Stop Stalling Act and Creates Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, first, I want to thank the Senator from Minnesota--the senior Senator--for all of the great work she has done in working to reduce the high cost of drugs for the American people. The Middle East
Madam President, on a much different subject but a very important one--Iran and the Middle East--I have returned to the floor this afternoon amid several concerned reports about the Trump administration's position on Iran.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the administration's national security team discussed a plan that would deploy at least 120,000 U.S. troops in the Middle East. Today we learned that personnel were removed from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. The President himself initially denied there was a plan and then seemed to confirm the reports by saying that he would ``absolutely'' send troops, and, if he did, ``it would be a hell of a lot more than 120,000.''
The news comes as quite a surprise to the American people, who have grown quite tired of wars in the Middle East, of the loss of life and fortune when there is so much that has to be done in America.
The American people deserve to know what is going on here. We are talking about not only putting 120,000 troops in harm's way in this possible deployment but also about the safety and the actions of the thousands of troops we have stationed in the Middle East right now.
So I am calling on Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dunford, to come testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee in an open setting before the end of the week. The hearings that are done in secret do not inform the American people of what is going on, and they are entitled to know because the lessons of history teach us that when things are done in secret, behind closed doors, mistakes can be made and momentum built for a course of action that the Nation ultimately regrets.
So I repeat: The American people deserve to know what is going on. If the President and Republicans in Congress are planning to take the United States into a conflict, even a war in the Middle East, the American people deserve to know that, and they deserve to know why.
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