{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2026-03-02-pt1-PgS736-3", "2026-03-02", 119, 2, null, null, "WAR POWERS RESOLUTION", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S736", "S737", "[{\"name\": \"Chris Van Hollen\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "172 Cong. Rec. S736", "Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 39 (Monday, March 2, 2026)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 39 (Monday, March 2, 2026)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S736-S737]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                         WAR POWERS RESOLUTION\n\n  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Senator\nKaine's War Powers Resolution to halt Donald Trump's unjustified,\nillegal, regime-change war against Iran.\n  We have a lawless President who is shredding our Constitution and\nattacking our democracy right here at home. And that same lawlessness\nand recklessness has pervaded our foreign and national security policy,\nnow putting American troops in harm's way in Donald Trump's war of\nchoice.\n  Let's not forget, colleagues, what Donald Trump and JD Vance promised\nthe American people. Think back to all the times that they looked the\nAmerican people in the eye and said they would not drag America into\nanother war, especially another war in the Middle East. They said it\nover and over. They called themselves the ``pro-peace'' ticket.\n  Vice President Vance wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed in 2023 making\nthe case for Trump's 2024 Presidential candidacy. The headline of his\nop-ed: ``Trump's Best Foreign Policy? Not starting Any Wars.'' That is\nwhat JD Vance promised would come from a Trump-Vance White House.\n  The Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sold ``No War\nwith Iran'' shirts in 2020. Four years later, she declared:\n\n       A vote for Donald Trump is a vote to end wars, not start\n     them.\n\n  That is our current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.\n  Donald Trump even calls himself now ``the peacemaker'' and on\nelection night in 2024, he said:\n\n       I'm not going to start wars, I'm going to stop wars.\n\n  That was Donald Trump at the end of his campaign repeating what he\nhad said throughout his Presidential campaign. Well, they broke their\npromises. They lied directly to the American people.\n  President Trump has already ordered more military strikes against\nmore countries than any President in the modern era, including against\ncountries that have never been targeted by the U.S. military. And now,\nTrump has launched an all-out illegal regime-change war of choice\nagainst Iran.\n  Let's be clear: This is not a war to make us safer. What the\nPresident has done is to make the world less safe for Americans, and he\nhas chosen to put American service men and women at risk for a war that\nhe said he would never start; that he promised he would never start.\n  As of today, we have lost six brave American servicemembers to this\nwar. I pray for them and their families. They should still be with us\ntoday. In response to their deaths, President Trump said just yesterday\nthat ``sadly, there will likely be more. . . . That's the way it is.''\n  That is how Donald Trump responds to American troops killed in this\nwar of choice that he started. He said:\n\n       That's [just] the way it is.\n\n  Really, colleagues? We should not send our sons and daughters to\nfight and die. We should not spend billions of dollars of taxpayer\nmoney for a war that is not in our interests and has no end in sight.\nNo one--no one--in the Trump administration, including the President,\nhas made a credible argument why it is in America's interest to start a\nwar against Iran. They haven't because there isn't.\n  Donald Trump and his administration have spent the last 48 hours\ntelling different reporters and news agencies a whole host of different\nobjectives and a whole set of different timelines. One claim that has\nbeen thoroughly debunked was that Iran was going to strike America\nfirst. That is a lie. It is a proven lie.\n  So now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is spinning another version of\nthis. He said we had to strike Iran first because Israel launched an\nattack on Iran. And here is his twisted logic. Israel was going to\nstrike Iran, and, of course, we knew nothing about that, but we knew\nthat if Israel struck Iran, that Iran would strike us, so we had to\nstrike Iran first.\n  The deception is deep, and it is sickening. This administration lied\nto the American people during the campaign before they were in office,\nand they are lying now.\n  Another objective that has been cited was to end Iran's nuclear\nweapons capability. But we know that Iran does not have a nuclear\nweapons capability. That is also a lie. And, of course, we know that\nPresident Trump told the country that American and Israeli strikes last\nyear had completely obliterated the Iranian nuclear weapons program.\nRemember that? And, of course, this is the President who in his first\nterm, ripped up the agreement between the United States and Iran to\nprevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.\n  We also know from the Omani intermediaries, including the Foreign\nMinistry of Oman, that Iran was willing to\n\n[[Page S737]]\n\nput much tighter restraints on any future possible nuclear enrichment\nprograms. But apparently, the Trump administration had already decided\nto go to war.\n  Another reason we heard from members of the administration--they are\nconstantly shifting rationales--has been Iran's ballistic missile\nprogram. But Iran has zero missiles that can reach the United States.\nNot even close. None.\n  So in yet another interview, Donald Trump said the aim is ``freedom\nfor the Iranian people.'' In other words, regime change--regime\nchange--the regime change he promised he would never undertake if he\nbecame President.\n  Colleagues, we all know, every one of us, that the Iranian Government\nis a terrible regime, brutal to its own people, dangerous to the\nregion. But we also learned from history that bombs don't turn\ndictatorships into democracies. And already, the Israeli and American\nstrikes on Iran have produced mass civilian casualties. We have already\nseen reports of hospitals being bombed. In one strike alone, at least\n175 civilians were killed at an elementary school, most of them\nschoolgirls, which has the hallmarks of a war crime.\n  These killings should not be a surprise, especially when Secretary\nHegseth said this morning that the operation would have ``no stupid\nrules of engagement.'' That is what the Secretary of Defense said--\nanything goes.\n  This is not a way to bring solidarity and support from the Iranian\npeople. When we and the Israelis take out a country's leadership, we\nhave no idea what will emerge next. In fact, back in 1953, the United\nStates and the United Kingdom backed a coup against a democratically\nelected leader in Iran that enabled the Shah of Iran to consolidate\npower in the country. Some people thought that served American\ninterests at the time. Instead, it became one of the primary drivers of\nthe Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the creation of the Islamic Republic\nand its ideology.\n  So beware what you ask for. Indeed, according to public reports, the\nCIA assessed that the most likely scenario if the Supreme Leader were\nkilled was that more radical elements of the IRGC would take power in\nIran.\n  This does not advance America's interests in the region or the world.\nIt will not make us safer. It will make the world less safe for\nAmerica.\n  And is it now the policy of the United States to go to war against\nevery regime we hate? Colleagues, that is going to cost a lot of\nAmerican lives and treasure. And that is presumably why Trump and Vance\nhad previously been opposed to regime change and wars of choice.\n  So beware what we ask for when we open up Pandora's box. Have we not\nlearned the lessons of Iraq? The Iraq war cost the lives of 8,000\nAmerican soldiers and contractors. It cost trillions of dollars in\ntaxpayer money. The war upended the region, killed hundreds of\nthousands of Iraqi civilians, and helped spawn ISIS. It was the worst\nU.S. foreign policy blunder in a generation.\n\n  The big winner from the war in Iraq? Iran. Iran was the big winner.\n  So now Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says this war against Iran is\nsomething he has ``yearned to do for 40 years.'' Well, he got the war\nhe wanted from Donald Trump. But there is a reason past Presidents have\nnot started wars against Iran, and that is because they have refused to\nrisk American lives and open Pandora's box for a regime change war when\nthey had no idea how it would end.\n  This war is rapidly turning into a conflict that we feared--a\nwidespread, escalatory regional war with no end in sight. Iran has\nretaliated to U.S. and Israeli attacks by attacking U.S. assets and\nbases in every Arab country in the Persian Gulf, as well as targets in\nIsrael, resulting in a further loss of lives. This includes drones and\nmissile strikes on civilian infrastructure throughout the region. And\njust last night, Hezbollah joined the fray, launching missiles into\nIsrael, prompting airstrikes from Israel into Beirut and across\nLebanon.\n  This is not ``America First,'' and we have no idea where it is going.\nWhat we do know is that the Framers of our Constitution never\nenvisioned this to be allowed under our system of government. It is why\nthe Framers, in our Constitution, gave Congress the power to declare\nwar. They didn't want to give that power to one person. They didn't\nwant to give that power to somebody like Donald Trump, who has said\npublicly that the only thing constraining his power is ``my own\nmorality, my own mind.'' That is what Donald Trump has said.\n  Colleagues in the Senate, you must understand that that is not what\nthe Constitution requires. The Constitution requires Congress to act to\ndeclare war. So it is more important than ever that Congress stand up\nfor the Constitution and that Congress insist that the President cannot\ncontinue these hostilities without approval from Congress. He shouldn't\nhave started them without the approval of Congress.\n  So the resolution before us asks a simple question: Do you support\nthe Constitution of the United States and the role it gives to the U.S.\nCongress--that role to declare war?\n  Do you believe that we, the people's elected representatives in the\nHouse and Senate, should have a voice in whether American lives--and\nspecifically the lives of the members of our Nation's Armed Forces--are\nput at grave risk?\n  Do you believe that this regime change war of choice that Donald\nTrump promised he would never launch serves American interests or makes\nour Nation safer?\n  The American people do not want this war, and the Constitution\nentrusts the power to declare war with the U.S. Congress. Let's not\nsurrender that responsibility.\n  I urge my colleagues to support the War Powers Resolution and vote\nyes.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2026-03-02-pt1-PgS736-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9586249943822622, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}