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Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury has become ``Operation Epic Failure.'' He started a war of choice. It turned out, Iran had a lot more leverage than he ever anticipated.

The President thought that superior weapons, a huge number of bombs would give, well, the opportunity for America to conduct a war in which Iran would unconditionally surrender. The President expected that in short order.

But not all unfolds accordingly because Iran had an ace up its sleeve: It had the ability to stop traffic on the Strait of Hormuz. And if the President had listened to any expert, they would have said: You are totally underestimating the leverage and power Iran has over the world economy.

But he didn't listen. So like a dog that got skunked, he has slunk away humiliated--``Operation Trump Humiliation''--and the American people and the world are paying the price.

I am relieved that the bombs have stopped falling, but Trump's disastrous deal has left everyone so much worse off.

The American military: a huge number of munitions expended, 13 servicemembers killed, hundreds wounded.

The U.S. Treasury: depleted by some $50 billion to $80 billion.

American families are paying a much higher price for gas and now facing year-over-year inflation of 4.2 percent because of Trump's war.

American farmers are paying so much more for fertilizer, paying so much more for diesel; bad for the farmers for sure, but that is going to mean higher grocery costs for the American family.

And in international affairs, Russia has been enriched, the Iranian hard-liners have been strengthened; the reformers in Iran have been undermined; our alliances have been deeply, carelessly damaged. Now, of course, Iranian civilians have paid the price with thousands dead and far more injured.

And Iran's highly enriched uranium? Still in exactly the same place it was before his war started.

Now, Trump has signed a 14-point framework, and it has some troubling elements. Donald Trump calls himself ``Dealmaker-in-Chief,'' so let's look at the deal that he has struck.

What does Iran get? Access to $24 billion in unfrozen funds, waivers that allow Iran to sell its oil at the world price, a commitment by the United States to organize a $300 billion plan like a Marshall Plan to rebuild Iran, and a stipulation that after 60 days, Iran can work with Oman and work out fees for vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's compare that to the JCPOA that President Obama negotiated. And for more than a decade, I have listened to colleagues across the aisle say President Obama did a side deal that returned $500 million to Iran in frozen funds and interest on that $500 million; that we had had it so long, it had stacked up to $700 million.

All right. We are talking about less than $2 billion. Here is Trump: $24 billion in unfrozen funds, $300 billion in redevelopment, waivers for your oil, and the ability to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz-- not even vaguely comparable.

And those elements, those are not an exchange for a final nuclear deal. They are an advance of one, undermining America's leverage to get a nuclear deal done. And Trump calls himself a dealmaker, giving away all the leverage up front.

And what else does Iran get? No restrictions on cruise missiles or drones; no restrictions on ballistic missiles; no restrictions on funding proxy groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen. Wow. Those are all important elements.

But the deal does deliver two things: America lifts its blockade of the Iranian ports, and Iran lifts its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. But those were the conditions before the war started. So the one positive thing it delivers was already in place before there was a war. So no improvement because of the war.

President Trump has recklessly squandered American lives and treasure. He has recklessly weakened America's standing in the world. He has recklessly raised costs for American families here at home.

This is absolutely the embodiment of why the Founders gave the question of war, not to the President, but to Congress. It is why we have to stand up for the constitutional vision that we swore an oath to when we became U.S. Senators.

Is there any Senator here who didn't swear that oath to the Constitution? Is there any Senator here who hasn't read the Constitution and read that the question of war was assigned to Congress, not the President?

Here is how Madison described it. He said: The Constitution supposes, what the history of all governments demonstrates, that it is the Executive most interested and most prone to war. The Constitution has accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the legislative branch.

Does anyone need a clearer explanation than that, under our Constitution, a President cannot take us to war and that there was very careful reasoning that went into making that decision: because Executives are too prone to go to war, and no one person should be able to put the lives and treasure of America at risk.

That isn't to say Congress always gets it right. This Chamber and the House Chamber, they had a debate over the authorization to go to war in Afghanistan. These two Chambers, they had a debate over going to war in Iraq. I believe they got it wrong on both occasions. But there was an opportunity to seek information, to compare ideas, to wrestle with the prospect--an appropriate debate on such a monumental question.

Now, this Chamber and the House Chamber have started to exercise their responsibility to the Constitution. Because if we turn the clock back, in the wake of Vietnam, when there was no authorization, Congress passed the War Powers Act, and the War Powers Act attempted to create a framework so that we would know how to exercise the debate for the question of war. And it said the President--unless our interests are attacked--cannot go to war unless there is authorization from both Chambers. Pretty clear. It also said the President, if we were attacked, could go to war for no more than 60 days without getting authorization from this Chamber.

Now, in this case, America had not been threatened in the fashion envisioned in the War Powers Act, but the President went to war anyway. So in that case we shouldn't have been under the 60 days. But many of my colleagues in the majority thought that applied, and so we voted time and time and time again. And time and time again my colleagues failed to honor the Constitution and say to the President: Stop and get an authorization because that is what the Constitution says.

But then the House held a vote, and the House voted to actually pass a War Powers Resolution. And it automatically came over here, and it automatically came up on the floor. And we passed it this week 50 to 48. We adopted it. And that concurrent resolution--this one right here--this says: Mr. President, stop military hostilities unless you get authorization from Congress.

Here is the exact wording:

Congress directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And at the close of it, it notes that action can only occur if it is ``explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force against Iran.''

So, Mr. President--and I am speaking Mr. President of the United States of America--Congress has spoken, exercising its power under the Constitution. You cannot restart hostilities against Iran unless you get an authorization.

You know, in 2015, many mocked the JCPOA. They said war is the only way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. But now here we are at this moment, and it turns out that we had the war and that diplomacy is the only way to actually stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.

And that JCPOA, it restricted Iran's nuclear stockpile to 300 kilograms--that is 300 kilograms of uranium--and prohibited uranium enrichment above 3.67 percent. That is a very low level, way lower than bomb level. It shipped their more highly enriched uranium out of Iran to be under the care and supervision of another country. It dismantled and removed the bulk of their centrifuges. It created vigorous-- vigorous--verification by international inspectors.

There were a lot of details that were worked out to ensure that there was no path to a nuclear bomb. And, in fact, it required them to dismantle their plutonium reactor in Iran called the Arak reactor. It took 2 years to negotiate.

And our Republican colleagues cheered when Donald Trump tore up that extensive, detailed agreement blocking the path to a nuclear weapon. They cheered when President Trump tore it up.

Well, I don't hear any cheering now, when it turns out this war of choice has hurt everyone, in every possible way. More than 100 days of war, and Iran still has their enriched uranium. And because Donald Trump tore up the JCPOA, they now have 1,000 pounds of more highly enriched uranium, enriched to 60 percent, enough for 10 nuclear weapons, because Donald Trump tore up the agreement that blocked that from happening.

In return for ending the war, Iran has agreed to just 60 days of negotiating in which they will talk about maybe returning to some of the framework of the JCPOA. Pretty humiliating for Donald Trump.

But humiliation is not the question. I hope the President and his team will be successful in the negotiation to restore the many elements that blocked the path to a nuclear weapon. That is in the interest of all of us. I have little hope, however, that they will reach that agreement in 2 months, in 60 days.

So here is my crystal ball, Jeff's crystal ball: No detailed agreement on Iran nuclear material will be signed by mid-August when the 60 days expire. I hope I am wrong.

It is also the case that we have a law that says any nuclear deal must be submitted to Congress. So let's make sure that law is followed.

We have seen the costs in blood and treasure when a President goes it alone. We have been reminded of the wisdom of our Founders, who said the President is not allowed, constitutionally, to go it alone. We can't afford to have that happen again. And yesterday, finally, Congress passed a bill--a resolution to rein in Trump's war. Do you know that that is the first time that we have actually done that since the 1973 War Powers Act was signed--the first time that both Chambers approved a concurrent resolution directing the President to end a military conflict? It is a powerful condemnation of President Trump's war of choice.

I will tell you, I am concerned not just about how the negotiations will go, because I know how complicated they will be from how complicated they were when President Obama undertook those negotiations. Again, I hope they are successful, but I will tell you, I am worried that they won't be. And I am worried that an angry and a humiliated Donald Trump, who has slunk away from the war like a stuck dog, is going to try to distract from all of this--distract by trying to rig the November election.

In fact, today, he was here to talk to Senators of his party about how to rig the November election, that he wants his SAVE Act passed that stops American citizens from voting that he doesn't want to vote. He doesn't want college students to vote. He doesn't want Tribal members to vote. He doesn't want women to vote. He doesn't want people living in cities to vote. And he has crafted a bill to make it very hard for those people to vote because he wants to rig the election.

And I am also worried that he will create another international incident, perhaps with an attack or further action regarding Cuba, because when Trump makes one mess, he starts a new mess in order to distract from the previous mess.

Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury has become ``Operation Epic Failure,'' devastating for the United States of America, and all Americans should be furious at this abuse of the Constitution and all the harm that has come from it.

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