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[Pages S4608-S4609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
S. 1790
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, tomorrow this body faces an
opportunity, in fact, an obligation to reassert its proper
constitutional role in warmaking.
I urge my colleagues to support the Udall-Kaine amendment, a
provision to prohibit funding for unauthorized and unapproved military
operations against Iran. No vote will be more important during this
session than the one we cast tomorrow. It is not only the imminence of
potential conflict, it is the reality that we would be surrendering our
proper constitutional responsibility and our right if we fail to adopt
this amendment. The American people already believe we have ceded too
much authority to the executive branch; that we are implicitly, if not
directly and explicitly, approving an imperial presence. This amendment
puts us to the test before the American people.
The Congress has a job to do. We should do that job tomorrow. We
should insist that we have the authority and we have the obligation to
consider whether there are military operations against Iran.
We can talk about policy. There is no question that Iran is a malign
and treacherously bad actor in that part of the world. There is no
doubt that it poses a clear and present jeopardy to the world
community. Iran may well have installed mines on the two tankers that
were severely damaged recently and may well be the culprit in shooting
down an American drone in the past week, but the United States is on a
perilous course. We are on a dangerous course toward continued
escalation and possible miscalculation that may create a spiral of
uncontrollable military responses.
It isn't that we have a dangerous policy, it is that we have no
policy, no strategy, no endgame articulated by the President of the
United States or anyone in this administration. To resort to military
action rather than reliance on diplomatic approaches is a recipe for
potential disaster.
This unintended escalation could result from more miscalculation or
it could result from purposeful desire on one side or both sides among
a small number of advisers or military leaders that there be a resort
to kinetic activity, but we have, in the meantime, an opportunity to
resort to diplomacy, to enlist our allies and partners. This situation
is the result of our putting those allies, in part, in an
extraordinarily difficult position.
The current tensions with Iran today are the direct result of
President
[[Page S4609]]
Trump's ill-conceived policy toward Iran ever since he carelessly and
recklessly discarded the Iran nuclear deal last year. His approach to
foreign policy has been indecisive and chaotic, and that is partly the
reason why tensions have escalated with an adversary rather than
preserving key nuclear agreements and engaging in diplomacy.
We must now deescalate and resort to diplomacy. Even if one disagrees
with that point, puts aside the President's bellicose and bullying
rhetoric, and even if there is the thought that Iran is solely and
completely responsible for this situation, the United States should not
engage in military operations without the authorization of
Congress. Yes, it may defend against or deter an immediate attack that
is so urgent that defense of the country has to be undertaken by the
Commander in Chief. But this Senate should prevent the President from
entering and starting and engaging in another war in the Middle East
under the misguided idea that there is a 2001 authorization that allows
him to do so legally.
Let me be perfectly clear. A failure of the prohibition funding
amendment we will consider tomorrow is not itself an authorization for
the President to wage war with Iran. The Constitution trumps any
statute. The Constitution requires action by Congress. Without
congressional authorization and anything short of specific authority
for declaration of war from Congress, starting or waging a war with
Iran would be unconstitutional.
But the NDAA on the floor this week is an opportune time--in fact, a
perfect opportunity--for Congress to reassert its constitutional
authority over the role of the declaration of war. We must seize this
moment. We can't simply allow or rely on the outdated 2001
authorization for the use of military force. We cannot allow its intent
to be so distorted and stretched and our constitutionally required
oversight to be disregarded. We have an obligation to conduct oversight
continually and push back on an administration that makes false claims
to advance its warmongering agenda.
The NDAA we passed today gives us the authority to undertake our
defense of the Nation.
____________________
