{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2026-03-02-pt1-PgS738", "2026-03-02", 119, 2, null, null, "WAR POWERS RESOLUTION", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S738", "S739", "[{\"name\": \"Tammy Duckworth\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "172 Cong. Rec. S738", "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 S738-S739]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                         WAR POWERS RESOLUTION\n\n  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I come here today to support Senator\nKaine's War Powers Resolution.\n  You know, I am proud of every mission that I completed in Iraq, but I\nwould never wish another needless, endless, unjustified war like the\none that I served in on anyone else. I wouldn't wish it on the heroes\nwhose blood would be soaked into that desert sand. I would not wish it\non their families, who would spend their days anxiously awaiting for\nnews from half a world away. I wouldn't wish it on the American people,\nwho are desperate for their President to focus on bringing their costs\ndown here at home, not on starting new, expensive, forever wars\ncontinents away.\n  So I am here today to keep a promise I first made two decades ago. I\nran for Congress so that when the drums of war started beating once\nagain, I would be in a position to make sure that our elected officials\nfully considered the true cost of the war not just in dollars and cents\nbut in human lives as well. That was the vow I made to the troops I\ndeployed with and to all those who have served since I hung up my\nuniform.\n  Today, I am speaking here under this great Capitol dome to keep that\nmost sacred promise because, sadly, right now, American servicemembers\nare already in harm's way 6,000 miles east in what could be yet another\npreventable war. These troops are ready to do their jobs no matter\nwhat, just as they have done time after time, tour after tour. So, to\nme, it is tragic that even as they prepare to do their jobs, our\nPresident and certain Members of this Chamber seem so ready to neglect\ntheir own.\n  As we all know, on Saturday morning, without any known imminent\nthreat to America or American interests, Donald Trump launched an\nillegal military campaign against Iran.\n  Look, I want a democratic Iran, and I want to see the Iranian people\nfree from the iron grip of its brutal, authoritarian regime, and I am\nnot about to shed a tear for the Ayatollah's death. He was no friend of\nthe United States' nor to his own people. He was responsible for the\nbrutal murders of thousands of his own citizens in just the past few\nmonths alone. However, my first concern is always going to be the\nnational security of the United States, and I am troubled because of\nthe consequences that are sure to come because of Trump's actions.\n  Our troops and Americans all around the world are at greater risk\nbecause Trump wanted to thump his chest and look like a tough guy on\nTV. For no real reason he can explain, Trump is marching us closer and\ncloser to another costly, bloody, protracted conflict--a war without\nany defined end state and even without a concept of a plan for how to\nprevent the chaos and instability that will come next.\n  Far from making America greater or better or stronger or whatever new\nadjective he is using this week, Trump's actions have made our Nation\nand our allies less safe. He has made them less secure.\n  By continuing to strain our military with wars of choice, Trump is\nhanding a gift to bad actors like Russia and the PRC, as his never-\nending chaos makes it harder for our Armed Forces to focus on defending\nour critical interests in places like the Indo-Pacific.\n  So, no, Trump's actions over the past 72 hours--or ever--haven't put\nAmerica first; they have made the situation for America worse.\n  The sad fact of the matter is that what we are facing today is in\nlarge part a manufactured crisis. Iran is no ally of ours. We have been\nadversaries since long before Trump took office. I have always\ncondemned their proxy activity and ballistic missile program, and I\ncertainly agree that they cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.\nBut we can't forget that Donald Trump is the one who pulled the United\nStates out of the very deal that was limiting their weapons development\nprogram. Trump is the one who made sure Iran no longer had to play by\nthe rules and curb their nuclear production. Trump and his inability to\nconduct foreign policy are what made today's nightmare a reality.\n  His historical incompetence is what gave them the matchbox and the\nmotivation to start a fire, and now he is angry that it is starting to\ncatch. He is mad because they are doing the very things his actions\nencouraged them to do. It is circular logic which has already had fatal\nconsequences--fatal for the six American heroes who have already lost\ntheir lives in this conflict and fatal for the hundreds of civilians\nwho have already become the most horrible kind of collateral--moms and\ndads who this evening should be able to sit down and eat dinner with\ntheir little girl, who should be able to kiss their little boy\ngoodnight, who should be able to go bed dreaming of a tomorrow that\ndoesn't include missiles or misery.\n  Now he has created a power vacuum in Iran, resulting in an unstable\nregime that is willing to do anything to hold on to power. Now he has\ncreated an open invitation for well-funded, organized terrorist groups\nto swoop in and snatch away any chance the Iranian people have for\nfreedom and self-governance.\n  War is always tragic, but when it is preventable, it is not just\ntragic but a travesty too. Trump wouldn't let himself be dragged by the\nbone spurs to serve in uniform when his country needed him, so how dare\nhe try to drag us into yet another war of his choice today. But this\ndraft dodger is too infatuated with maximum pressure to consider even\nminimum diplomacy. Once again, the Trump foreign policy doctrine has\nproven reckless, senseless, and dangerous--a doctrine in which fact and\nfiction are one and the same and one in which avarice outweighs advice\nevery damn time.\n  It is shameful--terrifying--that we have a Commander in Chief who\nseems to come to military decisions by virtue of temper tantrums and\nannounces them via tweet, a President who doesn't seem to care if he\nkeeps to the path of fire and fury that he has been treading; our own\nhomeland will be in greater danger, more wounded warriors will be sent\nto Walter Reed, and more fallen heroes will be laid to rest in\nArlington; a President who is so obsessed with being the tough guy,\nthat he doesn't seem to give--well, doesn't seem to care; a President\nwho is happy to squander the lives of our heroes for his own personal\ngain.\n  Now, after this weekend, he has officially traded deterrence for\ninstability and chaos and made us all less safe in the process--\nAmericans, certainly, but also our partners in the region and the\nIranian people themselves, who did not ask for any of this; Iranian\nfamilies who suffered decades under the Ayatollah's tyrannical iron\ngrip and who, at long last, want to feel safe and secure.\n  Look, Trump may have run to his podiatrist instead of running toward\ndanger in Vietnam, but I actually know what it is like to leave your\nblood, your sweat--your limbs--in a war zone half a world away. So I\nknow what is at stake for the thousands of troops this administration\nis getting ready to send into harm's way, and I can tell you this: It\nis a whole lot easier to cover your eyes and order other Americans to\nsacrifice if you don't have to sacrifice anything yourself. It is much\neasier to ignore the everyday realties of war from inside the hallowed\nhalls of the White House, but it is nearly impossible if you have been\noutside the wire yourself.\n  So as those drums of war echo louder than they have in years, I am\nhere today because, despite what he thinks, Donald Trump does not have\nthe authority to unilaterally force us into war.\n  He may have never read the Constitution, but I have. So let me direct\nhis attention to article I, which makes it clear that the President\ndoes not have the power to declare war; only Congress does. We are the\nones tasked with deciding when and how Americans are sent into combat.\nWe are the ones charged with that most solemn duty, yet Trump is acting\nalso if article I simply doesn't exist, as if obeying the Constitution\nis optional, as if our founding document is a yellowing, crumbling\npiece of paper he can crumble up at will.\n  Refusing to allow him to get away with this should not--must not--be\na partisan issue. No matter if you are struggling to pay rent or your\nname is plastered in fake gold on a building on\n\n[[Page S739]]\n\nFifth Avenue, no one can ignore the Constitution. No matter if you are\na Mar-a-Lago worker pulling double shifts or the President of the\nUnited States, no one is above the law.\n  Look, I believe there are certain solemn, urgent times when our\nmilitary must be called upon to defend us. There are certain moments\nwhen the threat in question is significant and imminent, instances when\nmilitary force is the most effective tool at hand and that using it is\nnecessary to protect America and her interests. The thing is, from what\nlittle information Trump has shared publicly so far, this is not one of\nthose times.\n  But if the administration thinks I am wrong, then the floor is\ntheirs. We are only a 20-minute walk from the White House. It is not\nthat hard to find us here. We are the building with the big dome on\ntop. If they actually believe that this war is justified, then they\nneed to come to Congress and do their jobs, explaining their case and\ngiving the American people a say through their elected representatives.\n  They need to respect the American people enough to actually tell them\nwhy they are being forced to bear the costs of this conflict, both in\ndollars and cents and daughter and sons.\n  The White House needs to respect our servicemembers enough to prove\nwhy war with Iran is worth turning more moms and dads into Gold Star\nparents. They need to prove that they have thought this through enough,\nthen they can tell us what an end state in Iran would look like.\n  Then, when their case has been made, when Congress' debate is done,\nwe, in this Chamber, must vote. It is our duty; it is our burden; it is\nthe least we can do for those willing to sacrifice everything to\nsafeguard our democracy.\n  But if the Trump administration refuses to do that, if they refuse to\nadhere to the first article of our Constitution, well then it begs the\nquestion: What are they hiding?\n  This week, we will vote on Senator Kaine's War Powers Resolution, and\nI am well aware that many of my colleagues are claiming to have a\ndifficult time deciding how to vote. To them, let me say this: We ask a\nlot of tough things of our troops and military families. Serving in a\ncombat zone is hard. Hugging your husband or your wife, your father or\nyour daughter, for the last time before they deploy, not knowing if you\nwill ever see them again, that is hard. The least we can do here in\nreturn is ensure that we Senators take our duties as seriously as our\nmilitary men and women do theirs.\n  So to my Republican colleagues: Please, think about the fact that\nTrump cared so little about your beliefs on this matter that he\nwillfully, illegally circumvented our Chamber entirely, preferring to\nsow chaos and fear, leaving Americans in a lurch and their elected\nrepresentatives in the dark, choosing to start an unlawful war rather\nthan simply ask for your expertise for your constitutionally mandated\nvote.\n  And think about that Trump still has not been able to tell us of an\nimminent threat to American interests that would have actually required\nmilitary action anywhere near this scale. And then after reflecting on\nall of that, all I am asking is that you vote for what you know is\nright.\n  Moving forward, I will come back to the Chamber every afternoon, if\nnecessary, to remind the Nation of the hard lessons learned the last\ntime a President rashly sent our sons and daughters into another\nunjustified war in the Middle East, trying to ensure that this time we\ndo right by our troops, trying to ensure that this time we actually\nfully, soberly consider the consequences of Washington's decisions on\nthose who serve and their families.\n\n  God bless each and every one of our troops in harm's way right now.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). 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