(WASHINGTON) — Hours after President Donald Trump blasted Sen. Bill Cassidy for supporting a war powers resolution that narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday, Cassidy helped to deliver Trump a victory by voting with the majority of Republicans late Wednesday to block a separate resolution aimed at reining in the president’s war powers in Iran from advancing.

The Senate voted 47-50-1 late Wednesday to block a war powers resolution led by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine from moving forward. The resolution, which aims to limit Trump’s ability to wage war in Iran but does not have the force of law, had narrowly advanced in a previous procedural vote.

It was a remarkable departure for Louisiana Republican senator who, just hours previously, was in a shouting match with the president during a lunch between Trump and the GOP conference.

Cassidy said he later received a briefing from Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Iran.

“I want to thank Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witkoff for the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran. I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” Cassidy posted.

Cassidy wasn’t the only Republican who changed his vote on the latest war powers vote.

Sen. Rand Paul voted ‘present’ instead of voting to support the resolution as he had previously been doing.

“Tonight I will vote present on the War Powers resolution. My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times,” Paul posted on X ahead of the vote. “But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so. My vote of present is a way to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”

Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted in favor of the resolution, as they have in the past. All other Republicans voted against it.

Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against the resolution. All other Democrats voted for it.  Sens. Mitch McConnell and Michael Bennet were absent during Wednesday night’s vote.

Trump celebrated Wednesday’s vote in a post on his social media platform.

“Wow! The Senate just changed its vote on Iran from 50-48 against, to 50-47 for,” Trump said in the post. “Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy changed. Thank you to Leader John Thune, Lindsey Graham, Bernie Moreno, and all. This vote puts Iran on notice!

The earlier clash between Trump and Cassidy came as the president met with Republican senators on Capitol Hill.

At one point, Trump called Cassidy a “lunatic,” according to multiple sources. Cassidy did not dispute that when asked by ABC News.

After the meeting, Cassidy acknowledged that he lost his temper with Trump.

“He asked why would anybody vote for the War Powers Act? As he continued, I said, ‘is that a rhetorical question, or would you like to really know?’ He said, ‘I’d like to know.’ I stood and said, ‘You have not told the American people what’s going on. It was supposed to last four weeks. It’s lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what’s going on,'” Cassidy said.

The White House had dismissed the earlier Senate vote on the resolution, saying it was of “no significance.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Under a newly proposed rule, the U.S. Postal Service will refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not hand over a list of approved voters to the Trump administration, Postmaster General David Steiner told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

Democrats lambasted the proposed policy during the hearing, arguing the rule was unconstitutional and “another backdoor way of trying to influence this election.”

“Yes or no — if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” asked Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. 

“Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest,” Steiner said.

The proposed rule puts the Postal Service at the center of President Donald Trump’s push to increase federal oversight of elections, though Steiner argued the policy is routine and an attempt to make sure ballots are delivered “securely, efficiently, and accurately.”

According to the proposal, states would need to provide to the Postal Service the names, addresses and ballot barcode numbers for individuals to receive a mail-in ballot. 

That list of information is less than what’s included on a state’s voter roll — which often include voter registration data and other sensitive data — but in line with an executive order Trump signed in March to increase federal oversight of elections. 

At least five lawsuits have challenged that executive order, but some of those cases have stalled because the policy has not yet been enacted. The comment period for that proposed rule is open for the next week.

“It really is trying to help the state make sure that the ballots that they send to the voters actually get there and get to those voters, and so it’s strictly a manifest for us to make sure that the right ballots are going to the right people,” said Steiner, an attorney who previously served as the CEO of Waste Management.

However, Senate Democrats argued the policy is a veiled attempt to increase federal control over the election. 

“Just because President Trump wants to do this does not make it law, doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it constitutional. There is certainly a massive difference between general mail requirements and regulating elections,” Peters said.

“The U.S. Postal Service is now part of this bigger story of this president desperate to federalize our elections. He has tried every which way to say that if he and his party don’t win in these November elections, they were rigged,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

When pressed on whether the Postal Service would refuse to send ballots to states that refuse to turn over that information, Steiner repeatedly deflected but acknowledged that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would withhold the ballots.

“If you don’t get Michigan’s voter rolls for the general election in November, will you move those ballots in your mailboxes?” asked Slotkin.

“Remember, right now we only have a proposed rule, so there are no new rules,” Steiner answered.  “We will move those ballots in accordance with whatever rule is in effect at that point in time.”

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