Senate set to vote Wednesday on Iran War Powers Resolution at 80-day mark

The Senate will vote Wednesday on a War Powers Resolution led by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., among others. The resolution would withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within and against Iran under Operation Epic Fury, now in its 80th day.

"We are in a fragile ceasefire, but President Trump continues to threaten Iran with more bombs to further a war that has already had enormous costs to all Americans, especially our military," said Kaine. "The Senate should use this moment to do what we should have done before the war started — discuss the rationale, strategy, end state, and costs to American taxpayers and our economy."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., noted the previous vote's result as a benchmark: "We got three Republicans to vote in favor of our last War Powers Resolution — the closest we've come to ending Trump's illegal war in Iran — because Republicans are finally starting to realize how costly and disastrous this conflict is." She added: "More than 80 days since Trump launched this war of choice, the Trump Administration still has yet to articulate a consistent goal or desired end state, let alone how we could get there."

No scheduled floor votes appear on today's Senate calendar. The recess for the Memorial Day state work period begins in six days.

A coalition of 25 Senate Republicans — led by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark. — sent a letter to President Trump Tuesday urging him to "take decisive action to fully dismantle UNRWA and eliminate it from the UN budget." Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also signed and issued a separate statement.

"We strongly urge your administration to take decisive action to fully dismantle UNRWA and eliminate it from the UN budget," the senators wrote. "Any aid organization in Gaza or otherwise must be demonstrably free of ties to terrorism and committed to transparency, accountability, and peace. We must ensure this failed system doesn't continue reinforcing the conditions that have fueled terrorism for generations."

"As if the UN were not already useless and expensive, it is now using American tax dollars to hide hostages and weapons for the Hamas terrorists it employs," said Lee. "$70 million is funneled yearly from the United Nations to a group in Gaza employing multiple terrorists from the October 7th attacks and their friends."

The letter cites a USAID Office of Inspector General investigation that identified three UNRWA employees who participated in the October 7 attacks and 14 others affiliated with Hamas, with a probe expanding to examine more than 100 employees.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced questions Tuesday from multiple senators during a Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the FY2027 DOJ budget. The sharpest exchange came from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., over a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" created as part of President Trump's IRS lawsuit settlement.

Coons pressed Blanche on whether Trump campaign donors could receive payouts. Blanche responded: "When you say campaign donors, they are not excluded from seeking compensation." On whether January 6 defendants who assaulted police could receive money, Blanche said: "Anybody can apply. The commissioners will set rules, I'm sure. That's not for me to set, that's for the commissioners. And whether an individual, an Oath Keeper, as you just mentioned, applies for compensation, anybody in this country can apply."

Separately, Sen. Schiff led a Judiciary Committee inquiry into reports that Blanche was formally advised by DOJ career ethics lawyers in March 2025 to recuse from cases involving Trump in his personal capacity — advice Blanche reportedly did not follow. The letter cited Blanche's own confirmation hearing testimony: "I will follow the rules as told to me by the experts, career prosecutors in the department, if it comes to ever recusing."

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., used her hearing time to press Blanche on immigration court efficiency and Operation Southern Star in Montgomery, drawing an acknowledgment from Blanche that "we have almost 500,000 cases [that] were processed last year" while noting a backlog of roughly 4 million immigration cases remains.

Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and James Lankford, R-Okla., co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, introduced the Jewish American Security Act on Tuesday. The bill would require the Department of Education to develop a Title VI framework to combat campus antisemitism, invest $1 billion in security resources for at-risk houses of worship and nonprofits, and require social media platforms to report on their handling of antisemitic content.

"Our nation is facing an epidemic of antisemitism — year after year we are seeing unprecedented levels of antisemitic violence and harassment," said Rosen. "From social media to college campuses, we've seen how this bigotry manifests into real-world violence against Jews."

"Since October 7th, Jews in America have faced an unprecedented surge in antisemitism," said Lankford. "Jewish students being targeted on campuses. Synagogues being vandalized. People being attacked in the streets simply because of their faith and heritage. That is not who we are as a nation, and we unequivocally condemn antisemitism in all its forms."

The legislation is backed by more than a dozen Jewish organizations including the ADL, American Jewish Committee, and Orthodox Union.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., took to the floor Tuesday to press for passage of the Secure America Act, which he said would fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years and prevent what he characterized as Democratic efforts to defund immigration enforcement.

"Republicans will stand up to protect American citizens. We will pass the Secure America Act. We will continue to keep American communities safe," said Barrasso. The bill also includes additional training funding for Secret Service agents, which Barrasso tied to upcoming national events — the Indy 500, the World Cup, and the 2028 Olympics.

"The Secure America Act funds ICE and Border Patrol. It does it for three years. It builds on the border security successes of the Laken Riley Act, the HALT Fentanyl Act, and the Working Families Tax Cuts law," Barrasso said. The Senate calendar shows no scheduled vote today; floor action is expected later this week.

Sen. Schiff led six senators Tuesday in pressing White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on the leaderless Office of Government Ethics — an agency that has operated without any director, even in an acting capacity, since early December 2025.

"OGE simply cannot fulfill its role, as intended by Congress, without a director," the senators wrote in their letter to Wiles. The letter notes that President Trump removed Senate-confirmed OGE Director David Huitema in February 2025, and that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the 300-day limit for an acting director has expired with no nomination pending.

The inquiry was co-signed by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Andy Kim, D-N.J.; Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a new installment of their running accountability report on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., covering developments from February 18 through May 15. The report tracks what the senators describe as harmful actions across vaccine policy, agency leadership, and scientific staffing.

The update details a series of CDC leadership vacancies, the departure of Principal Deputy Director Ralph Abraham, and a New York Times report cited in the release that Kennedy's anti-vaccine policies have caused vaccine manufacturers to curtail research and eliminate jobs. The release also notes that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defended the administration's decision to reduce the childhood vaccine schedule as "pro-vaccine" — a characterization that drew criticism from nutrition and public health experts cited in the release.

The senators have now released three versions of the report: an initial edition in September 2025, an update in February 2026, and Tuesday's addendum.

A provision authored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to fund 200 additional child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts cleared the Senate Homeland Security Committee Tuesday as part of the Republican reconciliation bill funding the Department of Homeland Security. The measure allocates $108.5 million for Homeland Security Investigations.

"This will be a tremendous step forward to be able to do something very tangible and very immediate to help children who have been harmed in the worst possible way by the online world," said Hawley. The reconciliation bill is expected on the Senate floor later this week.

The provision was modeled on Hawley's Renewed Hope Act. Committee testimony cited in the release stated that 338,000 unique IP addresses downloaded, shared, or distributed child sexual abuse material in the United States within a matter of months, with as many as 89,000 unidentified child victims appearing in those materials.

Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduced the Nursing is a Professional Degree Act on Tuesday, a bipartisan response to a Department of Education rule that subjects post-baccalaureate nursing students to the same federal loan caps as undergraduates — $20,500 annually and $100,000 in the aggregate — rather than the professional degree caps of $50,000 annually and $200,000 aggregate.

"Nurses save lives, one bedside at a time. We should be doing everything we can to make it easier to recruit the next generation of these heroes, not make it harder," said Merkley. "Republicans and Democrats alike have sounded the alarm over changes that make student loans for nurses more expensive, which threaten the future of the nursing workforce."

"It is imperative that Congress address the nursing shortage across the United States," said Wicker. "This legislation would make nursing a more achievable profession by expanding the loan limits for nursing students." The bill is backed by 250 organizations including the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, both R-Idaho, announced support for the America the Beautiful Act, which would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund for public lands maintenance. "Public lands are central to who we are as Idahoans and our way of life," said Risch. The bill has 57 cosponsors and is described as bipartisan.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., introduced the CLOSE THE GAP Act to streamline broadband permitting on federal land, where approval currently takes up to 48 months. "It shouldn't take years for internet service providers to get approval for broadband infrastructure projects on federal land," Barrasso said. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Schumer announced a $156.5 million MTA accessibility grant — previously held for over a year — has been cleared for release by DOT.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Lauren Underwood reintroduced the Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act alongside 70-plus lawmakers. Warren also joined Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in releasing a report warning that ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian workers would "devastate the health care, elder care, and disability care workforce." "If the Trump administration ends legal protections for Haitian workers, everyone will be worse off," said Warren.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., introduced the MARKET Act to require USDA and USTR to identify alternative export markets for American agricultural commodities in the event of a trade dispute with China. "Relying on one major buyer carries risks, which is why we must develop new markets for agricultural commodities," said Ricketts.

Signals

• volumeTuesday's 26 releases ran 70.9% below the Tuesday average of 89.2, the lightest single-day volume in recent tracking — six days before the Memorial Day state work period begins.
• coordinated25 Republican senators signed a coordinated letter urging Trump to defund and dismantle UNRWA; the rollout included at least two separate press releases from signatories Lee and Lankford on the same letter.
• voteSen. Schiff's release confirms a Senate floor vote on the Iran War Powers Resolution is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20 — the eighth such vote and the first since three Republicans crossed over on the previous measure.
• voteSenate Majority Whip Barrasso indicated the Secure America Act is expected on the Senate floor later this week; the GOP reconciliation DHS funding bill — which includes Hawley's child exploitation provision — is also expected this week.
• silent breaksSen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., has issued no releases in the archive (999 days quiet), an outlier worth flagging given today's active Oklahoma colleague Sen. Lankford produced two releases.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK—
• Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, D-GA35d
• Sen. Alex Padilla, D-CA33d
• Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS33d
• Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY29d