Four GOP Senators Break With Trump on Iran War Powers as Xi Visit Draws Bipartisan Fire on Capitol Hill

Since Xi Jinping landed at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, September 23, for a three-day state visit that wraps up today with a Red Room tea and a National Archives stop, the reception on Capitol Hill has been far chillier than the one Trump gave him on the tarmac.

On Thursday, September 24, the Senate voted down a Democratic effort to rein in Trump's war-making authority in Iran, according to Fox News. Most Republicans held the line. But four did not: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis all voted with Democrats. Tillis said the administration has repeatedly blown past a 60-day deadline to brief Congress on the war. "We know the resolution's not gonna pass," Tillis said, "but it is important to start saying, 'We deserve an update.'" The measure had already passed the House with seven Republican defections, according to Fox News, but without a veto-proof majority it heads nowhere.

The Welcome That Wouldn't Sit Right

The same day the Senate voted, lawmakers got a closed-door national security briefing on deepening military cooperation between Iran and China, according to The Hill. That briefing came a day after the White House rolled out a 21-gun salute and a bomber flyover for Xi's arrival, and Murkowski called the display "over the top." "Is it appropriate that you welcome him? Yeah," she said. "But it's equally appropriate that you ask him really tough questions."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker went further in a Tuesday, September 22 floor speech, saying he would have advised against inviting Xi "for such a lavish welcome" at all, according to the Epoch Times and Action News Jax. Wicker urged Trump to press Xi on China's military buildup, its treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners, and its actions against Taiwan and Philippine sailors. "Our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected, and oppressive dictator," Wicker said.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he wasn't happy with the honors either, telling The Hill that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have formed an "axis" opposed to the United States. Cornyn and Wicker both also flagged Trump's decision to invite Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami this December, with Cornyn arguing Trump doesn't recognize "Putin as the stone-cold killer that he is."

Separately, Senate Republican Mitch McConnell and three colleagues sent a letter pressing the administration to move ahead on stalled Taiwan arms sales during the visit, according to Action News Jax, and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a video, viewed more than 245,000 times on X, calling Xi "the biggest opponent of freedom and liberty in the world."

Democrats Point to the Jordan Attack

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan sent Trump a letter urging him to make Chinese satellite support to Iran "a centerpiece" of the Xi talks, according to CBS News. She cited the July 17 missile strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan that killed Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, and Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad. Slotkin quoted Trump telling reporters aboard Air Force One that Xi has "behaved reasonably well," and pushed back hard: "For months, we have known that Chinese companies are helping the Iranian military target and attempt to kill U.S. troops."

The White House has defended the red-carpet treatment as reciprocity, not endorsement. Spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump is simply "reciprocating the hospitality" Xi showed him during his own visit to Beijing in May, according to The Hill. Trump himself has waved off the satellite-imagery reporting, telling reporters "they do what we do" and "we spy on them too," according to Wonderwall's account of his Air Force One remarks. The administration's core argument is that great-power diplomacy requires engagement even with rivals, and walking away from talks would foreclose any chance at the trade concessions and AI cooperation Trump is pursuing with Xi.

Gas Prices Are Splitting the GOP Too

The war itself, separate from the Xi optics, is fracturing Republican Senate candidates in tight races. With AAA pegging the national average at $4.47 a gallon and Michigan at $4.84, Iowa's Ashley Hinson, Michigan's Mike Rogers, and Ohio Sen. Jon Husted have all called for an immediate end to the fighting, according to the Daily Wire. Rogers proposed a temporary embargo on U.S. diesel exports; Hinson wants the gas tax suspended and biodiesel credits reinstated. Critics note Hinson voted against four separate war powers resolutions this year before shifting her public message, the Daily Wire reported.

At the United Nations, Trump warned he might "annihilate" Iran absent a peace deal, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the General Assembly Tehran will not abandon what he called its right to peaceful nuclear technology, according to the Daily Wire. Neither the war powers standoff nor the gas-price revolt inside the GOP shows signs of resolving before voters go to the polls in 39 days.