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Floor Speech
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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I thank Senator Murphy.
Every day since he started this embarrassment of a war, Donald Trump has saluted our troops with one hand and given them the middle finger with the other--because despite the lies he tells on Truth Social, he is actively making the choice to use our heroes as cannon fodder.
From the moment this conflict began, Trump has tried to shroud his incompetence behind their valor. When asked to justify his actions, he has tried to hide his ignorance and cowardice behind their courage. He has tried to act as if questioning why we are at war is the same as questioning the skill and bravery of our troops themselves. It isn't-- not at all.
I know that our military will always do the best job possible. When given a mission, our servicemembers don't say: Why me? They don't ask: But will I be safe? And they sure as hell don't run to their podiatrist crying ``bone spurs.'' No.
Instead, they pack their rucksacks; they lace up their boots; they show up. And they do what is asked of them--time after time and tour after tour. They will always--always--execute their orders to the maximum capability of their professionalism, and they are proud to do it.
The problem is the man who is giving those orders. The problem is that the Commander in Chief not only has no idea what the end state looks like in this war of choice but probably doesn't even know what the term ``end state'' means at all.
Look, I ran for Congress so that when the drums of war started beating I would be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully considered the true cost of war, not just in dollars and cents but in human lives of our heroes as well. So as those drums sound louder than they have in years, I am here today because, despite what he thinks, Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally force our Nation into war. He may have never read the Constitution, but I have.
So for the third time since this war began, let me direct his attention to article I, which makes clear that the President does not have the power to declare war--only Congress does. We are the ones tasked with deciding when and how Americans are sent into combat. We are the ones charged with that most solemn duty. Yet Trump is acting as if article I simply doesn't exist, as if obeying the Constitution is something that is optional, as if our founding document is just a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper he can crumple at will.
Refusing to allow him to get away with this should not--must not--be a partisan issue. No matter if you are struggling to pay rent or your name is plastered in fake gold on a building on Fifth Avenue, no one can ignore the Constitution. No matter if you are a Mar-a-Lago worker pulling double shifts or the President of the United States, no one is above the law. And no matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, you should know that our military men and women will always do their jobs.
So it is beholden on us as legislators to do our jobs before more of our warriors lose their lives in service of theirs. Right now, our duty is to demand accountability. It is to get answers. It is to make sure that their mission is justified and feasible and worthy of the sacrifices we are asking our military to make.
That is why I am here today: to make sure that we never again get ourselves into an ego-driven forever war, just like we experienced the last time a President rashly sent our sons and daughters into an unjustified war in Iraq.
I am here now to stop a man who was never brave enough to serve in uniform himself from using our heroes as cannon fodder.
Look, I am no dove. I know there are certain solemn, urgent times when our military must make the call and be called up to defend our Nation. There are certain moments when the threat in question is significant and imminent, when military force is the most effective tool at hand, when using it is necessary to protect Americans, and when using military force would not create more threats than it eliminates.
Trump has shown no evidence that this was one of those times. Yet he has had almost a month to do so. But if the administration actually does believe that this war is justified, then they need to come to Congress and tell us why. We are not hard to find. The Capitol is the building with a big dome on top. It is about a 20-minute walk from the White House. They just need to walk through our doors and actually do their jobs.
They need to explain their case, respecting the American people enough to tell them why they are being forced to take on the cost of this conflict. They need to prove that they have thought this through, that they can tell us what their plan is to stop this war. They need to show us that they have even a concept of a plan of how to get to an end state in Iran that would make us safer, not more threatened. Then, when their case has been made, when Congress' debate is done, we in these Chambers must vote. It is our job. It is our responsibility. It is our burden.
Look, centuries ago, our Nation's Founders feared that one day, America would be burdened with a Chief Executive who would be too fond of conflict and chaos and that that leader's affinity for bloodshed would have unthinkable consequences for the Nation at large. That-- that--is why they placed the power to declare war in the hands of Congress, not a single person.
Trump won't bear the cost of this war that he started. His children won't serve in harm's way. Even though they could volunteer, none of them have. He has been lining his pockets with corrupt billions since the moment he took office, so he won't worry about how far the cost of gas has been driven up by his actions. No. It is the American people. They are the ones who suffer in wars of choice, so it is the American people, through their elected representatives, who should decide when war is worth that cost.
As those elected representatives, it is our obligation to consider the interests of our constituents over those of one man and to stop our Nation from teetering further into this nightmare. That is what we are doing here this evening as we vote on Senator Murphy's War Powers Resolution.
Americans deserve better than unanswered questions, unjustified conflict, and unnecessary tragedy. Our men and women in uniform sure as hell do as well. So until we get some answers, I will keep coming to this floor; I will keep voting to withdraw our sons and daughters from hostilities with Iran.
I am going to keep working to prevent the boots on the ground that the President so casually, so callously threatens when he talks to the press. I am going to keep demanding that the administration end this deadly vanity project if they cannot justify the cost we have already been forced to bear, both in dollars and cents and daughters and sons. It is the least we can do for those willing to sacrifice the most for our Nation.
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