Senate GOP tries to make up with Trump after tensions boil over on Iran

Tempers boiled over between President Trump and Republican senators after the president ambushed GOP lawmakers on Wednesday by refusing to sign a popular bill to address housing costs.

Trump then blew up at GOP lawmakers during a Wednesday lunch meeting over a successful resolution a day earlier that directed him to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran.

In a sign of how badly the rupture jarred Republicans, the Senate GOP late Wednesday night quickly sought to make amends with the president, reversing course by rejecting a new Iran resolution that directed Trump to remove forces from hostilities with Iran without a declaration of war or a specific authorization for military force.

In a 47-50 vote, that measure, nearly identical to the one that was approved by the Senate on Tuesday in a vote that infuriated Trump, was defeated. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of four Republicans who voted for the previous measure, voted present this time.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who exploded at Trump during the Wednesday lunch meeting, voted against it after receiving a briefing on the Iran war at the White House ahead of the vote.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted for both the Tuesday measure and Wednesday’s GOP make-up vote.

The new vote does nothing to change the fact that the Senate had already approved a war powers resolution effectively rebuking Trump’s handling of the war. But even though the House and Senate had both approved that measure, it was not legally binding on Trump.

The late-night vote Wednesday did serve as a sort of political make-up move by the Senate GOP to a president increasingly angered by the body.

It all capped a stunning 24 hours on Capitol Hill, on a Wednesday that was supposed to be a day of Republican unity on Capitol Hill.

Trump was scheduled to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in the House, which was to be touted as a major GOP accomplishment, before proceeding with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to a meeting with GOP senators to discuss plans for the rest of the year.

That went awry when Trump surprised GOP leaders by announcing on Truth Social that he would not sign the popular housing bill unless the Senate also passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, an election reform bill that has virtually no chance of passing the upper chamber.

Trump walked into the Senate’s Mansfield Room still fuming over the defection of four Republican senators who voted with Democrats the day before to approve a war powers resolution directing him to withdraw U.S. forces from the conflict with Iran.

Senate Steering Committee Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.) invited Trump to the meeting in hopes of getting the president and GOP senators on the same page about how to handle the SAVE America Act and to discuss how to handle another possible government shutdown later this year.

Scott had invited Trump on Friday........

© The Hill