Live updates: GOP rebuffs Dems' push to rein in Trump's war with Iran – NBC News

BREAKING: Republicans block effort to halt Trump’s war with Iran
President Donald Trump bashed NATO after a meeting with the alliance's secretary general at the White House.
President Donald Trump has said he is strongly considering pulling out of NATO, a move that would require congressional backing.  Getty Images
House Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to pass a resolution today to halt Donald Trump’s war with Iran — a response to the president’s shocking threat two days earlier to annihilate “a whole civilization.”
House and Senate lawmakers are at the tail end of a two-week spring recess, but Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., and other Democrats returned to Washington for a routine “pro forma” session to try to pass the resolution by unanimous consent.
However, the Republican lawmaker presiding over the session, Chris Smith of New Jersey, gaveled out of the brief session without calling on Ivey. Democrats howled in protest, with some shouting “Shame!”
Read the full story here.
The price of oil rebounded today, as doubts began to set in about the state of the Iran ceasefire announced just two days earlier by Trump.
Chief among them was that fewer than a half-dozen ships had been observed transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.
Read the full story here.
This article is part of “Unaffordable America,” a series examining rising economic inequality in the U.S. and the policies that drive it.
It’s a tough time to be serving drinks on the Las Vegas strip. Visits are down and those who are coming are tipping less, if at all. That’s according to Sherie Cummings, who would know: She’s worked as a casino cocktail waitress for more than 20 years.
This year, though, she looked forward to a financial bright spot. She expected a bigger tax refund for her and her husband, a bartender, following Trump’s pledge of no taxes on tips. But despite the couple earning about $60,000 in tips last year, their refund wasn’t as big as she expected. That’s because of a cap, she learned, on how much in tips they could deduct.
“We were disappointed,” Cummings said. “I feel like a lot of the servers, bartenders, waitresses, tip earners were gaslit by the ‘no tax on tips.’”
“It’s a little relief, but it’s not enough relief, not at all,” she added.
Trump has repeatedly touted “no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security” as a key success of his second term since his “big, beautiful bill” passed last year. Many Americans are benefiting from the tax changes in the bill: The average refund this tax season was $3,521, about $350 more than last year, according to IRS data as of March 27. The White House has said the extra cash in people’s pockets will help boost the economy.
Read the full story here.
Two Democrats seeking to flip one of Iowa’s Republican-held Senate seats spent this evening at a forum here appealing to progressive activists and voters who could influence the June primary.
But it was a Democrat from 1,100 miles away who emerged as a tension point.
State Sen. Zach Wahls tried to characterize his primary rival, state Rep. Josh Turek, as an extension of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. While Schumer has not endorsed in the race, there have been signals that he prefers Turek.
Playing to a crowd unhappy with the influence of big money in politics, Wahls linked Turek to Schumer by noting Turek’s support from VoteVets, an outside spending group that has aligned with Senate Democratic leadership in the past.
Read the full story here.
A group of Senate Democrats said in a letter yesterday that they plan to force a vote on a war powers resolution next week to halt military operations in Iran and require Congress’ approval on any future military actions.
“This temporary ceasefire agreement — which is already being violated — starts a very short clock for Congress to finally end this unprecedented chaos,” the letter said.
“Absent immediate steps by Republican leadership to stand up to Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, we will once again force a vote on a War Powers Resolution to finally end this dangerous war in the Middle East,” the letter continued.
The letter was signed by Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Adam Schiff of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., addressed the plan earlier today, telling reporters that “Congress must reassert its authority, especially at this dangerous moment. No president, Democrat or Republican, should take this country to war alone.”
A war powers vote can be triggered by a member of the minority at any point, but Senate Democrats have not yet indicated precisely when they plan to do so next week.
Democrats need Republican support if they hope to get the resolution across the finish line, as it requires a simple majority to pass. The Republican-led Senate has rejected war powers resolutions in previous months largely along party lines.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., shared a similar letter earlier yesterday saying House Democrats will try to vote on a war powers resolution to end the war in Iran during a pro forma session today.
The Justice Department announced yesterday that the FBI had arrested a former Army employee whom federal prosecutors accused of leaking classified information to a journalist.
Courtney Williams, 40, of North Carolina, was arrested Tuesday and charged yesterday with transmitting “classified national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it, including a journalist.”
Read the full story here.
Trump criticized NATO on social media in his first comments after a closed-door meeting with Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House.
“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” Trump said on Truth Social. “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”
Rutte told CNN in an interview that his conversation with Trump was a “very frank, a very open discussion, but also a discussion between two good friends.” He said they talked about Trump’s frustration with NATO.
“Let me be absolutely clear: He is clearly disappointed, and with many NATO allies. And I can see his point,” Rutte said.
Rutte added that the “large majority of European nations” were helpful to the U.S. during the war with Iran with “basing, with logistics, with overflights.” He said that there was “widespread support” for Trump’s actions in the war and that “degrading the nuclear and … the ballistic missile capacity from Iran was really crucial.”
Asked whether the Strait of Hormuz had been opened following Trump’s demands to clear the strategic waterway, Rutte did not give a straight answer.
“I don’t have the intelligence now at my fingertips to give you that answer, but I think over the next couple of days we will know,” he said.
House Democrats will try to pass an Iran war powers resolution by unanimous consent during the House’s pro forma session today, according to a letter from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
“A two-week ceasefire is woefully insufficient. Accordingly, we have demanded that the House come back into session immediately in order to vote on our resolution to permanently end the war in the Middle East,” Jeffries wrote.
Congress is in recess, but Jeffries said Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., will lead the effort today.
“All members who are in Washington are invited to join the effort on the House floor,” Jeffries wrote.
It’s unclear whether Ivey and the Democrats will even be able to try today. The Republican member presiding over a pro forma session does not need to call on members seeking recognition on the House floor. The presiding officer can simply adjourn the brief session after the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
During the shutdown last fall, Democrats tried to get recognition several times during pro forma sessions to demand that then-Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., be sworn in.
Even if the presiding officer recognizes Ivey, all it would take is one other member to object to his unanimous consent request to block it.
NBC News

source