Pressure on the White House increased this Thursday after the House of Representatives approved, by 214 votes to 208, a resolution that seeks to stop US military participation in Iran without the authorization of Congress, AP reported. The measure, promoted by Democrats, represents a new call to attention to President Donald Trump and precedes the vote that the Senate will hold later this day on a similar resolution led by Senator Chris Van Hollen.

Although these types of resolutions are primarily political in scope and do not force the president to immediately change his military strategy, Democrats maintain that the objective is to defend Congress's constitutional powers to authorize a war. Furthermore, the result in the House revealed fissures within the Republican Party, as four Republicans decided to vote alongside Democrats to demand greater control over military operations.

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, one of the main promoters of the initiative in the House, questioned the Trump administration's strategy and assured that the conflict lacks a clear direction.

“War has no clear mission, no strategy, no final objective,” Jayapal said during the legislative debate.

Now, all eyes are on the Senate, where a vote is expected that could offer a clearer signal about the political support that Donald Trump retains among Republicans. Although the result would not automatically force the president to modify military strategy, it would serve as a thermometer of the growing unrest on Capitol Hill as the conflict drags on and doubts grow about its human, economic and political costs.

Chuck Schumer takes aim at Trump

Hours before the vote, the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, raised the tone against President Donald Trump by accusing him of keeping the United States in a military conflict without the authorization of Congress and without a clear strategy. The senator criticized that, despite the death of 18 Americans and the hundreds of injuries caused by the war, the president has presumed that the population is “very impressed” with his management of the conflict.

“There is nothing impressive about sending Americans into a war without authorization, without strategy, without an end goal and without a definition of victory,” Schumer declared. The Democrat also warned that Republicans will have to decide whether to support Congress's constitutional role or continue to give Trump a "blank check" to maintain military operations.