Senate falls short of overriding Trump veto on Iran War Powers resolution

May 7 (UPI) -- The Senate on Thursday failed to override President Donald Trump's veto of a resolution to limit presidential war-making authority against Iran.

The chamber voted 49-44 to override the veto issued by Trump on Wednesday, falling short of the two-thirds threshold required to push through the War Powers measure that would limit the president's ability to take military action against Iran without congressional approval.

Trump described the measure as a "very insulting resolution" in his veto and said it would "greatly" damage his responsibility to protect the United States.

"We live in a hostile world of evolving threats and the Constitution recognizes that the president must be able to anticipate our adversaries' next moves and take swift and decisive action in response," he said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called for lawmakers to support Trump's "rightful" veto of the measure before the vote on Thursday.

"Iran has not let popular unrest, a mismanaged economy, or COVID-19 slow their aggressive meddling from Yemen to the Mediterranean," he said. "We must maintain the measure of deterrence we restored with the decisive strike on Qasem Soleimani."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced the bill alongside Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky and assured Thursday the measure was "not part of a strategy to hurt President Trump."

"I've advocated these same positions as have other members of this body under presidents who were both Democratic and Republican," he said.

The measure received bipartisan support in both chambers, passing by a vote of 55-45 in the Senate and 227-186 in the House.