In a single person not even the President They knew that a single individual might find political cause or corrupt purses purposes to make a decision to go to combat against the force that such a decision should be debated in chamber like this in a chamber like the House That is why the constitution gives to this body, the Legislature of the United States of America the power to go to war It's Question that came up early in our history There was a challenge that we had of the Barbary Coast with course airs or often referred to as pirates taking charge of American Briggs and holding them hostage and Jefferson Embrace the idea of going to war became President in 1801 Alexander Hamilton wanted to remind him what the constitution said as he said quote it belongs to Congress only to go to war any one of us should be able to pull out our pocket. Constitutions read Article One section eight that deliberate delegation to this Amber in the House to make that decision Right now, we're hearing the drum beat of war with Iran There's been a lot of animosity between our two countries for a long period of time United States Mounted a campaign to the Central Intelligence Agency to take out the directly elected leadership of Iran in 1950 - three AC staged cool and to install a leader. The shave Iran who operated with great shall I say violence against the people had a secret police that was as feared as any in There are other points of animosity when the people of Iran rose up against that shot and took hostage Americans and kept them hostage for a great length of time During the Carter administration. It didn't release him until President Reagan came into into office and then there was the Iraq Iran war a war in which hundreds of thousands of people in Iran died in the United States assisted the Iraqi in that war against the wrong We have had often no love lost between our two Nations over this period of time I mention these few points of history to say that each side nurtures its grievances against the other But something remarkable happened Under the last administration They work to coordinate pressure from the entire world Deal with Iran and their nuclear program and the risk of Iran becoming a nuclear power This agreement was something bought into by Russia and China, the European powers, the United States and they did many concrete things. Things that they're right wing did not like dismantling their plutonium reactor shipping enriched uranium out of their country shutting down there Centrifuges allowing a massive amount of inspectors into their country to watch everything that they were doing and in return, the deal was that we would help them economically find a better standard of living. This is a moment of potential turning point in the relationship. This long animosity between the two countries potentially a win win But then comes in a new administration Trump administration and they don't like this possibility this deal President said. It's the worst deal ever ever struck and we the United States pull out of the deal May eight 2018 just over a year ago and since then we feared the drum beats of war echoing here on Capitol Hill Designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps as a terrorist Organization and then proceeding to tighten the economic sanctions in order to pressure the economy of Iran And so we had the end of the waivers for partners of ours to be able to buy a radiant oil greatly starving the economy of that nation and then we deployed in recent weeks The Abraham Lincoln carrier strike force to the golf and then we deployed a B 52 squadron to the golf And then we heard the advocates in the administration saying if anything happens with the connection with Iran we will show them the ferocity of our forces We will respond and show them not to mess with the United States of America Different official sided different examples but one was if an Iranian militia in Iraq should happen to harm an American that could be a trigger Or for run was to disrupt the movement of oil through the Gulf that could be a trigger when you deploy forces and then start looking for triggers, you can find one if you want for war But I stand here today to quote the constitution of the United States of America and that constitution says the power of war rest with this body not the Oval Office As we've pressured Iran we've had incidents occur That have been highlighted in recent days Some minds were put on the side of a couple ships blew a hole through the side didn't sink the ships Administration is pretty sure they say that Iran did this Well. I always exercise some caution. We all remember the rack war We remember that the administration, then the Bush administration built a what they said was a powerful case of weapons of Mass destruction being cultivated by sedan who saying in the Iraqi government and we went to That evidence and we were wrong But here we are at this moment, an administration that is pre deployed forces is squeezing the Iranian people as powerfully as possible What happens in this situation? What is the goal now? Some of the administration say the goals negotiations now let me get this straight The United States broke the deal and strengthening the far right in Iran which said, Don't trust the Americans We strengthen the revolutionary Guard because Revolutionary guard didn't like the deal to begin with then we've economically squeeze the people of Iran creating great hardship throughout the land meaning we have moved the entire population in the direction of supporting the far right in that country Now take these two things. We have strengthen not the moderates who want to see the nation on a different course, but the far right and then we've Eliminated much of the country and increase their support for the far right and we have shown that when we sign a deal, we don't stand behind the deal because this administration broke the deal How is that a foundation for negotiation We're saying to Iran we negotiated you agreed but we're breaking the deal and now we want to negotiate again People don't tend to want to negotiate with folks who have broken the previous deal so we See That we have a challenge in which we stand on the precipice of potential war and my colleague from New Mexico has an amendment that restates the fundamentals of our constitution and he has teamed up with my colleague from Virginia who is here on the floor as well and I'm certainly completely supportive of their effort They are saying that while we are on this bill on security on defense author This is the moment we should be debating whether or not the President has the authority to go to war and their amendment says no he does not. He must follow the constitution and he must come to this body for authorization That is an important message for us to send. We must not leave the debate on defense authorization without debating the Utah All King Amendment Legs are here to speak to it in greater detail so much appreciate their work This is a moment that this chamber must rise to the challenge of being a force. It can wrestle with great issues before us and there is no more important security issue at this moment than debating whether or not the President has the power to go to war I stand with the constitution I hope my colleagues will all stand with the constitution in this chamber Mister President Senator from Virginia mister President I also rise today with my colleagues to talk about the rumors of war that we have been hearing in this body in in the news and I wanna advocate for very simple amendment who's timing is I think precious as we discuss the National Defense authorizing act Why wouldn't we discuss what we're hearing from the White House and others. Why wouldn't we discuss the events that are happening on the ground and the streets of hormones in the Middle East Senator Utah has prepared that is a bipartisan amendment that's before the body and we hope for a vote early next week is a straightforward win. No funds would be used to prosecute a war against Iran unless this Congress has a vote authorizing to authorize such a war as my colleague from Oregon mentioned, that's what the constitution suggests and that's the debate that we should be having part of the reason I feel so strongly about this is because I made Virginia we are the most Elected state to the military mission of United States. All States are connected in all States or patriotic but if you just add up the kind of per capita in Virginia our active duty, our guard or Reserve our D civilians like the nurses who work at the Fort Belvoir Hospital the the contractors like the shipbuilders in Newport News, our military families. We are the most connected to the nation's military mission I am personally connected in this with the Sun and the United States Marines so as I feel very strongly about this and I also feel strongly about it because we're proud of the Virginians Madison and Jefferson and others who are among the founders who crafted the constitution They tried to do some things that were pretty revolutionary, then that are still revolutionary Some of our constitution was a great borrowing exercise, taking wonderful ideas from other constitutions and laws and assembling them together. In a wonderful document. They put together in 1780 - seven, but there were a couple of ideas in the constitution of 1780, - seven that were Really unique to our country in our still unique and one of the unique ideas is this that war is not a matter for the executive. The King the Emperor, the monarch assault in the pope No war as a matter that needs to be declared by the people's elected legislative body that was revolutionary in 1780 - seven and it's revolutionary today. The balance of power that was struck was that Congress would declare war and then once declared there would only Under in Chief 530 -, five commanders in chief would be a disaster. The decision to initiate war would be for Congress and then the President working in tandem with military leadership would be the commander in chief to prosecute a war once declare, but there should be no shortcut and no substitute for the debate in this body before the initiation of war the amendment that will be on the table and then hopefully will receive a vote on this bipartisan nature would prevent funding for any war against Iran unless Vote of Congress to authorize such a war The amendment does make clear that that no previous Congressional Act for example, the 2001 authorization can be tortured and twisted and stretched and bootstrapped into a declaration of war against Iran. The administration has sort of been trying to lay that as a predicate suggesting that an authorization that passed in 2001 that did not mention Iran Would authorize war against Iran when not a single person who voted for in 2001 ever thought it was to be used in justification for war against Iran, the administration with light to try to use that as a justification, they said in testimony here on the Hill think about this if they're so afraid to come to Congress and ask for an authorization that they wanna try to use something from 18 years ago What does it tell us about their confidence that they have a good justification that we need to be in a war Amendment that we have does not prevent us from defending themselves from attack against Iran. The President has the power as commander in chief under Article two and the war powers resolution specifies that power and and and doesn't codify. It doesn't need to be codified, but makes clear that that power is always inherent in the office of the President Our amendment doesn't suggest that Iran's behavior is acceptable or consistent with international norms. I have been part of Efforts over the course of my time in the Senate to impose sanctions on Iran if they violated for example, ballistic missile protocols UN sanctions or rules if they've engaged in human rights abuses The purpose here is not to stand up and defend Iranian behavior but it is to stand for the proposition that we shouldn't be committed to a war without a vote of Congress and I will say that this administration actions and rhetoric have been unnecessarily provocative It was the US Pulled out of a diplomatic deal that was working not Iran when President Trump pulled out of the diplomatic deal at the time, he did his then Secretary of state Rex Tillerson his then Secretary of defense, James Mattis his then National Security adviser, General Mcmaster His then and current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford all said that the Iran deal was working that Iran was complying with it. The United States should stay in it The President Pulled out of the diplomatic deal, nevertheless and in the year sense has reimposed sanctions and take on taking a number of steps that are provocative towards her in diplomatic provocation rhetorical, provocation economic provocation and military provocation We've been having a set of briefings some classified from the administration on this I'm not gonna get into classified material, but one thing I will acknowledge and I've been impressed by this The administration's Intel experts when they briefed us on the situation even yes They will state that Iran's activities are and this is pretty much a direct quote in response to the US maximum pressure campaign The US maximum pressure campaign that started with the US backing out of a diplomatic deal is leading to Iran taking other actions that we don't like but they're not taking those actions unprovoked their actions need to be understood as a response to the US maximum pressure campaign Senator Merkley talked about us. We pulled out of the deal. We've reimposed sanctions. We designated part of the Iranian government as a foreign terrorist Organization, we misrepresented returning military Operations in the region, we've moved more troops and patriot missiles and aircraft carriers and other material military material into Iran's region This is not them moving material into our region. It's us moving material into their neighborhood Just this week, the administration announced the deployment of additional thousand troops to the Middle East counter Iran and that's what this administration is doing a maximum pressure campaign that tears up diplomacy and this raises the risk of unnecessary war I will also point out It's not just u S activity that is provoking Iran when the US allows Saudi Arabia to get missiles that they shouldn't have when the US observes. The Saudi is building a missile program by public reports, possibly with the support of China that is viewed as very dangerous by Iran US transfers nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia not even briefing Congress about it And the Saudis say that they would try to build up a nuclear arsenal to counter Iran. It's a provocation so the maximum pressure by the United States and Nations like Saudi Arabia are leading to an unnecessary escalation of tension in the region I wanna conclude because my colleague from New Mexico who is the author of this He also wants to speak about why we need to take it up and let me just say this. I am gonna stay for the record. My position I think another war in the Middle East now would be a disaster I think it would be catastrophic for the US to Diplomatic deal and then look at our troops in the face and say because we took the diplomatic deal you have to now go find another war when we've been in the Middle East for 18 years I think it would represent just about as catastrophic failure of American foreign policy As you can imagine I think it would also have the disadvantage of taking our eye off the ball I've always been taught to keep the main thing. The main thing. I think the main thing right now in National security for the United States is to keep our eye on our principal competitor, which is China when we take Eye off our principal competitor and we engage in wars that we need to be in China will be the victor in that That is a very dangerous thing for us And so I think that it would be catastrophic for the United States to be engaged in another war in the Middle East particularly a war against Iran right now But if the President feels differently about that If some of his advisers think we out to be about regime change in Iran as they said if some of them think it would be easy to beat Iran in a war as they've said if some colleagues here on the floor I think we should be in a war with Iran as some have publicly urged Let them come to the floor of the United States Senate in full view of the American people and make that argument Let's have that argument right here and the greatest deliberative body in the world with the American public watching and I'll make my argument about why a new war in the Middle East would be catastrophic and see who wants to stand up and make the argument that a new war in the Middle East is something that the this great nation should do and if we then have that argument and cast a vote and I lose I'm gonna be disappointed but we will have done what the constitution suggests that we must do Are failure to have that debate is so unfair to our troops It's unfair to our troops to put them in harm's way with Congress hiding under their desk not being willing to state yay or nay about whether we should be engaged in hostilities Let's honor the troops and the sacrifice we would ask them to make follow the constitution and have this debate before the American public and that's what the amendment would essentially guarantee that this body would do. And that's why so strongly supported without mister President, I yield before Mister President Senator from New Mexico Hey, thank you mister President for the recognition and let me thank the two senators that preceded me here. Senator Merkley spoke on this issue of whether we should be going to another war in the Middle East and Senator Kaine who I've watched since he's been in the Senate has been relentless and and very consistent about raising the issues of authorizations of force and relying on authorizations of force from 2001 2002 very well Consider outdated in terms of looking at the facts on the ground so I know he's been working hard. Senator Kaine has the arm services Committee Both of us have been working in the foreign relations Committee to try to address this constitutional issue that is really before us I came to the floor of the Senate four weeks ago warning that this administrations reckless escalation of tensions with Iran was blindly leading us to the brink of war I urge this To assert its constitutional authority and pass my bipartisan legislation the Prevention of unconstitutional war with Iran Act I called on all of us Republicans Democrats to make it clear that the President alone Cannot wage war against Iran without authorization from Congress Well here we are one month later tensions with Iran Have only increased the threat of conflict has only drawn closer today. We woke up to the news that Iranian forces shot down a US drone that comes on the heels of 1000 American troops being sin to the Middle East and yet the Senate does nothing nothing to assert Congresses Constitutional Authority nothing to assume the responsibility that the founders Early placed on our shoulders the people's representatives the Republican leadership should not duck all debate on a military conflict with Iran We need to vote We owe it to our men and women in uniform whose lives would be put on the line and to have this debate to make the hard choices and to take the tough votes today. Mister President, we're calling for a vote on an amendment to the 2020 National Defense Authorization App The amendment Funding for military operations against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress I'm joined in this amendment by Senators Kaine Durban Paul Merkley and Murphy My related bill has 20 - five Co sponsors and still counting article. One section eight of the constitution couldn't be clear. It is Congress and Congress alone that has To declare war this amendment, recognizing Congress is clear cut authority should have broad bipartisan support whether you support armed conflict with Iran, or believe that the war would be a disaster You should have the courage to cast a vote when the constitution says it's your job and let's be clear This bill does not tie our armed forces hands Our military is highly capable and we have an inherent right of self defense which this amendment clearly Scores but we need to step up The situation is more urgent day by day The President and Secretary of state have accused Iran of being responsible for the attack on two oil tankers last week Iran has denied that involvement There is a somewhat conflicting report from the Japanese tanker owner I do not know whether Iran its surrogates or another party is responsible for this heinous action But this administration's itch to go to war is all too reminiscent of how we got embroiled in Iraq in 2003 and how the Disastrous tanker war of the 1980 S begin We must not make the same terrible mistakes again we need We do need to find out precisely what happened and who is responsible but the response need not be another endless war in the Middle East We need a thorough and objective investigation of this incident as has been called for by a number of Nations and the senators need a real intelligence briefing that covers sources and evidence Not just a statement of opinions from administration officials if the Trump administration is entering our forces into hostilities than this, Congress should demand that a report be submitted to Congress in accordance with the war powers app Those who wrote that act made it clear hostilities and I quote here Hostilities also encompasses a state of confrontation in which no shots had been fire but the notes Situation in which there is a clear potential either for such a state of confrontation or for actual armed conflict In quote we may have already crossed this threshold Some have said we have The Reagan administration failed to submit such a report to Congress during the Tanker wars and the Congress failed to hold that administration accountable Despite the overwhelming evidence of hostilities Now, the current administration is handed that it does not need to go to Congress for approval for hostilities against Iran They seem to believe that the 9:11 AM app gives them legal authority for war Many of us in Congress today voted for that a m F including myself And let me be clear no one who voted for a thought that it would be used to justify a war against Iran 18 years later but Congress needs to make that clear before it's too late Yes, the straight of hormones Persian Golf Gulf of Oman should be safe for navigation Vital interests are at state but I agree with that Issued by the US Central Command in the aftermath of this recent attack and I quote here we may have no interest We have no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East We will defend our interest but a war with Iran is not in our strategic interest nor in the best interest of the international community In quote that's the US Central Command a War with Iran is not in our strategic interest and a majority of Americans agree The American people are tired of forever wars in the Middle East that take our resources produced no strategic gains and most tragically endanger the lives of American men and women and in any war with Iran, we will have few allies to back us the international Community is not behind the National Security advisor and Secretary of state's bellicose rhetoric We would have to go it nearly alone The administration's maximum pressure strategy is supposedly intended to bring Iran to the negotiating table but this strategy has predictably failed to produce any negotiations or make any diplomatic in roads instead It is emboldening the hard liners in Iran who also want confrontation The administration pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Agreement was a colossal strategic blunder It was supposedly intended to get the US a better deal but violating our obligations has only produced saber rattling brinkmanship and the very real risk that a miscalculation or mistake Will result in an all out war The US in the world were safer with the Iran Nuclear Agreement It included strict verification requirements the international atomic Energy and the president's own intelligence and defense teams agreed Iran was complying The unilateral withdraw only undermine relations with our allies signal that the US will not keep its word and destabilize the Middle East even more This was a Table result and many warn the Trump administration about this outcome Iran have threatens to exceed the agreements limits on nuclear fuel within days while I hope Iran hopes well, I hope you run holes to its end of the bargain. The US pulling out of the agreement and reimposing sanctions has opened the door for Iran to walk away as well Now we must do all we can over the next 17 months to make sure this President does not precipitously start a war with Iran a country The 80 million people about four times the size of Iraq and with proxy forces throughout the region war that would cost trillions of dollars and undoubtedly American lives with each passing day with each incident the risk of a catastrophic war grows closer I realized some of my colleagues have a different view of the situation some talk about All options must be on the table or say that the Iranian regime must be overthrown I hope they reconsider and change their minds but if they don't then they should at least have the courage of their convictions If you want to empower this President to fight a war with Iran let's vote on that question the American people and not least our men and women in uniform deserve to know Their representatives will debate discuss and vote on these most difficult of decisions and that is why all of us in this body must demand that this amendment be heard debated and voted on Senate gridlock Cannot be an excuse The constitution puts this decision squarely in our court It is long past time for Congress to reassert its war power authority our old demand We make any decision to go to war the real possibility that this administration or precipitate conflict and Iran requires us to face this question now and the fact that American lives will be on the line places the moral imperative on us to debate this issue and to make clear to the President and his administration that any decision to go to war with Iran must be made By Congress mister President I yield the floor