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The measure was intended as a rebuke of Trump’s threats and escalatory policy toward Iran and drew four Republican votes. Trump has publicly threatened Iran with “obliteration” and said he doesn’t need congressional approval for military strikes on the country.

The measure was proposed by Sens. Tom Udall, D.-N.M. and Tim Kaine, D-Va., as an amendment to an annual defense funding bill. Udall stated that the bipartisan support for the amendment “sent a powerful and resounding message: Congress is not going to roll over for an unconstitutional war. President Trump and his advisors should heed this significant vote [and] change course from the saber-rattling and reckless escalation.”

The amendment and a related bill proposed by Udall are rare attempts by Congress to use its most significant power — the power of the purse — to prevent the executive branch from waging war with a specific country before that war begins. Even the most significant restriction on presidential war-making since World War II, the 1973 War Powers Act, simply stated that the president “shall terminate” hostilities after 60 days if they have not been authorized by Congress, rather than prohibiting the spending of appropriated funds to wage such wars.

If the amendment had passed, it would have prohibited the Pentagon from using any funding to attack Iran without congressional authorization. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the measure would “hamstring” Trump.

McConnell was largely responsible for the amendment’s defeat. Democratic and Republican Senate aides told The Intercept that under McConnell’s direction, the Senate parliamentarian ruled the measure “not germane” to the substance of the bill, thus requiring it to get 60 votes to pass instead of a simple majority.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Trump’s advisors persuaded him to authorize military strikes on Iran in retaliation for the Iranians shooting down an unmanned American reconnaissance drone, but the strikes were called off at the last minute.

The effort to pass the amendment came amid longstanding concerns that the Trump administration has been trying to lay the legal ground for attacking Iran without congressional authorization, and that such an attack could escalate into a full-scale war before Congress weighed in.

The Times also reported last month that Mike Pompeo, Trump’s hawkish secretary of state, has been trying to convince a skeptical Congress that Iran has ties to Al Qaeda dating back to the days after the 9/11 attacks. Members of Congress have expressed alarm that such a claim could serve as the basis for using the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed three days after the 9/11 attacks, to justify attacking Iran.

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