Congress must approve any U.S. military action against Iran.
S.J.Res. 185 — A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress. · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 27, 2026 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This joint resolution says the President must stop any U.S. military fights against Iran unless Congress votes to approve it first. The President can still defend against direct attacks. The President can help allies protect themselves. But the President cannot start or keep up fights against Iran on his own.
Who it affects
This affects the President and Congress. It also affects U.S. military members and people in Iran or nearby countries where U.S. forces operate.
One thing to notice
The bill lets the President defend against direct attacks without asking Congress first. The President could claim an attack is happening and fight back without a vote.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 9 Democrats.
- Apr 27, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 27, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations”
- May 19, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Foreign Relations discharged by Yea-Nay Vote. 50 - 47. Record Vote Number: 129.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $60,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 14 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 41% of bills with any report.
Tim Kaine, who sponsored the bill, received $120,158 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- National Security Action — $40,000 in 1 report
- Moveon.org Civic Action — $20,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- joint resolution — A formal statement passed by both the House and Senate.
- military fights — Combat or battles between countries or groups.
- defend against direct attacks — Protect against immediate harm without starting a new fight.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,362 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
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