U.S. House passes bill to end Trump’s Iran war that is hurting the Black economy. Here’s what comes next

The economic impacts of Trump’s war are having an outsized impact on Black Americans. However, the path to withdrawing the U.S. from Iran remains murky.

President Donald Trump expressed outrage over the U.S. House of Representatives voting to pass a war powers resolution that would order his administration to pull out of its 96-day war in Iran that is driving up costs for Americans, most especially in Black communities.

The 47th president of the United States dismissed the bipartisan vote as “meaningless” and called out the four “bad” Republicans who voted alongside all Democrats to force his hand to end hostilities with Iran, as the war has resulted in higher oil and energy costs, driving up gas prices, inflation, and mortgage rates.

As theGrio previously reported, the economic impacts of Trump’s war are having an outsized impact on Black Americans, who experience racial disparities in wages and wealth, giving them less access to disposable income to navigate the current national affordability crisis.

Reacting to the Wednesday vote in the House, President Trump, who is struggling with negotiations to end the Iran war, wrote on Truth Social: “Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand. The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories.”

However, it remains unclear if a deal between the U.S. and Iran will ever materialize. Trump is demanding that Iran eliminate its nuclear power capabilities entirely and open up the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway in the Middle East where 20% of the world’s oil travels, which has been partially blocked, preventing commercial ships from passing through.

The House war powers resolution is largely symbolic, as it’s unlikely to pass in the Republican controlled U.S. Senate. Not to mention, even if the bill advanced out of Congress, Trump would almost surely veto it. Still, Democrats stressed the need for Congress to take back its power amid the president’s seemingly ironclad grip on the legislative branch’s ability to serve as a check on the White House.

House Democratic Leader U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), in a joint statement with his leadership team, said Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “plunged America into a reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East without clear objectives, an exit strategy, public support or the authorization required by the United States Congress.”

The Democratic leaders added, “Republicans have since spent billions in taxpayer dollars and carelessly put our brave men and women in uniform into harm’s way while causing gas prices at home to skyrocket out of control.”

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called Trump’s war “illegal, dangerous, and expensive.”

“Our service members have sacrificed enough — and the American people should not be forced to bankroll an unauthorized war while they’re trying to afford groceries, gas, rent, and healthcare. It’s time to end this war. Now,” Crockett wrote on X.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the war powers vote was a “significant bipartisan rebuke of President Trump’s illegal and costly war in Iran, and the first step toward ending it once and for all.”

“Trump’s war has failed to accomplish the Trump Administration’s stated goals with respect to Iran. If anything, it has pushed a diplomatic resolution of Iran’s nuclear program further away,” said Meeks, who was the first African American to serve as chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee.

He continued, “The war has undermined the credibility of U.S. negotiations and allowed Iran to demonstrate its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Americans are paying 50% more at the gas pump since the war began and footing the bill for billions per week in costs for a war they overwhelmingly oppose.”

Congressman Meeks said of President Trump: “If he won’t clean up his own mess, Congress will.” 

Though Trump has shown no signs of backing out of the war with Iran without striking a deal that he sees as favorable, the Iran war has become a political liability for the president, who has said he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation” as he negotiates with Iranian leaders.

According to a New York Times/Sienna poll, 64% of Americans say Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong decision, including 93% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. However, 70% of Republicans say it was the right decision. Sixty-four percent of Americans also disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy.

Victor LaGroon, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and Biden appointee, told theGrio the Trump administration’s “ineptitude” is pushing experts away from the Defense and State Departments.

As a result of the ongoing war, he said, “underserved communities within our country, which is the majority of our country, are going to continue to suffer in immeasurable ways.”