Bill Cassidy

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy joined Democrats and three Republican colleagues Tuesday to help pass a House-backed resolution directing President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from the military action with Iran.

The resolution does not have the force of law, and therefore does not require Trump do so. But the resolution carries the weight of expressing the will of both chambers of Congress.

Cassidy said Tuesday that, when the U.S. began bombing Iran on Feb. 28, Trump laid out as objectives ending Iran's nuclear capability, keeping the nation from having ballistic missiles, and degrading the theocracy’s conventional warfare capability. The president also predicted hostilities would end in four to five weeks.

“In retrospect, it’s clear the decision to go into Iran in the first place was a bad decision,” Cassidy said. “Objectively, we did not achieve the original goals of the intervention. By the way, I support those original goals.”

Cassidy has voiced criticisms of some of Trump's policies and actions since the president backed Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, over him. Cassidy came in third in the May 16 closed party primary and will have to leave office in January when his successor is sworn in.

Letlow faces State Treasurer John Fleming, R-Minden, in the GOP primary runoff on Saturday. The winner will face a Democratic candidate in the November 3 general election.

A handful of Republicans in the House joined the Democratic members to approve the resolution on a 215-208 earlier in June.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, the resolution calls for Trump to remove troops from hostilities except where necessary to protect American assets or protect allies from attack. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to bomb Iran again if the nation’s leaders didn’t stop Hezbollah from conducting terrorist activities in Lebanon.

The Senate voted 50-48 to approve the resolution. All the Democratic senators but Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and the four Republican senators voted in favor. Joining Cassidy was fellow Republican senators Rand Paul, of Kentucky; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowsi, of Alaska.

The GOP senators had voted last month to allow a floor vote on a War Powers resolution.

Republican Sens Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, and David McCormick, of Pennsylvania, did not vote.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, joined the rest of the Republicans in voting against the measure.

The vote came a day before Trump is scheduled to attend a closed-door meeting of the 53 Republicans in the Senate.