Directing the Removal of United States Armed Forces From Hostilities Against the Islamic Republic of Iran That Have Not Been Authorized By Congress
Floor Speech
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Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this War Powers Resolution to ensure that the President cannot start a war with Iran without Congress' approval.
I understand this is the fourth time that the House will vote to say ``no'' to war with Iran since President Trump ordered an unauthorized, illegal strike on Iranian General Soleimani. We passed our own war powers measure, led by Representative Slotkin.
We passed a bill with bipartisan support to cut off funding for unauthorized, offensive military operations against Iran. And we voted to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization that the Trump administration has inappropriately used to justify the strike on Soleimani and potential future strikes against Iranian targets.
Madam Speaker, we have to be clear that this is not about whether General Soleimani was a good guy or a bad guy. Nobody is really disputing that.
The question here is: What is Congress' authority to have a say on whether or not the United States is going to war? If we are going to send troops into war, then we have an obligation to vote on that, to debate that, and to make sure that we preserve the congressional authority.
And I think, Madam Speaker, that this is something that both Democrats and Republicans have consistently succumbed to. So we have consistently, Democrats and Republicans, given authority to the Chief Executive that is not theirs to start with. Congress has spoken again and again on this. We should have learned by now.
The American people have spoken. They don't want us in endless wars without authorization from Congress, without a debate here in Congress, without utilizing those Constitutional powers that our Founding Framers gave us. It is time for us to do this, and to ensure that the President listens.
So today, I am urging all of my colleagues to set aside partisanship, to think about this as something that we are reclaiming for ourselves as Congress, to support this resolution that has already passed the Republican-held Senate with bipartisan support.
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