I mean, Great Respect for the position. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Vermont senator and 2020 democratic president ial candidate Bernie Sanders also held a News Conference earlier today. He spoke to reporters about current u. S. Relations with iran. This is about half an hour. Thank you all for being here. And let me thank all of my colleagues who are here with me this morning. And were joining together for this enormously important piece of legislation. A bill which would prevent any funds from being used for a war with iran without congressional approval. In the senate this bill has been cosponsored by senator schumer, leahy, and others. Let me also say that im very pleased that the house leadership has committed to seeing that congresswoman lees repeal of the 2002 iraq aumf both come up for votes and i look forward to working with them to get our legislation passed in the senate. When i look back upon american history, i remember the two most significant Foreign Policy mistakes our country made in the modern era. And those were the war in vietnam and the war in iraq. And let us be clear, we were led into both of those wars by a series of lies. The result, the war in vietnam cost us 59,000 american deaths and many others came home wounded in body and spirit. In fact, a whole generation, my generation, was devastated by that war. The casualties in vietnam, laos and cambodia are almost incalculable but they run into the millions of people. In 2002 and 2003, in terms of iraq, we were told over and over again that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that he was working with al qaeda, and that we needed to invade iraq unless we wanted to see another 9 11 or even worse, a nuclear attack. Those claims were lies. The war in iraq led to the deaths of some 4500 brave american troops and the wounding physical and emotional of tens of thousands of others. It led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of iraqis and the displacement of over 5 Million People and the increased destabilization of an already unstable region. The war in iraq cost us trillions of dollars, money that could have been spent to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, provide quality education for our kids, provide healthcare, for the uninsured and underinsured. And after all of that, after all of the pain and suffering and deaths and the expenditure of trillions of dollars, the Iraqi Parliament voted earlier this week to boot u. S. Forces out of their country. And now we have a president who abandoned a Nuclear Agreement we signed with our allies has turned to a policy of escalation and appears to be walking us toward another disastrous war in the middle east. And lets be clear, another war in the middle east could cost once again countless lives and trillions more dollars, more conflict, more displacement, and more misery, as the United States senator, i personally will do everything i can to prevent such a war. Just as we were led into vietnam and iraq by lies, the Trump Administration is misleading us on iran. They have justified the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by claiming that he was planning imminent attacks on hundreds of americans in the region, and yet they produce no evidence that would justify this claim, not even in a classified setting. And that is why it is so important that we are all here today, members of the senate, members of the house, because under our constitution, let us never forget this, it is the congress that has the responsibility, not the president , for waging war. Our Founding Fathers understood that it was only too easy for a president to lead the country into a disastrous military conflict. That is why they gave the exclusive power of a war to the peoples of elected representatives. Last year many of us worked together to pass a war powers resolution in yemen in which congress for the first time history used the powers laid out in the 73 war powers act to constrain the president on matters of war. While President Trump vetoed that resolution, there is no question that it played a major role in signalling to the regime to the region, that the American People do not support the saudiled intervention in yemen, and now is the time for us to once again come together and make certain that the president will not have one penny to spend on a war in iran unless there is congressional authorization. Senator leahy . Thank you. I applaud my partner from vermont, bernie. When senator sanders talks about the lies in vietnam, i think back to the pivotal vote on vietnam in april of 1975, in the Armed Services committee, four or five votes to continue the war. Each one lost by one vote. I remember it very well because i was the newest most Junior Member from there. What i remember the most when that committee turned to a very very conservative senator who had always supported the war in vietnam and said did you mean to vote no . He said i meant to vote no, mr. Chairman. They have lied to me long enough. And bernie, ive never forgotten that. Now, you know, if any of irans missiles had killed american soldiers at the military bases in iraq, i think President Trump would have acted much differently and without consulting congress. And thats a nightmare scenario. Weve been on a path to war with iran ever since President Trump recklessly abandoned the iran Nuclear Agreement that our allies had joined us on. For too long, this president and even previous president s have sent people into war, u. S. Forces, without consulting or obtaining the con sents of congress, and too often the congress has been a willing collaborator in that. Result is endless wars, thousands of american lives lost, millions of other lives lost, trillions of dollars wasted. Now, of course whoever the president is has a right to defend, to an imminent threat. Lets not rely on an authorization that should have been there in the first place for the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein in iraq something that was passed in both [inaudible] voted against that was passed based on lies and falsehoods from the administration to justify attacks now against iran 20 years later. I got to tell you as a dean of the senate, this just made my blood boil, they said it would be a mistake for the senate to even have a debate about the president s war powers. Read the constitution. Read the constitution. He said it would embolden irans leaders if they saw there was a difference of opinion among us, if they saw were a democracy and have differences of opinion, as others including senators in the president s party said thats an insult. It is dangerous. Congress has grown this democracy. Its our job. It is our responsibility to debate and vote, especially when it involves war and peace and the lives of the men and women in our Armed Services and their families. So i strongly support senator sanders bill. We should have this debate and have the courage to stand up and follow the constitution and vote. Vote. Vote. Thank you. Thank you, senator sanders for your leadership and courage in stopping war. Thank you senator leahy for your advocacy on human rights. Must be something about the state of vermont. Lets be very clear, the power of congress is the power of the purse. We in the progressive caucus senator sanders introduced these amendments to the National Defense authorization which would have stopped frankly the Soleimani Killing or anything that happened afterwards. then the Congress Said yes. They actually passed it to prohibit expansion. In 1972, he again introduced an amendment to stop any funding or vietnam war. In 1976, congress stopped funding for the fight against ebola. Theyve been willing to exercise the power. Its only in this country that we have not. We should have stopped the escalation in iraq and in afghanistan. Now we must stop the escalation in iran. We get to decide who gets funding for these military operations and there still no funding there. Thank you. I want to start by commending senator sanders for introducing this legislation and for colleagues standing here to stop a war with iran. The constitution has been mentioned a couple times. What this bill does is reaffirms two important principles in the constitution. One that congress has the power to declare war. And two, we have the power of the first. What this act says to moms and dads across the country who pay taxes to the federal government that we are not going to send your sons and daughters to a war in iraq unless the congress has acted. Its that simple. President trump should not be able to take taxpayer dollars to send those kids to war unless congress acts. This bill is very clear that you can find acts of legitimate selfdefense but what weve seen from this president as recently as yesterday for folks on the hill is that there was no evidence to support their claim that there was an imminent attack on or forces or the United States. None. So what weve seen is a repeat in the earlier cases that have been mentioned. In vietnam and more recently in the case of iraq were people manipulate facts and intelligence and manipulated applications of the law. To justify unnecessary wars of choice. So this acts as Something Else thats very important. It reaffirms the 2001 and 2002 authorizations do not give the president the authority to go to war. How to think barbara the for all of her work over many years on the issue. Weve just seen in the last couple of weeks, like Vice President pence. I said to him, haul it out. The suggestion that iran was somehow or part of the 9 11 attacks. That was an established fly. Iran has done a lot of bad things and we all agree on that but to try to manipulate the facts again, to try to justify 2001s authorization to attack iran and other efforts maybe 2002, which doesnt apply in any way. So this legislation is absolutely essential. What weve seen from the president s attacks and actions of the last three years including the recent attacks is simply to make americans less safe. And to make iraq and that region more unstable. So we need to use our authority to stop that and thats what this is all about. I want to thank all the members here for working to stop an unnecessary war with iran. Thank you. I want to thank senator sanders and congressman for this study, consistent and bold leadership and also, i want to thank all of our senators here today who have come and say this violence has to stop. Donald trump is responsible for this crisis. He shunned diplomacy since day one. Feeling his cabinet with warmongers and warthogs. Today after 19 years of endless war with it every step of the way, i stand with my colleagues to say the American People do not want another unnecessary war in the middle east. Let me be clear. The dangerous and reckless actions taken by trump has brought us to the brink of life all out war with iran and has made us less safe. Now more than ever, Congress Needs to exercise our constitutional responsible lease to stop these endless wars. That includes passing senator sanders and congressman no war with iran act which im proud to cosponsor. Also just as an appropriate or, let me tell you. The power of the person has got to be exercised and used. Bipartisan support in the house, in the 2020 bill. It was stripped by republicans from the spell. Now we know why. Weve seen the disastrous consequences based on intelligence before. In 2002, i dont know if you remember but i offered an amendment to use military force against iraq to the floor. This amendment says hold up, lets let the inspectors determine whether or not there are weapons of mass destruction in iraq. We want the inspectors to go to verify the supposed weapons of mass destruction before any military action. I think maybe 72, 73 votes for that amendment. Even then, as flawed as the 2002 finally was, it was never intended or written to authorize future actions against the country that has personnel in iraq. Neither was the 2001 blank check which i opposed. This administration has falsely claimed the 2002 could be used as the congressional authorization to attack iran. That is outrageous. U. S. Military deployments carried out 2002 au ms iraqi freedom it officially ended in 2011. The United States recognizes the sovereignty of iran and consider the Iraqi Government a key ally. Weve known for years theres no military solution in the middle east and its past time to return to a daemonic strategy with our allies including insisting that we look at how we get back into the nuclear deal. The jc poa. The path to peace is not through waging war. We can not allow this president irresponsible and irrational decisionmaking to drag us into another catastrophic war in the middle east. Together with the American People, we can come together and put a check on this president and foster march door. I want to thank senator sanders and congressman and all of our colleagues here today. For coming forward and raising the voices and using the power to say no to war. Thank you again. Thank you. The crisis we are facing today in iran was unnecessary and avoidable. Without speaking congressional authorization or presenting any strategy President Trump has brought us to the brink of war. Greatly relieved that iran strike did not result in casualties of any u. S. Service members caught in the middle. The president actions have damaged our relationship with iraq. There call to expel u. S. Troops would create chaos and enable isis to regain their power. Make no mistake, President Trump has made up less faith. The founders of this country gave only congress the power to declare war. They understood the danger of giving too much power to one person. They understood when war is waived, the American People who bear the brunt, who make the sacrifice. Congress must assert its authority before its too late. Thats why i am sponsoring the no war with iran act, prohibit the president from taking any further military action involving iran unless he Notifies Congress immediately and obtains all authorization. I urge my colleagues to support this critically needed bill immediately. In addition, congress should face and pass my war powers reform resolution which would repeal the 2001 and 2002 au ms. The law would require a war powers authorization based on a clear explanation of the military action from adversary, the countries where the Service Members descent into conflict. Based on the 2001 and 2002 au ms, we have deployed 220 countries against terrorist groups that didnt even exist where the authorizations were passed. It will stop funding for war after two years unless congress has a new authorization. We must estrange this president and future president s from using openended authorization to unilaterally engage in military action of their choosing. We must end this abuse of power. We must end the abuse of the war powers act and we must pass no war with iran act today. Thank you. For your fierce and passionate and committed and consistent leadership on this and so many issues. Its an honor to be able to work with you. Thank you for your lungs work on this which inspired me 20 years ago. Great to be with my own home state. I want to make two points about why we are here. First, we are exercising our authority and obligation to assert our power over going to war. Second, we have to use all the tools in our toolbox in the very biggest tool in our toolbox is the power of the first. Thats why the congressional progressive caucus, 100 member strong, 40 of the Democratic Caucus has endorsed both representative lease repeal of the au ms of 2001 and 2002 and we are working closely with leadership. We hope to bring those to the floor in the next week. We understand several things. Number one, war is devastating. Its devastating. Hundreds of thousands of people lose lives just in a war, thats been true. We know families are split. We know countries are destroyed and we know it continues to impact and continues for generations to come. What we also know is from our classified breathing yesterday from all the information you have, there was no actual evidence, no intelligence provided to us of any imminent threat. The results of that means we are significantly less safe because had we stayed in the iran deal, had we not put forward a pressure strategy, had we not assassinated general soleimani on claims that somehow the 20028 ums covered, we would be in a state. Today we stand on the brink of war and its up to us, the United States congress to reassert that fundamental authority. Americans do not want endless wars. American certainly want us to learn from our mistakes. It 17th years ago next month but as an organizer, weve organized protests in seattle. 50000 people strong at the Seattle Center and i stood there to speak before the crowd congressman jimmy to say we could go to work because we did not know there were weapons of mass destruction. What is learned from this, let us pass this bill as well as the bill of a ums to say this is congresses job and its time we do it. Thank you. I want to thank my congresswoman for her leadership in the house of representatives to be here with senator lee and congresswoman lee, we need to get back to the jc poa. The u. S. Constitution is clear. The president can got go to war with the authorization without the authorization of the congress. Congress needs to hold him accountable. This bill creates the very important line that specifically calls out our actions related to iran and can help us and prevent further escalation. Congress will use the power of the first to stop from putting our men and women in harms way and thats what we need to do in this adulation. As my co