The House narrowly rejected a fresh effort to restrict President Donald Trump’s war powers on Thursday, despite increased defections from Republicans as the Iran war drags on.

The 212-212 tie vote saw three Republicans side with Democrats to support war powers legislation, another sign of unrest in the GOP as the unpopular war stretches on and skyrocketing gas prices weigh on Trump’s party less than six months out from the midterm elections.

The vote was the latest test of loyalty to Trump, which saw the vast majority of Republicans stick with the command-in-chief. It was also the first time the House has weighed in on Iran since the conflict exceeded a 60-day legal deadline to wind down military operations.

Republicans Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky supported the measure. Massie has supported previous efforts to rein in Trump on Iran, while Barrett and Fitzpatrick changed their votes this time to oppose the war. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure.

The increased defections illustrate deeply toxic politics of the war in key districts that will determine control of the House in November. But it also shows that Trump maintains a firm grip on the party as he seeks to resolve a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for oil and other commercial shipping.

Barrett, an Army veteran, is in an incredibly competitive race in his Lansing-area seat against retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam. The Democratic challenger has been hammering Barrett for weeks over his support for the war. Owing to that political jam, Barrett last week introduced legislation to authorize continued military operations with a July 30 deadline.

Fitzpatrick’s Pennsylvania district is another battleground that Democrats have long sought to reclaim, and he is likely to face a competitive reelection bid in the swing state.

The 1973 War Powers Resolution requires military operations that haven’t been authorized by Congress to conclude after 60 days, the Trump administration contends that a ceasefire with Iran negates the deadline. Trump on Monday described the ceasefire as on “life support” as peace talks founder.

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, testified Thursday that while the U.S. has “significantly degraded” Iran’s military capabilities, it continues to pose a threat in the Strait of Hormuz. Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran’s warnings continue to scare off commercial ships from the strait, which gives it leverage in peace talks with the U.S.

On top of the economic fallout that has soured Trump and Republicans’ political standing, Pentagon officials revealed to lawmakers this week that the war has cost the military $29 billion so far — up from last month, when officials gave Congress a $25 billion price tag.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected similar legislation for a seventh time since the war began, despite increased GOP support there for ending it.

Meredith Lee Hill and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins will testify before House appropriators next week after lawmakers voted to withhold funding for the agency if he didn’t, according to two people familiar with the hearing that has yet to be officially announced.

“They were just being ornery,” Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who chairs the VA appropriations subcommittee, said of the Trump administration in an interview Thursday afternoon.

The House plans to vote Friday to pass the annual bill that funds Collins’ department. Within that measure, lawmakers included a provision to withhold 25 percent of the department’s operating budget until Collins testifies before both chambers.

The secretary already appeared before Senate appropriators last month.

A spokesperson for the VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House on Thursday warned that the House’s amended bipartisan housing bill lawmakers plan to vote on next week may contain “serious policy concerns or implementation challenges.”

“The bill is under review. New provisions were added before the administration had a chance to review or provide technical assistance,” a White House official said in a statement to Blue Light News.

The House’s bill, released late Wednesday, is an amended version of the Senate-passed housing affordability legislation that received 89 votes in the upper chamber in March and earned the endorsement of the White House. Both bills broadly aim to increase housing supply and homeownership and have become a key policy goal for both parties going into a midterm election season dominated by affordability concerns.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that the clearest path to getting legislation to the president’s desk is for the House to pass the Senate’s bill. He said the Senate language “was carefully constructed to get at what the president wanted to address.”

“We’ve done what we can do — it’s in the court of the House,” Thune said to reporters.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren, architects of the Senate-passed package, on Thursday continued to urge the House to vote on the legislation as-is.

“The president of the United States has said he supports the Senate bill,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters. “We could make this law and go forward. Enough delay, let’s get this bill on through.”

“As Chairman Scott has said many times, it is time for the House to support President Trump and pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act unamended,” said Jeff Naft, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Republican.

The lower-chamber’s version of the housing bill is expected to receive enough bipartisan support in the House to pass next week under an expedited process, addresses industry concerns and still keeps the Senate’s version “intact,” a GOP House Financial Services Committee aide said during a call with reporters Thursday.

House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and ranking member Maxine Waters reached an agreement on changes, according to both the aide and Herline Mathieu, a spokesperson for the California Democrat.

There were concerns that the Senate’s language limiting so-called institutional investors in the housing market could curtail investment in the housing industry. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were especially concerned with a provision that would require single-family homes built as long-term rentals be sold to individual homebuyers within seven years.

Hill said the House bill addresses concerns from hundreds of lawmakers and stakeholders.

“This bipartisan amendment reflects that feedback,” the Arkansas Republican said in a statement Thursday. “It cuts unnecessary barriers to new home construction, modernizes [Housing and Urban Development] programs, and allows banks to more freely deploy funding into their communities. We must get this right – and I am committed to working hard to do that.”

Jordain Carney and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.