist Nick Sortor spoke to Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) after the vote. Watch below: JUST IN—IT’S OFFICIAL: Conservatives have BLOCKED an attempt to RAM THROUGH a 5 year extension of FISA in the dead of night, extending it by only 2 weeks@timburchett, @laurenboebert, and @RepThomasMassie are out here celebrating a win against the deep state “They try… pic.twitter.com/xQ4c42rjlQ — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 17, 2026 Axios has more: The revolt is a significant setback for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the White House, who both pushed for a clean long-term extension of the surveillance authority. The House agreed by unanimous consent to extend FISA until April 30 after a group of Republicans blocked attempts to pass five-year and 18-month renewals of the program. The short-term patch was a last-resort option for GOP leadership, who couldn’t muscle the longer extension despite an aggressive whip effort. The program is set to lapse Monday. Johnson was trying to pass a five-year extension of the national security tool with reforms after postponing an initial vote Wednesday. “Last night between midnight and 2am, they tried to pass two bad versions of FISA… Both would have allowed Feds to unconstitutionally spy on Americans. We stopped both versions, but the fight isn’t over. Eventually, it was decided to give them two more weeks to fix FISA,” Massie said. Last night between midnight and 2am, they tried to pass two bad versions of FISA… Both would have allowed Feds to unconstitutionally spy on Americans. We stopped both versions, but the fight isn’t over. Eventually, it was decided to give them two more weeks to fix FISA. https://t.co/VkckZwH5j4 — Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 17, 2026 The Hill explained further: Republican opposition to the amendment came not only from right-wing members who pushed for more substantial reforms and who had spent hours negotiating the package with leadership, but also from some House Intelligence Committee members who had pushed for a straight reauthorization of the program. Soon after, a procedural vote to advance a clean, 18-month reauthorization of program racked up enough votes to fail moments later, but GOP leaders held the vote open as they hashed out a fallback option. That procedural vote, which members of the House Freedom Caucus had long objected to, officially failed in a 197-228 vote, with 20 Republicans voting against it and four Democrats — Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Jared Golden (Maine), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) — casting highly unusual votes to vote in favor of the rule, which is normally a test of party strength. The House then brought up new legislation to extend the FISA authorization from April 20 to April 30, passing it by unanimous consent just after 2 a.m. and adjourning the House until Monday — canceling a day of previously-scheduled votes on Friday. “We were very close tonight,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said walking off the floor in the wee hours of Friday morning. “There’s some nuances with the language and some questions that need to be answered, and we’ll get it done. The extension allows us the time to do that.”

The Strait of Hormuz is back in business — and Iran itself is the one making the announcement. On Friday morning, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi declared that commercial shipping through the world’s most important oil chokepoint is officially reopened. And then President Trump got on Truth Social to take a well-earned victory lap. This is the same Strait of Hormuz that Iran had effectively closed for weeks during the war — dropping daily transits from about 150 vessels to just 4 or 5 — and the same strait Tehran has threatened to blockade for decades every time the West squeezed its economy. Today, that leverage evaporated in a single tweet. Here’s Araghchi making the announcement himself: In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 17, 2026 No threats. No conditions. No demands for sanctions relief first. Just a plain-language confirmation that the ships can move. According to a live report from Al Jazeera, Araghchi’s statement was issued in direct connection with the ceasefire that took effect between Lebanon and Israel earlier the same day: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that “the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”The announcement came as a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took effect on April 17, 2026. It’s worth pausing on what just happened. The Iranian regime — the regime that spent years arming Hezbollah, funneling cash to Hamas, and threatening every U.S. Navy vessel that came near the Persian Gulf — just voluntarily stood down on its most dangerous piece of geographic leverage. That doesn’t happen because diplomats charmed them. That happens because someone put a real cost on the other side of the ledger. President Trump clearly wasn’t going to let the moment pass without marking it. Within minutes of Araghchi’s post, Trump hit Truth Social and the White House account pushed it out to the rest of the world: "IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!" – President Donald J. Trump — The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 17, 2026 Short. All caps. A thank-you. Classic Trump — but read between the lines and you can hear the message underneath: we forced this, and both sides know it. For context on how we got here, Fox News has been tracking the standoff in real time and captured exactly how hard the administration had been leaning on Tehran before today’s announcement: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters earlier this week that the United States was “locked and loaded on your critical dual use infrastructure” — a warning directed squarely at the Iranian regime if commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked. “Locked and loaded.” That’s the kind of plain-English posture Americans haven’t heard from the Pentagon in a long time — and it worked. The shipping lanes are reopening because Iran read the room and decided a reopened strait was cheaper than a smoking oil terminal. Markets are going to feel this too. When the Strait of Hormuz closes, crude prices spike and global shipping insurance rates go haywire. When it reopens — especially reopens with a ceasefire holding in Lebanon — the opposite happens. Expect relief at the pump in the coming days if the ceasefire holds. And make no mistake: this is the result of a foreign policy that puts pressure on bad actors instead of lecturing them. For four years, Americans watched an administration apologize, appease, and unfreeze billions for Tehran. Today, Iran’s own Foreign Minister opened the most strategic waterway on the planet — and the White House got a thank-you note for it. Peace through strength isn’t a slogan. It’s a results-based strategy. And right now, the results are loading in every shipping lane from the Gulf of Oman to the Port of Houston.

President Trump flew to Las Vegas on Tax Day to hear from the workers whose lives actually changed because of the One Big Beautiful Bill. And what a rookie cop with a week-old baby girl told him to his face is something every single working family in America needs to hear. This is the kind of moment the establishment media tries to bury. So we are not going to let them. Trump sat down for a roundtable in Las Vegas on Thursday with a small group of Nevadans whose paychecks have been directly affected by the new tax law — a cop, a bartender, a restaurant owner, and a few more. The law ended federal income taxes on tips, on overtime pay, and on Social Security for millions of Americans. The President wanted the country to hear what that actually looks like in real people’s bank accounts. The numbers these workers are pulling down now are nothing short of life-changing. As KTNV reported from the event: President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas on April 16, 2026, to promote his “no tax on tips” policy from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He led a roundtable discussion with Nevada residents affected by the tax cuts, including a Metro Police officer, education nonprofit leader, and bartender.Trump: “You have the seniors, you have the overtime, but you have no tax on overtime, you have no tax on tips, and you have no tax on Social Security.” Three taxes gone for working Americans. Not for billionaires. Not for hedge fund managers. For cops. For waiters. For grandmothers living on Social Security. And then the President let the workers do the talking. Metro Police Officer Cruz Littlefield went first. His wife just delivered their first baby girl a week ago. Watch what he says about what ending the overtime tax meant for them: Las Vegas Police Officer Cruz Littlefield: "With the passage of the great Big Beautiful Bill, my wife and I have benefitted from the elimination of taxes on overtime, allowing us to stretch every dollar… We also just welcomed our newborn baby girl a week ago, and have already… pic.twitter.com/pfG7eZHB77— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 17, 2026 Can you imagine? A new dad, a brand new baby in the house, and his government finally lets him keep what he earned working overtime to provide for her. That is the whole ballgame right there. For years, working people in this country have been told they need to just accept that Washington takes a cut of every extra hour they pull. Not anymore. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on the overall tone of the visit: “Our economy is booming” — President Donald Trump declared at a Las Vegas roundtable discussion that the U.S. economy was performing strongly while promoting his signature tax reduction policies. Booming for who, though? That is the real question. The stock market booms every couple of years. It doesn’t always reach the kitchen table. This time, though, it looks like it is reaching all the way down. Just listen to what a Las Vegas bartender said in the same room, about the same bill: Las Vegas bartender Nicole Williams: When I heard about the One Big Beautiful Bill, and No Tax on Tips being included, it was just a reminder that it's promises made, promises kept for you. We will expect to see a greater tax return that we can use for a car. pic.twitter.com/nQC7M0VnTn— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 17, 2026 Promises made, promises kept. How many times in your life have you heard a politician promise something on the campaign trail and actually deliver it once they took office? Ten times? Five? One? “No tax on tips” was a headline from a Trump rally in Las Vegas in 2024. Critics laughed at it. They said it would never pass. They said it was a gimmick. They said Republicans would never actually follow through. Today, a bartender in that same city is planning to buy a car with the refund she is getting because of it. And a brand new dad in a Metro uniform is telling the President of the United States that the overtime he is working for his baby girl is finally staying in his pocket. This is what you voted for. This is what actually happened. Tell a friend.