Directing the Removal of United States Armed Forces From Hostilities Within or Against the Islamic Republic of Iran That Have Not Been

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I rise today to ask a simple question. After 109 days of a failed war and now a fragile, temporary--but welcome--truce, will my Republican colleagues choose today to finally stand up to this President? Will my colleagues say ``enough is enough'' to the President who ran as a candidate promising no new wars?

After 109 days of contradictory messaging, rampant and rank corruption, with people literally cashing in on news about this war and devastating news stories from the Middle East, will this be the vote when my colleagues finally stand up for their constituents, rather than simply standing up for Donald Trump?

Here we are: Tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions, of American taxpayer dollars spent; gas prices are well over $4 a gallon; hard-working American families crushed under tens of billions of dollars in soaring energy prices and inflation driven by this unnecessary war; and the ultimate price--the ultimate price--13 servicemembers tragically killed.

The question is, Where did all of that land us? What did it accomplish? And it appears that we are basically back at the status quo, at best.

Let me start by saying that I am very proud of our military. That is not the question here. We have the most powerful, the most effective military force in human history.

The problem is that the President has decided to use that military force and significantly deplete our defense arsenal for his own pet projects. He decided to launch an attack on Iran to decapitate the brutal leadership of an awful regime, but he had no plans for what he would do the next day--the next day.

And so, today, the regime is still in place, with younger and potentially more hard-lined and radical leadership.

So even now, with the war hopefully coming to an end, I still don't understand why we were in this war in the first place.

It appears that the only thing this war has done is put servicemembers' lives at risk, Americans in the region at risk. It has undermined our global standing and put millions of civilians in harm's way.

And so we pray for the families of the brave Americans who have already paid the ultimate sacrifice, our servicemembers who are the best among us and who go no matter who the President is or what their politics are. They were simply following orders. Our servicemembers embody courage and patriotism. They put it on the line for us, and I submit that they deserve better than this.

We have learned, due in part to recent history, that it is easier to get into a war than it is to get out. The President said on multiple occasions: ``It will all work out well in the end. It always does.''

Maybe it always does for him, but we are sending brave American servicemembers into battle, and they return with visible and invisible wounds of war.

This is something not to be handled in a cavalier manner. It is the most sacred responsibility of an American President.

And so I promised my people of Georgia that I would walk with them even as I worked for them. I have listened to agonizing stories of war from veterans whose lives will never be the same. I have stood at Dover Air Force Base to receive the bodies of Georgia's heroes. I have looked into the grief-stricken eyes of their family members as they greeted a flag-draped coffin wrapped in unbearable grief. It is gut-wrenching, and it is something that I think about whenever we consider the consequences of sending our servicemembers into harm's way.

The question is, Did the President think about it? Did he think about those families, even as he said, ``It will all just work out. . . . It always does''?

I am hopeful that this war may come to an end beginning this week. But let's be clear: This temporary truce agreement with Iran brings us back to the status quo, at best.

Let's not forget that the President of the United States, in deciding to launch this war, created a situation in which we lost our servicemembers.

We continue to grieve the dozens of fathers in Iran who will be without their school-aged daughters on Father's Day, as an elementary school in Minab was attacked on the first day--or a bomb was dropped on that school the first day--a horrific mistake with huge human consequences. And this was on day one of the war--young children who didn't get a chance to grow up, hundreds of dreams that will never be realized.

Those Iranian babies are human beings. They too are children of God. And so this kind of consequential action requires much more thought, a much more serious-minded administration than what we have seen over the last year and a half.

And so I hope that we are seeing the beginning of the end of this war. But we paid a huge cost, and I am not so sure what we are getting for that.

But the question before this body is, Will this President do this again? I think the answer is yes. He will continue to choose bombs over diplomacy because he is a failed warmonger, and that is why I am urging my colleagues to speak up in this moral moment and send a message that the President should not feel that he can easily and so cavalierly use American might while Congress stands idly by.

The time is always right to do what is right.

I urge my colleagues to do what your constituents are begging you to do and join me in putting a check on this President's lawless warmongering--warmongering that has upended the global economy and sent gas prices soaring.

The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Iran perhaps seems even more emboldened to try it again. And what is the plan to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon with Iran going into this truce with all of its enriched uranium?

We had a deal. Donald Trump chose war over diplomacy.

Hopefully, this Congress will stand up and do its job. The time is always right to do what is right. That time is now.

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. 172.

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Mr. WARNOCK. I know of no further debate. Vote on Motion to Discharge
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