[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 121 (Thursday, July 23, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4246-S4249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DIRECTING THE REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM HOSTILITIES
WITHIN OR AGAINST THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN THAT HAVE NOT BEEN
AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS--Motion to Discharge
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 1546a and in
accordance with section 601(b) of the International Security Assistance
and Arms Export Control Act, I move to discharge the Committee on
Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 180.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to discharge from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, S.J. Res. 180, a joint resolution to direct the
removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within
or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been
authorized by Congress.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator
Sheehy be able to speak for up to 5 minutes, that I then speak for up
to 20 minutes, and Senator Schumer be permitted to speak for 2 minutes
before the scheduled vote.
[[Page S4247]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Montana.
Iran
Mr. SHEEHY. Mr. President, yesterday, we saw the President of the
United States and many others at Dover Air Force Base presiding over a
ceremony that is very sacred to those of us who served, and that is a
dignified return of remains from the war zone. And that process happens
beginning in the war zone, through Dover, to the hometown of our fallen
heroes.
I have participated in many of those ceremonies myself, to include
carrying friends of mine off the plane. One of those is on this
bracelet. He was cut in half by an Iranian BFD.
This regime that we are fighting does not care about our partisan
politics. They don't care who you voted for, who you pray to, or where
you live. They want to kill all of us. They don't just say it; they
actually do it. And they have been doing it for 47 years.
This is a war of choice; the Democrats are correct. It is a war of
choice that was begun by a radical, lunatic band of terrorists that
took over a beautiful nation 47 years ago--took it over with brutality,
force, and savagery. And the second they took it over, they didn't free
their people, they didn't unleash the largest oil reserves in the world
to build schools and bridges. They took it over to murder their own
people and to spread their disgusting ideology across the world, and
that is exactly what they have been doing.
They don't just say it and talk about it. You don't have to believe
what they say. You can simply watch what they have done. They have
attacked families, women, children, innocent people. They don't just
attack them and kill them. They rape them. They skin them alive, on
camera. They celebrate it. They honor those people who do disgusting
things that we would put in jail for the rest of their lives in this
country, and they do it for fun. And they pay them money to do it, and
they are heroes for that nation. They have done it to friends of mine.
They have done it to families who have been in this Chamber.
The fact that we sit here and listen to elected officials of this
country defend these lunatics who want us all dead--they want all of
you dead. They want all of us dead. They don't want us to disappear
with the snap of a finger; they want us to be raped, burned alive, and
cut into pieces.
Watch the video from October 7. That is what they want to happen,
from Maine to San Diego, from Seattle to Miami. They want this country
turned into a burning husk of its former self. And you don't have to
theorize that. That is what they do--from the 1983 barracks bombing
where 280 marines were vaporized in the morning; from the USS Cole to
the Achille Lauro; to every terrorist attack from the Houthis,
Hezbollah, Hamas. These are not humanitarian freedom organizations;
they are death-dealing cults, and they want all of us to die brutal
deaths.
William Buckley was abducted in 1985, an American military officer.
He was skinned alive on camera by the Iranians. American prisoners of
war who were captured--they were never called prisoners of war because
they were captured by lunatic terrorists, so they were not subject to
the Geneva Convention. They were captured and murdered--power drills
through their brains. This is in Iran.
These are families that have dealt with this, and they have never
gotten a single dime. These families have never gotten restitution.
And not a single President has ever stood up to them. Love Donald
Trump or hate him, love his policies, hate ICE, love ICE--whatever.
There has never been a single President who has stood up to Iran and
hit back. For 47 years, our troops and our families have been absorbing
attack after attack after attack, all over the world.
And their radical ideology does not stop at the Persian Gulf. It
doesn't stop at Tel-Aviv. They want to do this everywhere. It is a
global radical ideology, and we have been fighting it for half a
century.
We didn't start this war. We did not. But we will finish it. And
forever wars are not popular with anybody these days. Both sides love
to attack our forever wars. I can promise you, being someone overseas
wearing the uniform, when you are fighting for your country, you don't
care what party is in office, but you are fighting to defend your
country. When you turn on the news and see your elected officials
stabbing you in the back, telling you that you are failing, that you
have failed every goal of the war is what I just heard--the last time I
checked, we have wiped these bastards out. An occasional missile strike
and boats in the strait--that is not military strength. Those are the
flailings of a failing empire. Those are the flailings of a nation in
collapse because they deserve it.
So I encourage our colleagues on both sides of the aisle--whatever is
politically convenient, whatever plays well on Twitter or Facebook--to
think about the people who are deployed right now, standing on that
wall with a loaded weapon, who have volunteered to defend our country
and our way of life, because they are there defending us in a just
war--because we did not start the war with the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard.
They started it with us 47 years ago, and their attacks have gone
unanswered for half a century. It is time to fix this problem and make
sure another generation of Americans does not have to fight this
murderous, savage adversary.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I want to start by thanking Senator
Sheehy for his service to our country in our Armed Forces and thank
every single soldier who serves our country in uniform and mourn the
deaths of every single American servicemember who has been lost in this
war and any other war.
I listened carefully to the Senator from Montana. He is right that
the Iranian regime doesn't care about what is happening in the United
States; doesn't care about politics of the United States.
You know what else they don't care about? They don't care about the
Constitution of the United States of America. They don't care about
that either, but we--we, in the Senate--we should care about the
Constitution of the United States of America because the Framers of our
Constitution deliberately vested the power to declare war in Congress
because they understood the enormous consequences of sending Americans
into harm's way.
So if our Republican colleagues have the strength of their
convictions, they should bring an authorization to use military force
in Iran to this floor. We have not seen that. In 140 days, we have seen
nothing. If you want to be true to the Constitution of the United
States, that is what Republicans would do.
And the Iranians don't give a damn about our Constitution, but I
would hope that those in this body have been sworn to uphold it would
give a damn about our Constitution because the Framers understood--they
understood that decisions involving war and peace should not rest with
any one individual.
You can glorify President Trump all you want, but the Founders--the
Founders, those who helped write the Constitution--understood that that
power should not vest with one person, whoever that person may be
regardless of party. That is what the Founders said.
The Constitution entrusted that solemn responsibility to the Congress
where the elected representatives could openly debate and vote on those
questions before any President sent our sons and daughters to fight and
die in foreign lands. We may disagree about whether this is a good idea
or a bad idea, but we should not disagree that that is what the
Constitution requires, and that is what our oath requires.
So, yes, I rise to urge my colleagues to support my War Powers
Resolution to end this disastrous and illegal war against Iran that
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu launched over 140 days
ago. The Constitution is unambiguous. This is not a close call.
And yet, right now--right now--we are finding ourselves confronting
exactly the circumstances that the Constitution and the War Powers
Resolution of 1973 were designed to prevent. They were designed to
prevent one person from taking this country to war. They were actually
designed in the hopes that this Senate and this Congress would do their
constitutional
[[Page S4248]]
duty and vote yes or no but take responsibility for decisions that send
our men and women into harm's way--take responsibility.
Nearly 5 months ago, President Trump launched this illegal war. He
launched it against Iran. And as I said, he launched it without any
authorization. Since then, Senate Democrats and some Republicans have
tried to reassert the constitutional role of Congress.
We have voted 11 times on resolutions to end the war. And finally
last month, both Chambers passed H. Con. Res. 86, directing the
President to terminate hostilities against Iran. It was a historic
vote. It marked the first time since the War Powers Resolution was
enacted in 1973 that Congress successfully used this mechanism that was
designed to halt the unauthorized use of force by the President, by any
President.
That resolution was not a suggestion; it is legally binding.
The Iranian regime may not care about that resolution, but we should
care and the Constitution requires that we care. The passage of that
resolution should have marked the end of this disastrous war, but time
and again, President Trump has shown he has no respect for the
Constitution.
He was asked months ago whether he had to abide by the Constitution.
His answer: I don't know.
That is a President who has no respect for the rule of law, but we
should.
Instead, what the Trump administration has done is steadily expanded
this conflict, moved further away from diplomacy and further away from
a durable peace.
When the memorandum of understanding between the United States and
Iran was signed in June, I stood on this floor and said I hoped it
would become the foundation for a broader diplomatic settlement.
Many Republicans opposed that memorandum of understanding. I hoped
that it would finally begin the long task of climbing out of a big hole
this illegal war has created.
That hope is gone now.
This moment--this moment we are in now--is a pivotal one in the war
and for our role in it. Just this morning, the House of Representatives
passed another resolution to end the war. That is how democracy works.
The Iranian regime doesn't care about our democracy, but we should, and
the Senate should pass this resolution just as the House passed a War
Powers Resolution.
This is the first War Powers Resolution since the United States
resumed daily strikes against Iran and the first since we reimposed a
full naval blockade. It is the first resolution since another four
American soldiers were killed. It is the first resolution since
shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has once again been ground to a halt.
And I think all of us here in the Senate know the Strait of Hormuz
was open before President Trump launched this war.
In the weeks since the last vote, more civilians have been killed as
well, and the United States and Iran are now deliberately targeting
civilian infrastructure. President Trump said that he will destroy a
bridge or a powerplant in Iran for every ship attacked in the strait.
It did not have to be this way. Many of us warned before this war
began that military force would not achieve the vague, constantly
shifting objectives its advocates promised. We warned that abandoning
diplomacy would make the region more dangerous, not less. We warned
that military action would strengthen the most hardline voices inside
of Iran rather than weaken them. We warned that this conflict would
destabilize the region, threaten the global economy, drive up costs for
American families, and ultimately leave the United States worse off.
And since then, every single one of those warnings has come true. I
wish they hadn't, but they have.
We have heard the arguments warmongers have used to justify this
stupid war before. The promises of quick victories, that just one more
bombing campaign would finally produce lasting peace. We have heard
that regime change is just around the corner. We have heard repeated
calls for military adventurism while diplomacy was dismissed as some
kind of weakness.
Those arguments were wrong before, and they are wrong today.
This is the same kind of delusional thinking that sucked the United
States into endless wars in the past, the kind of endless wars that
this President promised he would keep us out of. When he promised he
would focus on bringing down prices, he has done the opposite.
So we must make better choices, and we cannot allow the past to
repeat itself. But that is what happens when your objectives keep
changing. That is what happens when you convince yourself against all
available evidence, that just 1 more week or 1 more month of fighting
will bring victory.
You know, on March 1, the day after starting the war, President Trump
was asked how long the war would go on.
Does anybody remember what he said? ``Four to five weeks.'' It will
be over in ``four to five weeks,'' he said.
Well, the President said that about 20 weeks ago, and it was all a
lot of nonsense.
In late March, he repeatedly claimed victory. President Trump said
``We won.'' Go look it up. It is all over his social media channels.
``We won.'' ``We won.''
Colleagues, I have some questions. If we won back in March, why are
more Americans getting killed in July? If we won back in March, why is
the Strait of Hormuz closed? If we won back in March, why is the war
expanding as Houthis attack ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
into the Red Sea? If we won back in March, why are oil and gas prices
and diesel prices shooting through the roof again, imposing costs on
every American family?
Is that their definition of winning? Well, I wondered what their
answer to that question was. So earlier this week, I asked Secretary of
Defense Hegseth what his definition of winning looks like. And there
was no clear answer. That is because their objectives keep changing.
He finally settled on the objective of making sure Iran does not get
a nuclear weapon. But colleagues, remember this: Last year--just last
year--shortly after Operation Midnight Hammer, the 12-day war, here is
what Secretary Hegseth told the country ``our bombing campaign
obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons.''
The President told us the same thing, and the President's Director of
National Intelligence testified in this Senate just months ago that it
was the assessment of the United States Government that Iran did not
intend to start any enrichment program.
The President, during the time the memorandum of understanding was in
place, hailed the fact that the Iranians said they had no plans and
would not build a nuclear weapon. Apparently, the President had not
been informed that they had made that commitment over a period of
years.
The whole purpose of the JCPOA was to hold them to that commitment to
make sure that we could identify immediately if they were violating
that commitment.
Of course, that is the agreement that President Trump tore up in his
first administration.
So when I pointed all this out to Secretary Hegseth, all he could go
back to was tired, old talking points that has gotten us in this mess
and keeps us in this mess. In fact, it clarified the reality of what we
have known since day one, that the Iran war is a war in search of a
mission.
Colleagues, that is how forever wars begin. Eighteen American
servicemembers have lost their lives. Hundreds more have been wounded,
including over a 100 just from the last 2 weeks, and the civilian death
toll continues to rise.
At the start of the war, an American Tomahawk missile strike killed
more than 150 Iranian civilians in Minab, more than 100 of them
children. On top of those killings of schoolkids, thousands of other
civilians have been killed or injured across Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and
the rest of the region.
On top of all that, oil prices jumped; then they settled a little bit
during the memorandum of understanding; and now they are jumping again.
They have risen back to a national average of around $4 a gallon and
rising. Diesel prices have surged above $5 a gallon.
All of us understand that when gas and diesel prices go up, those
increased costs filter throughout the economy. Trucks that are trucking
food from one
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place to another: higher diesel prices, higher food prices, higher
grocery prices throughout our economy, imposed on families already
struggling with the costs of groceries and housing and healthcare and
childcare and other necessities.
And, again, this is the President who said that he was going to end
wars and focus on bringing down costs.
This is a strategic blunder on a massive scale. It is a self-
inflicted wound on our country and all for what? That is the question
every one of us should be asking as we vote shortly on this War Powers
Resolution. How has continuing this war made the American people safer?
How has it made the Middle East more stable? How has it strengthened
America's national security? I have yet to hear a credible answer to
that question, and that is because there isn't one.
You know, these are the kind of questions that should be asked before
a war is started, before we put American troops at risk. Colleagues,
there is no good way out of a bad war. But as I have said repeatedly,
when you are digging yourself a hole, the first thing you should do is
stop digging, and that is what this resolution seeks to do.
Let us stop pretending that Congress has no role to play while
American servicemembers remain in harm's way. Many of the people who
enthusiastically supported launching this war have been unwilling to
take responsibility for authorizing it.
That should concern every Member of this body. It should concern
every American, regardless of party, because if a Member of the Senate
truly believes that this war is justified and the right thing to do,
put it up for a vote. Put it up for a vote for an authorization to use
military force.
I disagreed with the decision to go to war in Iraq. And President
Bush asked for an authorization for military force, and this Congress
acted on it. In my view, they made the wrong decision, but at least
they took responsibility for their actions as the Constitution
requires.
So this is an opportunity, as the war escalates even further, as more
American servicemembers are killed, as more civilians are killed, as
oil and gas prices and other prices go up--this is an opportunity for
this Congress to finally take responsibility. We passed the concurrent
resolution in the past. We know the President has no respect for the
law, but we have an obligation to our constituents. We should not duck
that responsibility.
We should not simply allow this war to go on without up-or-down votes
on an authorization to use military force. And today, we have a chance
to take accountability and send a message by supporting this War Powers
Resolution.
I urge all my colleagues to adopt it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The minority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Trump got America into this mess in Iran,
and he has made it clear he is both unwilling and unable to get us out.
For the sake of our servicemembers, their families, working people
from one end of the country to the other who are getting crushed by
higher costs and gas prices, Senate Republicans need to join us and end
Trump's war in Iran.
People across the aisle know--most everyone here knows--what a fiasco
this war has been. Well, now we need a little courage and strength to
end it. And we need to get our Republican colleagues to step up to the
plate and do what that they know deep in their hearts is the right
thing to do.
How many servicemembers will die before Senate Republicans decide
this war needs to end? How many of our troops will be wounded before
Senate Republicans find a spine? How many times will Democrats have to
force a vote on our War Powers Resolution to bring our troops home
before Senate Republicans join us? And they are going to have to vote
on it again and again and again until they join us in ending this war.
Every time Republicans oppose our War Powers Resolution and vote
against ending this war, they lose the faith of the American people.
Senate Republicans keep trying to protect Donald Trump, but it is our
men and women in uniform whose lives are in danger they should be
protecting.
Senate Republicans know how dearly this war is costing the American
people: gas $4 a barrel, crude oil over $100, families shelling out
hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in extra costs on basic goods,
but Senate Republicans just want everyone to be calm and carry on.
But the American people are not calm. They don't like this war--
Democrats, Republicans, Independents. So Senate Republicans need to
wake up, not next week, not next month--now. Now is the time to wake
up, Republicans. Now is not the time to keep bending the knee to Donald
Trump, as he dizzies himself running around in circles chasing his own
tail.
It is time to stand up for the American people and declare in one
voice that this war cannot and must not go on. Every Member of the
Senate, whatever your politics, ought to be up in arms over this war,
its lack of direction, its lack of conclusion, its lack of consistency.
Every single Senator ought to support our resolution to end this war.
We will keep forcing votes until Senate Republicans stop playing dumb
and summon up the courage to do what is right.
Vote on Motion to Discharge
Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
discharge.
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
McConnell), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), and the Senator
from Kentucky (Mr. Paul).
The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 49, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 207 Leg.]
YEAS--47
Alsobrooks
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt Rochester
Booker
Cantwell
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Gallego
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
Kim
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schumer
Shaheen
Slotkin
Smith
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--49
Armstrong
Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Curtis
Daines
Ernst
Fetterman
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Husted
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Justice
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McCormick
Moody
Moran
Moreno
Ricketts
Risch
Rounds
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sheehy
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--4
Britt
McConnell
Murkowski
Paul
The motion was rejected.
____________________