Gregory W. Meeks

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Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Representative Moulton's Iran War Powers Resolution. We are 7 months into a war of choice that President Trump said would only last 4 to 6 weeks. American families have paid over $100 billion more for gasoline and diesel, roughly $800 more per household, while gas averages more than $4 a gallon and diesel is near $6. This resolution closely follows my resolution, H. Con. Res. 86, which passed both the House and the Senate. That resolution made clear what the Constitution makes clear: Congress, not the President, has the power to decide when the United States goes to war. This Congress has not authorized a war with Iran, and yet this administration has kept our troops in harm's way, without a declaration of war, without an authorization from Congress, and without any plan for how to win or end the war. Congress has already acted. H. Con. Res. 86 passed both Chambers, directing the President to remove U.S. Forces from hostilities with Iran, and in July, the House again passed H. Con. Res. 89 with the same message, a simple message: End this war. It is important that we do so again. I have also introduced a binding resolution demanding Speaker Johnson take legal action to defend congressional authority. When Congress' constitutional authority is challenged, this institution has an obligation to defend its own prerogatives. The administration hasn't just continued to wage this illegal war in direct violation of the Constitution, it has done so while Americans bear the costs: 19 fallen servicemembers and more than 750 servicemembers wounded, extended troop deployments, and billions of dollars in additional spending. The President's mismanagement of this war has hurt America's ability to prepare for future threats. I ask this body a simple question: Are Americans better off now than before this war started? Are we safer? Are we more secure? Has this war produced any of the results the administration promised the American people? The administration has yet to demonstrate that 7 months of war have produced a lasting strategic resolution to the threats posed by Iran. The Strait of Hormuz remains a source of enormous risk to global energy markets, and Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, despite what the administration claims, clearly remain. One only needs to ask our Gulf partners who continue to bear the brunt of Iran's missile and drone attacks. This war has been a strategic failure. What is left are depleted weapons stockpiles and a tab of more than $100 billion that taxpayers will have to cover, while families continue to pay more for gas, groceries, and electricity. Let me be clear: This should not be a partisan question. It is a constitutional one. It is a vote about whether Congress still believes that the power to decide when this Nation goes to war belongs to the Congress, as the Constitution provides. Our servicemembers deserve clear objectives. Their families deserve accountability, and the American people deserve a Congress willing to exercise its constitutional authority. Let me remind this body that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has still not held a single public hearing with an administration official on this war, the committee charged with matters of war and peace, zero hearings. Our constituents did not send us here to be a rubber stamp for any administration. We cannot bomb our way out of this war. We need dialogue and diplomacy with our allies and adversaries alike. We need real diplomats at the table, not real estate developers who are in over their heads. We, this body, need to hold this administration accountable. I ask my colleagues to uphold the oath that we all took. Join us and make clear, once again, that this President cannot wage war without our consent. The American people have made it abundantly clear they do not want and they do not support this war. We should stand with them and not Donald Trump.