[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 23, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S3039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WAR POWERS RESOLUTION

  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I am going to talk for a minute about H. 
Con. Res. 86, the item of business that is before the U.S. Senate this 
morning.
  This is a House concurrent resolution, which states, in operative 
part:

       Congress directs the President to remove United States 
     Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of 
     Iran.

  I am going to urge everyone to vote no on this.
  It is wrong on so many levels, starting with the fact that a 
concurrent resolution process, which this attempts to do, has been held 
unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. So whatever happens with 
this, it is going to have no effect. The President isn't going to pay 
any attention to it. That is one thing.
  The second thing that is wrong with this is it directs him to remove 
U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities. There are no Armed Forces at this 
moment that are engaged in hostilities with Iran.
  The third thing--and the most important thing--is that voting on 
this, whether it passes or fails, sends a message to Iran. If this 
passes, the Iranians are going to simply stand up and walk away from 
negotiations. They are going to say: This thing is over. The Congress 
has told the President of the United States: Leave us alone. We can do 
whatever we want to do.
  And they will walk away.
  If you think that is a good idea, you should vote for this. On the 
other hand, if you believe in what the President of the United States 
has done--and that is, bring the Iranians to the table to negotiate on 
items that they have refused to negotiate on for a long time in the 
past--and that he has used the Armed Forces of the United States to 
bring them to the table, then you should vote no on this.
  Let diplomacy work. Give the President, give the Department of State, 
give the current administration the ability to, once again, give Iran 
the opportunity to do the right thing. Maybe they will. We don't know 
for sure yet because we have 50-some days left of the negotiations. But 
we ought to at least give that an opportunity to work.
  I urge everyone to vote no on the resolution.
  I yield the floor.

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