[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S100-S101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Iran
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, yesterday the Senate received a
classified briefing for all Senators from the Trump administration on
the recent military operation that killed Iranian General Soleimani.
Nearly the entire Senate attended, but only 15 Senators were able to
ask questions before the administration decided they had to go. As many
as 82 Senators were left hanging in the balance without a chance to
answer their questions. It was a sight like none I have ever seen in my
time in the Senate.
This is a crucial issue: war and peace. These were five of the
leading people involved in the decision making, past, present and
future. If they couldn't stay to answer questions in a classified
briefing, that is the ultimate disrespect to the Senate.
I have to tell you, it was not just Democrats who were upset and not
just on the Republican side. Senator Paul and Senator Lee were upset.
Four or five Senators came over to me, in that room, when I made the
request that they come back, and said: Please count me in on that.
As Secretary Pompeo was practically running out the door, I asked the
White House representative if they would come back and finish the
briefing. Pompeo said no, on his behalf, but the White House
representative assured me the group would be back in short order.
I said: Within a week.
In the room, in the SCIF, he said they will definitely come back.
This morning, the White House told me they would explore coming back.
They are already backing off, as usual. This is imperative. We are
asking, in as polite a way as we can right now, Democrats and
Republicans, that these five leaders--the head of DNI, the head of the
CIA, the head of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense, and the
Secretary of State--come before us within a week and answer the
questions of the 82 Senators who were on the list and wanted to ask
questions but couldn't.
The scene at yesterday's briefing was unacceptable, as Members of
both sides of the aisle have attested. Eighty-two Senators--chairs,
ranking members, appropriators, authorized--were snubbed by this
administration on a matter of war and peace. They must return.
Again, this administration's thwarting of the exquisite balance the
Founding Fathers put in place between the Congress and Presidency is
something that would make the Founding Fathers turn over in their
graves and strikes at the core of what America is all about.
Why is it important we have this briefing? Because the danger of war
is still very real. There seems to be a sense that Iran's missile
strikes on U.S. installations in Iraq, which resulted in no U.S. or
coalition casualties, was a signal that our hostilities between our two
countries are deescalating. If that is true, it would certainly be a
good thing, but we all know Iran has many different ways of causing
trouble in the Middle East. Over
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the last decade, Iranian proxies have exported terror, fomented civil
strife throughout the region. We know they may seek to strike the
United States in many new ways, like through cyber attacks.
Undoubtedly, there is still a danger Iran will retaliate for the death
of General Soleimani in other ways, not only in the next days, where it
is possible they could, but in the next weeks and months.
In a speech yesterday, the Iran Supreme Leader said the Iranian
missile strike was just ``one slap.'' ``Such military actions,'' he
continued, ``are not enough as far as the importance of retaliation is
concerned.'' We have good reason to worry that Iran will do more,
particularly, given the fact that they are a regime that has many hard-
liners who hate the United States and will try to do us as much damage
as they can. For other reasons as well, the risk of confrontation with
Iran has grown more acute, some of it because of President Trump's
actions.
At the President's order, we now have at least 15,000 additional U.S.
forces in the Middle East--more forces than we had at the beginning of
last summer--15,000 more. The Iranian public, which only weeks ago was
protesting its own political leaders, has rallied behind the regime and
is directing its entire ire at the United States. Iran has also
announced that it will no longer abide by any restraints on its nuclear
program that were imposed by the JCPOA, signaling its possible intent
to pursue a nuclear weapon.
For all these reasons--that clearly Iran is still a great danger and
the risk of war still looms--we need Senator Kaine's War Powers
Resolution more than ever.
The President has made several erratic and impulsive decisions when
it comes to foreign policy that have made Americans less safe, put even
more American forces in harm's way. More American troops are now headed
to the Middle East. We are not reducing our troop load; we are
increasing it.
Iran is no longer constrained by limits on its nuclear program. We
find ourselves even more isolated from allies and partners around the
world who are shaken by the recklessness and inconsistency of the
administration's foreign policy. The Trump administration cannot even
complete a congressional briefing. Congress, unequivocally, must hold
the President accountable and assert our authority over matters of war
and peace. That is what Senator Kaine's resolution would do.
We will have a debate on the floor in the Senate. I urge my
colleagues to support the Kaine resolution. There are many different
ways we can make sure we don't go into a war recklessly and without
check.
Senator Sanders today is introducing legislation, of which I am a
cosponsor, that will hold back funding for such a war. We Democrats
will continue to pursue ways to assert our constitutional authority and
make sure that before the administration takes any actions--because so
many of their actions tend to be reckless and impulsive--they have to
get the OK of Congress.