On Wednesday, in a vote heavily along party lines, the House passed the Manage our Wolves Act 201-187. The vote effectively blocked all debate on the war in Yemen, and precluded that conflict from coming up for a future vote.

This is the second straight year that an attempt to challenge America’s unauthorized involvement in the Yemen War under the War Powers Act has been derailed by House leadership through last minute rule changes. This time, it required tying the rule change to a vote about gray wolves.

This led to a bizarre situation where they were debating the constitutionality of the Yemen War on one side, and the desire to shoot gray wolves on the other side. This was meant to give cover to lawmakers, to say they were voting because of the wolves instead of the unpopular Saudi-led war.

The close vote, and near universal 6-172 vote by House Democrats, may suggest that there will be a shift in a future vote on the Yemen War when the Democrats take over the House next year, though their leadership has been similarly inclined to let the wars go unchallenged in Congress.