House GOP Cancels Iran War Vote Because They Were Going to Lose It — Then Sends Congress Home for Memorial Day

On May 22, 2026, House Republicans were supposed to vote on a war powers resolution that would compel President Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran. The vote was pulled. Not because the resolution was flawed. Because it was going to pass.

Why the vote was cancelled

Democrats had the numbers. Rep. Gregory Meeks stated: "Every Democrat was on board, we had the sufficient number of Republicans on board." Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), the one Democrat who had consistently voted against prior Iran war powers resolutions, was planning to flip his vote to yes. At least four Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas Massie, Warren Davidson, and Tom Barrett — had voted in support previously.

Rather than allow a vote that would pass and rebuke the president's war, Speaker Mike Johnson pulled it from the floor and sent Congress home for Memorial Day recess.

Common Dreams reported the obvious: "They were afraid it would pass."

"Chicken hawk motherfuckers"

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a combat veteran who served two tours in Iraq, stood on the Capitol steps and said what the procedural language obscures:

"These chicken hawk motherfuckers won't give an up or down vote on continuing this war almost three months in, while Americans are paying almost $5 a gallon at the pump. It's fucking pathetic. They use this procedural bullshit argument, and every American should just be absolutely outraged about this. It is a disgrace."

For a veteran, "chicken hawk" is as insulting as it gets — someone who beats the drums of war without ever having served. Ryan has buried friends from combat. The people who cancelled the vote have not.

The War Powers Act

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires that presidents get congressional authorization within 60 days of engaging in hostilities. The Iran war began February 28, 2026. It is now almost three months old. Congress has never authorized it.

Trump's argument for why the 60-day deadline doesn't apply: he wrote to Congress claiming "the hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated" — while simultaneously making clear the war may be far from over. The hostilities have "terminated" for purposes of the War Powers Act, but not for purposes of continuing to bomb Iran. Schrödinger's war: simultaneously over and ongoing, depending on which law Trump needs to avoid.

Sen. Susan Collins, voting with Democrats for the first time on an Iran war powers resolution: "The 60-day deadline is not a suggestion, it is a requirement."

The veterans vs. the chicken hawks

The loudest voices against the war are Democrats who actually fought in one:

• Pat Ryan — two tours in Iraq: "If I hear one more chicken hawk who's never served a single day in uniform sitting in a gold plated office in DC or Mar-a-lago try to talk tough having never seen what war is about, I'm going to lose my mind"
• Eugene Vindman — 25-year Army veteran: "Wars are easy to start and hard to finish" — called the Iran war "a commitment of American blood and treasure to a conflict that we didn't need to be engaged in"
• Jason Crow — three tours in Iraq: "When elites in Washington bang the war drums, pound their chest, talk about the costs of war and act tough, they're not talking about them doing it"

The people who have been to war want this one to end. The people who haven't want it to continue. And the people who control the House floor would rather cancel the vote than let democracy answer the question.

Memorial Day

Congress left Washington for Memorial Day weekend — a holiday to honor Americans who died in war — without voting on whether to continue a war that has already killed Americans. They will "pick it up" after the recess. The vote is largely symbolic anyway — Trump can veto it. But they couldn't even allow the symbol.

Pat Ryan will spend Memorial Day remembering friends he lost in Iraq. The chicken hawks will spend it explaining why they couldn't risk a vote.