Senate protects Trump's reckless war as workers pay at the pump

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · September 24, 2026

By rejecting a resolution to end the unauthorized war in Iran, the Senate chose to protect executive overreach while leaving working families to shoulder soaring fuel costs.

Politicians protect a reckless war while workers pay the price at the pump

Growing up in Flint, you learn early who pays when the powerful break things. It is never the people who ordered the mess. It is the families trying to figure out which bill waits another week. It is the line workers watching their hours get cut because shipping lanes are choked. And it is the kids breathing bad air in zip codes nobody with a title ever visits. Right now, that cruelty has a new address in the Middle East. The people running our government do everything they can to keep the meter running. On Thursday, September 24, 2026, the United States Senate voted 49 to 50 to defeat a concurrent resolution calling for an end to the U.S. war with Iran. This is according to reporting by CNBC, The Washington Post, CBS News, The Guardian, and Khaleej Times.

Let us be completely clear about who did this and what it costs. Donald Trump ordered the military strikes and wages the ongoing war against Iran. This conflict drives up costs for working Americans while enriching corporate interests. The resolution would have directed the president to remove U.S. troops from hostilities in Iran. It required explicit congressional approval for the war. Yet the Senate majority chose to protect an executive branch that treats human life and consumer stability as disposable. Nineteen U.S. service members have been killed since this unauthorized conflict began in late February.

Some politicians argue we cannot withdraw troops while they are in harm's way. But that argument is a cruel inversion of reality. It traps service members in a war of choice. Then it uses their presence as an excuse to keep them there. The president put troops there without congressional consent. This directly violates the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Insulating an illegal deployment is not supporting the troops. It treats them as expendable political collateral. In fact, 68% of Americans say this war was not worth fighting.

The cost of executive overreach lands on working families

We saw this in the Libyan Civil War (2011). Military intervention occurred without a formal declaration of war from Congress. The executive relied on unilateral authority to conduct hostilities. Now, the War Powers Resolution of 1973 has run headfirst into a systemic failure. Legislative checks fail to constrain executive war-making power when the president ignores congressional mandates. Administrations of both parties argue that the concurrent resolution process is unconstitutional. They claim it cannot bind the president. The White House effectively ignored a previous Senate vote. The administration continues to enforce executive sanctions and military deployments. Meanwhile, service members and working families bear the human and financial cost.

The economic fallout is not an abstraction. It is bleeding bank accounts dry in every town across America. Nationwide gas prices average $4.48 per gallon, according to AAA. Runaway diesel prices severely stress truckers and farmers. Higher fuel prices have cost American households approximately $900 each since the war began. Corporate filings from Tidewater Inc. and Seaboard Corporation explicitly cite the conflict involving Iran. They point to higher fuel prices, increased vessel insurance, and disrupted shipping corridors as driving up operational expenses.

When corporate logistics and shipping operators face higher fuel costs, they do not absorb them. They hand the bill directly to the working consumer. That is the exact mechanism of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo. That crisis triggered sustained inflation and forced shipping firms to pass skyrocketing fuel expenses directly onto working-class consumers. The only difference today is that a reckless military adventure lit the match.

Senators look toward midterms while the public demands an end

The politics of this vote are cowardly and transparent. Midterm elections loom less than six weeks away. Lawmakers will hit the campaign trail for nearly all of October. They must explain to anxious voters what they are doing to bring down prices. Senator Kevin Cramer admitted that past achievements hardly count when voters face these immediate costs.

Yet when the roll was called, most Republicans voted down the measure. Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania shamefully joined them. He was the only Democrat to vote against it. Meanwhile, four Republican senators voted for the resolution. These included Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Even within their own caucus, members know the public opposes this carnage. Senator Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland missed the vote due to an urgent family matter. Her spokesperson noted she has already voted 13 times to end the war.

The Senate must stop hiding behind procedural cowardice. It must use the power of the purse to cut off funding. Voters heading to the ballot box this November must remember who protected a reckless executive. They must throw out every lawmaker who let gas prices squeeze working families.

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WTI crude oil price. Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

Senate protects Trump's reckless war as workers pay at the pump

Politicians protect a reckless war while workers pay the price at the pump

The cost of executive overreach lands on working families

Senators look toward midterms while the public demands an end

Sources