[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 125 (Thursday, July 30, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4356-S4357]
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
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 1546(a) 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. 181.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to discharge from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, S.J. Res. 181, 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.
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays are ordered.
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for
up to 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
S.J. Res. 181
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise in support of my legislation
to end President Trump's unauthorized, illegal war with Iran. This war
will go down in history as one of the greatest strategic failures in
modern American history.
It was launched without a clear plan, executed without a coherent
strategy, and has become a costly, self-inflicted disaster for the
American people. Every justification that we were given for this
conflict has proven hollow.
We were told that Iran's nuclear program would be eliminated.
Instead, Iran still holds nuclear material, and its leaders may be more
determined than ever to build a weapon.
We were told that the Iranian regime would crumble; instead, it now
holds new leverage of the world's energy supply in the Strait of
Hormuz.
We were told this President would bring peace and lower prices;
instead, he has given us war, pain, and higher prices.
New York families are struggling to afford groceries and keep up with
the rent, and what is President Trump doing? Pouring billions of tax
dollars into an open-ended war in Iran. This reckless war is driving up
monthly bills and making everyday life harder for working families.
This administration demands billions for wars abroad, then claims we
can't afford to improve our schools or repair our roads or lower the
cost of healthcare for millions of Americans.
President Trump has made it clear that he doesn't factor in how
Americans are doing financially, but the families I represent feel it
every single day. Every time they fill the gas tank and watch the
numbers climb, New Yorkers are being forced to pay a premium for this
President's instability.
According to data from the Joint Economic Committee, the average
family has to pay an additional $432 on gas alone since this war began.
Statewide, that is an extra $2 billion at the pump. Let me repeat that.
That is an extra $2 billion at the pump.
Nationwide, Americans have paid $60 billion more on gas. Every time I
go home, I hear from constituents about their concerns: the cost of
healthcare, the cost of gas, the cost to keep lights on, and put food
on the table.
Those are the conversations happening in kitchens across America.
That is what we should be focused on here in Washington, not dropping
bombs around the world. And let us not forget there is a human cost to
this war that no dollar figure could ever capture.
Our servicemembers did not volunteer to be pawns in a chaotic,
unauthorized war with no plan and no end in sight. Eighteen American
heroes have already paid the ultimate sacrifice. Eighteen families have
been shattered.
Just last week, New York lost one of our own: SGT Angel Rampersad of
Queens.
Sergeant Rampersad was a true patriot who begged her mother to let
her enlist the moment she was old enough. She served this country
courageously and honorably for more than 6 years before she was killed
in an Iranian attack in Jordan.
Our servicemembers take one of the most dangerous jobs there is. In
return, we owe them a sacred obligation. We do not send them into
harm's way without a clear mission, defined objectives, and the support
of the American people. The President's war with Iran is a betrayal of
that obligation. New Yorkers and all Americans deserve more. They
deserve better.
So I ask my colleagues: How many more servicemembers will we lose?
How many more billions of dollars must families pay at the pump? How
many more empty promises must be made from an out-of-control
administration before this body finally acts?
Under the Constitution, we have the power to end this war today.
Let's use it. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Lummis). The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Vote on Motion to Proceed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on
the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 199.
The yeas and nays have been previously ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the
Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 52, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 215 Leg.]
YEAS--47
Alsobrooks
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt Rochester
Booker
Cantwell
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Fetterman
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--52
Armstrong
Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Curtis
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Husted
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Justice
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McCormick
Moody
Moran
Moreno
Murkowski
Paul
Ricketts
Risch
Rounds
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sheehy
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--1
McConnell
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagerty). The Democratic leader.
S.J. Res. 181
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I will be brief.
Nearly half a year into Trump's ruinous war with Iran, the conflict
is widening instead of winding down. More countries get dragged into
the mix, more fronts open up, and more Americans get killed and
injured.
The American people have made it clear: No one wants this war to go
on.
A new poll, this morning, found only a fifth--a fifth--of the
American people, including less than half of the Republicans, want the
war to continue.
Are our Senate Republicans listening?
The country is clamoring for you to end this war and to bring our
troops home--something you can do right now by voting for Senator
Gillibrand's War Powers Resolution.
Is Trump so intimidating, so untouchable that Republicans will keep
siding with him instead of the 80 percent of Americans calling for the
fighting to end?
[[Page S4357]]
The biggest thing standing between our troops and home is a
Republican Party that is too afraid to cross the President.
Congress can break this vicious cycle of escalation Trump started in
Iran, and this War Powers Resolution is how we do it.
I urge--I plead--with my Republican colleagues to listen to the
American people. Vote to end this war. We are going to keep forcing
Republicans to vote until you do.
I yield the floor.
Vote on Motion to Discharge
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on
agreeing to the motion to discharge S.J. Res. 181.
The yeas and nays have been previously ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the
Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 50, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 216 Leg.]
YEAS--49
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
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schumer
Shaheen
Slotkin
Smith
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--50
Armstrong
Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Britt
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--1
McConnell
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 49, the nays are
50. The motion is not agreed to.
The motion was rejected.
____________________