Murkowski Breaks GOP Ranks as Senate Nears Vote to Limit Trump Iran War Powers

The Senate fell two votes short this week of advancing a measure to restrict President Donald Trump's war authorities in Iran.

The effort marked the closest Senate Democrats have come to reasserting Congress's role, aided by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who broke from Republican unity. The vote occurred after Congress missed a 60-day deadline to authorize or end Trump's war.

Murkowski said she hoped for more details from the administration on next steps but had received none. "So I felt that it was now time to advance a discharge so that we can discuss our responsibilities through the War Powers Act," she said. "So it's — we're in a different place than we were last time we voted on this."

Her decisions often hinge on Alaska's interests. "Senator Murkowski approaches every decision thoughtfully, always asking what is best for Alaska," spokesperson Joseph Plesha told Fox News Digital. "When she believes a policy advances those priorities, she supports it, regardless of party or politics."

Last year, she provided the deciding vote for Trump's "big, beautiful bill," his biggest legislative win of the second term. She called the choice agonizing and secured Alaska benefits first. "I had to look on balance, because the people in my state are the ones that I put first," Murkowski said. "We do not have a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination. My hope is that the House is going to look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet."

She had wanted Senate-House talks to improve it, but the House passed the Senate version hours later to meet Trump's July 4 deadline.

Weeks later, Murkowski opposed a Republican package to cut billions from public broadcasting and international aid programs. As an appropriator, she rejected White House orders on priorities. "I don't accept that," she said.

Earlier this year, she joined Democrats on a Venezuela war powers vote that passed procedurally but later failed after White House lobbying. She cited a lack of clear end state from Trump officials despite Nicolás Maduro's capture.

Murkowski also opposed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act. She argued it would federalize elections, against Republican stands in 2021. "Not only does the U.S. Constitution clearly provide states the authority to regulate the ‘times, places, and manner’ of holding federal elections, but one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska," she said.

Her sharpest break came after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Murkowski voted to convict Trump. "If months of lies, organizing a rally of supporters in an effort to thwart the work of Congress, encouraging a crowd to march on the Capitol, and then taking no meaningful action to stop the violence once it began is not worthy of impeachment, conviction, and disqualification from holding office in the United States, I cannot imagine what is," she said in a statement.