Directing the President Pursuant to Section 5(C) of the War Powers Resolution to Remove United States Armed Forces From Lebanon
Floor Speech
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of June 3, 2026, I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 84) directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from Lebanon, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I just listened to my colleague, Representative Tlaib, speak for about 6 minutes, trying to convince us that Israeli action in Lebanon is about ethnic cleansing. Not once in the 6 minutes did my colleague mention Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that Israel is going in there and killing. In 6 minutes of rambling on, not one mention of Hezbollah, not one mention of the 1,729 rockets fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel since April 7, not one mention of the 1,680 UAVs and drones sent into Israel since April 7, not one mention of the 283 Israelis injured or the 15 killed by Hezbollah since April 7. She wants you to believe that it is about ethnic cleansing and not fighting Hezbollah. Okay.
Let's talk about her actual policy. Her actual policy says this: Congress directs the President to remove the United States Armed Forces from Lebanon. Pretty straightforward.
Let me let my colleague know, Representative Tlaib, that the United States is not at war in Lebanon. The United States is not engaged in hostilities in Lebanon. I don't know how else I can say it. This resolution, it is reckless, and it is unserious.
You are asking to remove U.S. troops in a country where we are not in conflict. Israel is killing terrorists. I just listed off all the attacks that have gone on just since early April, but we are not in conflict there.
You are saying we can't keep any military there.
Tlaib) to engage in a colloquy.
Can we leave no military there, Representative Tlaib?
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Mr. MAST. Prove it.
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Mr. MAST. Representative Tlaib, I am going to take back my time here, but I will give you some more time to debate. As you can see, I will definitely give you the time. It is tough to understand you when you are yelling.
To my colleague's point--please stay standing because I will yield you more time. It just has to be a back-and-forth.
Apparently, they are not terrorists. Apparently, everybody that Israel was killing in Lebanon, they weren't terrorists, according to my colleague over here. It wasn't terrorists that were firing 1,729 rockets there, 1,680 UAVs, injuring 283, killing 15. Apparently, it wasn't terrorists that were doing that.
Ms. Tlaib, I yield you time again. Will you answer my question: Can we leave no military there?
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Mr. MAST. Can we leave the military there?
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Mr. MAST. I would love to talk about your policies.
To get back to your policy, ``remove United States Armed Forces from Lebanon,'' can we leave no U.S. forces there? Does that mean we can't leave any marines in the embassy?
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Mr. MAST. It says ``remove United States Armed Forces from Lebanon.'' I am just reading what you wrote.
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Mr. MAST. That is not what this says.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I am going to reclaim my time at this point.
We didn't get an answer, apparently, as to if we can--because I am reading the gentlewoman's legislation here, ``remove United States Armed Forces from Lebanon.'' That is just an example of how reckless her legislation is.
It doesn't say anything about, yeah, you can keep the marines that are in the embassy, as an example. That is a pretty big oversight. It doesn't say anything about whether we can keep United States Armed Forces that are on training missions with the LAF--again, pretty big oversight.
Of course, my colleague doesn't want to talk about the fact that the terrorists that Israel is killing there, that they do also use human shields. This is a well-known thing.
Mr. Speaker, at this point, I will say that a vote for this resolution is a vote to support Iran, which I think I have to remind some of my Democrat colleagues is a bad thing. Supporting Iran is a bad thing. I see no acknowledgment over there.
They are actually--my colleagues over here that would vote for this, they are serving as proxies for Hezbollah by bringing this resolution to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, again, we are not at war in Lebanon. There are no combat forces to remove. There is nothing further to say. I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill and not be a proxy for Hezbollah.
I hope my colleague is not going to leave. I would love to speak to you as well. I have a serious question for you if you want to approach a mike.
The question is for you. I mean, if you need other people to answer for you, then that is what it is.
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Mr. MAST. It is my time.
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Mr. MAST. My understanding is you want to help Lebanon civilians.
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Mr. MAST. I reclaim my time.
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Mr. MAST. I will yield back to you in a moment. I am reclaiming.
So the United States Armed Forces that are training the LAF who are fighting Hezbollah, fighting Hezbollah who is killing children there, killing civilians, would you like to see them stay? And I yield you some time.
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Mr. MAST. If you will answer my question, I will give you time.
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Mr. MAST. I will reclaim my time.
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Mr. MAST. So they want to go back. They don't want to talk about Hezbollah. Still yet no mention of Hezbollah from our colleagues over there. They don't want us to talk about the support the United States Armed Forces are giving to the LAF to combat Hezbollah because they are not acknowledging them, and apparently, they don't want to see Israel killing Hezbollah, even though it is Hezbollah that is killing Israeli children, Israeli adults, Israeli elders. I gave them the count of rockets, UAVs, casualties, drones; I gave them the count. No mention of it whatsoever.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
May I inquire as to how much longer this is going to take? We watched this video on C-SPAN already. Can I just inquire what is taking so long?
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
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Mr. MAST. Very good. I would also inquire: Can Representative Miller still speak, or not?
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Mr. MAST. Very good.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to deliver a message from Representative Miller of Ohio:
``Yes, I said it. I own it, and I stand by it.''
Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit this for the Record.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to submit for the Record an article titled: ``Rashida Tlaib member of secret Facebook group where Hamas terrorists glorified.''
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Mr. MAST. Very good.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to submit for the Record the transcript of the Congresswoman from Michigan, the transcript of H. Res. 845, which notes that she is the only one calling for genocide. She was reprimanded bipartisanly by the House of Representatives.
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Mr. MAST. Censured for her comments.
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Mr. MAST. I am sorry. I didn't hear you, Mr. Speaker.
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Mr. MAST. The objection--
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Mr. MAST. Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can there be an objection--
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Mr. MAST. Can there be an objection to the Record being stricken from the Record?
This is H. Res. 845, which was a bipartisan vote to censure the Representative for her genocidal comments, so can we--
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Mr. MAST. So something in the Record already cannot be placed into the Record because this was a vote, bipartisan vote.
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Mr. MAST. Interesting. I learned something new today. All right.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to submit for the Record another article: Watchdog release--titled--something titled--an article titled: ``Watchdog releases scathing report on Tlaib's alleged ties to terrorist groups, warning of potential risks.''
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Mr. MAST. Very good.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I just listened to the Rules Committee ranking member speak, as he is walking away right now, and here is something that he said. I think it is important for the American people to hear: ``Hard-earned money in the service of war crimes'' were his words.
So we are debating right now whether to have our Armed Forces removed from Lebanon. The gentleman is implying that our Armed Forces who are there are engaged in war crimes.
That is impugning our Armed Forces. That is despicable, and it is despicable to say, especially in the light of the fact that, what, our marines who are in the embassy are the ones who are in the service of war crimes? I see that he walked off. He doesn't want to listen to an analysis of his own comments.
The marines in the embassy are engaged in war crimes? Is that what he is saying today?
Those training the Lebanese Armed Forces are engaged in war crimes?
I don't think he wants to defend those comments because he walked off.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I would just let everybody know, again, there has been no mention of Hezbollah, no mention at all from this side about Hezbollah, the rockets they are firing into Israel, the UAVs, the casualties, or all the Americans that Hezbollah has killed in the past--no mention of either.
I am curious, Mr. Speaker, if the next speaker over there will have any mention of Hezbollah. I will be interested to hear. I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, we have had another speaker on the left and still no mention of Hezbollah.
I have a very serious question. This is serious. I understand my colleagues oppose Israel killing Hezbollah terrorists. Do they also oppose the Lebanese Armed Forces killing Hezbollah terrorists? I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, my colleague may want to stick around. I am going to reference her words. Parliamentary Inquiry
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, the Democratic staffer who was interjecting themselves into the debate here was confusing Representative Fine with Representative Miller.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I am a Republican. I am not offended by them swearing. It is okay. I can handle it. I can handle nasty looks, too.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I am going to reference the words of my colleague just now. She said that no one on our side supports terrorist organizations; for us to say so is just wrong. Mr. Speaker, to have an entire debate about Lebanon and removing U.S. Forces from Lebanon that aren't there without a single mention of the word Hezbollah, who is actively trying to kill anybody that they can, that is a support for a terrorist organization.
For our colleagues, I will bring Iran into this more specifically beyond just Hezbollah being a proxy of Iran, for our colleagues to go out there and say day after day that there is no imminent threat from Iran when Iran is absolutely--and acknowledged by everybody bipartisanly--the largest state sponsor of terror, that is a support for the largest state sponsor of terror.
For our colleagues to go out there and pretend as though we haven't been attacked 350 times in the 30 months prior to Epic Fury even beginning, for them to pretend that we were not being attacked, not being struck by Iran, that is a support for terrorists.
Every single time that my colleagues on the other side deny, turn their backs to the United States of America getting hit by the terrorists of Iran or their proxies like Hezbollah or others, they are supporting a terrorist organization.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, again I will just reference the remarks of my colleague, examine what was said.
She said that Israel is going scorched earth. I would just tell my colleague that if Israel--and by the way, this is after a little while ago she was saying they are needing the United States of America's intelligence. The context of this is important. If Israel was going scorched earth on them, they wouldn't need American intelligence for targeting.
Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution, again, is beyond reckless and beyond untruthful. The entire arguments that we were listening to of accusing America of participating in a genocide that is not existing, it is Israel going into Lebanon killing Hezbollah terrorists.
I wish they had kept their map up because they showed a large map of all this territory where Israel had gone on the offensive, and they said that they had killed 4,000 people.
Again, Mr. Speaker, if Israel had gone scorched-earth on them, you would have way more than 4,000 dead in all that territory, but what was done was precise strikes against terrorists targeting Israel, Americans, and anybody else whom they could reach out and touch, and they are being killed for that.
This resolution impugns our military. This resolution impugns the patriotism of the U.S. military by saying that they are participating in a war that they are not and by saying that they are participating in a genocide where they are not.
This resolution is certainly shameful in that way, but, again, it is very reckless because it would demand that we remove forces from places like our embassy in Lebanon, remove all forces from Lebanon that would mean removing our Marines from the embassy in Lebanon which, again, just shows how reckless and shameful and how ill thought-out this resolution is.
Mr. Speaker, while it has been an exciting evening with all of these words being taken down and everything else going on, I yield back the balance of my time.
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