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Floor Speech
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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, there is something awful going on here in the U.S. Senate, and people should focus on it right now. The Senate is not doing their job. And we see a President unilaterally going off to fight a war--to declare war without any authority from the U.S. Senate or the U.S. Congress.
What does it mean when the body that is supposed to provide checks and balances checks out? What does it mean when the body that is supposed to provide oversight covers its eyes and refuses to see what is happening? What does it mean when the body that should be having hearings on this war will not hear, will not look, will not ask questions?
We are in a constitutional crisis, and Americans are paying the cost--the worst of all costs: the deaths of our men and women, with 13 dead and over 200 injured. And Congress is doing nothing--no checks, no balances, no oversight, no hearings.
What does it mean when Americans all over this country are paying the cost with the worst energy shock crisis in the history of our country? According to the International Energy Agency, as of yesterday, the crisis we are experiencing is larger than the two major oil shocks of the 1970s combined. And what does Congress do? Nothing. No oversight. No hearings. No checks. No balances.
Americans are feeling the pain already of this administration cutting healthcare for millions. They are feeling the pain already, seeing their energy prices go up. They are seeing the pain already from billions being cut from our Veterans' Administration and millions more being cut from student lunch programs and the services we provide for special needs. And Congress does nothing.
We are supposed to be the body that declares war. Well, we are at war. But we also have the power of the purse. And what is happening with the purse right now? We have just spent $25 billion in Donald Trump's war--that kind of expenditure with no oversight, no hearings, no checks and balances.
Twenty-five billion dollars is enough to provide health insurance for over 3 million Americans. Twenty-five billion dollars means 30 million children could have free school lunches. Twenty-five billion dollars could provide millions of Americans with affordable housing or housing assistance.
There are things going on right now that nobody on either side of the aisle thinks the President should be able to do without any kind of oversight, without any kind of hearings, like give Russia billions of dollars, relieving them of sanctions, the very adversary that continues to prosecute their war in Ukraine and undermine our democracy at home-- no hearings, no checks and balances, no oversight. This is not just a constitutional crisis. This is a shame upon this body.
I am grateful for the War Powers Resolution that Chris Murphy has brought forward. I am grateful for Tammy Duckworth, Tammy Baldwin, Tim Kaine for joining together to force these War Powers Resolutions so that the Congress is not silent, that at least people have to take a vote.
But think about what is happening right now. We see a President moving to move more American troops. It was reported that the Pentagon is considering deploying 3,000 soldiers from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division. That is 3,000 of our American courageous sons and daughters-- no oversight, no hearing, no checks and balances.
The biggest military engagement since the war in Afghanistan--tens of billions of dollars, American lives, the worst oil shock ever, prices going up--and what does this Senate do? Nothing. It is a shame upon this body. It is a surrendering of our duties. It is the submission before Donald Trump and his authoritarian-like inclinations to declare war and not come to Congress as the Constitution dictates.
We swore an oath in this body to defend the Constitution. Our fealty should be to the Constitution and not what this President is doing.
So we bring War Powers Resolutions, and we will bring more. My fear is that this body, amidst this shame, will be dismissed for a recess. How many soldiers will die during that recess? How many billions of dollars will be spent during that recess? How far will they go with this war?
I call this what it is: one of the more shameful stretches of this body--no hearings, no oversight, no checks and balances.
It is time that we stand up for the Constitution and stand up to Donald Trump's unconstitutional war.
I know my colleagues and I, we have been calling these War Powers Resolutions. We will continue to do so until this body does its job and lifts the shame off of this body and checks a President, who is clearly running us into a war with no off-ramp in sight, putting more of our men and women in danger as Americans suffer from skyrocketing costs.
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