Resolution, to Remove United States Armed Forces From Hostilities with Iran

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. JACOBS. Mr. Speaker, this isn't just politics for me.

Two weeks ago, thousands of San Diego military families got 48-hour deployment notices. That means they need to be ready to drop everything to deploy to the Middle East, get their affairs in order, pack, and say good-bye to their families for a few months or maybe a year.

Don't get me wrong, this is what our servicemembers and their families signed up for, and they are not complaining.

It is our job in Congress, and my job as a Representative of the country's biggest military community, to make sure that we have explored all the contingency plans, exhausted all diplomatic and nonmilitary options, and figured out the objectives, the strategy, and the exit plan before we have asked them to.

We have done none of that. While I will push for oversight and transparency about how we got here, our focus now should be on how we end this war.

Instead, President Trump is escalating. The San Diego-based carrier, the USS Lincoln, is already in the region. San Diego's USS Boxer and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit will be arriving soon, and we are expecting another San Diego-based carrier, the USS Roosevelt, to deploy any day now.

When they get there, they will be prime targets for retaliation and charged with the difficult task of enforcing Donald Trump's cockamamie blockade of Iran's ports and partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which will put a lot of strain on an already fragile cease-fire.

Donald Trump is getting our country further entrenched in another forever war in the Middle East, and the longer we stay, the harder and more expensive it will be to get out.

Yes, we should support our troops. That means doing our jobs and asking these questions before they are asked to sacrifice their lives. That is why Congress needs to do our job or else we will keep paying the cost in terms of lives lost and taxpayer dollars.

Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant Declan Coady, Major Jeffrey O'Brien, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, Sergeant Benjamin Pennington, and all of the other servicemembers who have been killed in this war deserve for us to do our job.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents' lives are in our hands and their fate is now up to us. Vote ``yes.''

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source