Iran

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will also tell you that when it comes to the future involvement of the United States, we have a serious question in the Middle East. I cannot tell you what the objective of the President is when it comes to the war in Iran. If you take a look at what happened today--we had a rollcall vote on my colleague Senator Duckworth's motion that would have given Congress the authority to declare war, as the Constitution states in article I, section 8. It was defeated on a partisan vote once again. We have tried this two or three other times.

This is an effort to make sure that we have a conversation about the war in Iran. Do you know how many public hearings we have had in Congress about the invasion of Iran? None. Not one. We are virtually in a war that has gone on now for 70 days or so, and we have not debated it.

What is the purpose of our invasion of Iran? The President has given six, seven, eight different explanations, depending on the time of day. One day, it is to close the Strait of Hormuz; the next day, it is to open the Strait of Hormuz. One day, it is to get regime change in Iran; the next day, it is to reject the regime that is governing in Iran. The next day, we are going to eliminate missiles. And it goes on and on. You can't keep up with it.

The problem, of course, is that there is an impact on families all across the world but especially in the United States when it comes to the cost of living. When you ask American families ``How are you doing?'' they say ``Not so well, thank you.''

When we take a look at the cost of raising a family these days, we see the cost of groceries hitting an alltime high; we see our utility bills going up--in Illinois, they have gone up 15 percent this year over last year; we see the cost of gasoline going through the roof. It is over $4 a gallon in Illinois and in some parts of Chicago, over $5 a gallon. That is a real hardship on working families.

Why are we in this mess with gasoline? Because of the invasion of Iran and the disruption of the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz into Europe and beyond. That is the reality of the President's invasion.

Did anyone in the White House or the Department of Defense sit down and measure the impact of what it would mean if we invaded Iran on the global economy? This morning, I heard on the radio someone predicting the possibility of a global recession.

Was that part of your calculation, Mr. President?

We don't know because we can't understand what the President's motives are on a day-to-day basis when it comes to the future of Iran.

Do we want Iran to have a nuclear weapon? Of course not. What have we done about it? Under the Obama administration, we negotiated international inspectors to go into Iran to see whether or not they were developing a nuclear bomb. I met with some of those inspectors on a regular basis. They were getting doors opened and questions asked and answered, photos being taken, and a reporting at the time.

What happened with President Trump in his first term? He eliminated the agreement that created the inspectors. Then what did he replace it with? Nothing. Nothing until he invaded Iran 2 months ago.

We need international inspectors in place to make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, and we certainly are not moving in that direction with the President Trump invasion.

So we have the situation in which the President's chaos and cost-of- living increases and confusion have really created problems for families across the United States. It is time for us to remember that our goal is to make it better for those who are raising children and trying to feed a family. This war in Iran is not the answer to that.

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