[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 102 (Tuesday, June 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Troop Deployment

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, last night, the Defense Department 
announced that 1,000 additional troops would be deployed to the Middle 
East. This is the second deployment of 1,000 or more troops in the past 
30 days, ostensibly to deal with Iran's increased activity in the 
region.
  Despite these two announcements, the President has yet to address the 
Nation about these developments. The President has yet to articulate a 
strategy about American involvement in the region. He has yet to send a 
single military commander to testify before the Armed Services 
Committee. And he has yet to explain what his policy of ``maximum 
pressure'' on Iran is supposed to achieve. All we have heard is the 
Secretary of State, our chief diplomat, rattling the sabers of war.
  As U.S. troops again prepare to deploy to the Middle East, this 
administration has an obligation to explain to the American people 
exactly what is happening and why. If they have a case, they must make 
it public. Americans are rightly skeptical and tired of endless wars in 
the Middle East--a reticence that many on the Republican side don't 
seem to share. Americans know that smaller actions have a tendency to 
escalate into larger actions even when there is no congressional 
authority and no check.
  The administration has offered to send various officials to give 
classified briefings, but, frankly, that is not nearly good enough. We 
have learned a hard truth from our experience in Iraq--that the drums 
of war start beating behind closed doors. The President must make his 
pitch to the Nation instead of another closed-door meeting with 
Senators. As the Commander in Chief, he owes that to every American but 
especially to the American servicemembers, and their families, whom he 
is sending into the Middle East.