Washington, DC —Today, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) voted to pass H.Con.Res.83 , a war powers resolution demanding the end of military action against Iran without Congressional authorization, reasserting the Constitutional authority of Congress to debate and declare war. Prior to passage of the bill, she took to the House Floor calling on Congress to pass the resolution which she and over 130 Members of Congress introduced.

A video of her remarks are available online and a transcript of her full remarks follow:

President Trump has committed an illegal and unconstitutional act of war, pushing our nation headlong into a war with Iran without any authorization from Congress — a war so devastating and costly it would make our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a picnic.

In doing so, he has undermined our national security in two critical ways. Number one, Iran is no longer complying with the Iran Nuclear Agreement and is quickly speeding forward in developing their nuclear weapons capability, putting us and the world at greater risk.

Number two, our troops in Iraq are no longer focusing on preventing a resurgence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, instead all of their efforts are now focused on Iranian forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias.

Congress must act today to stop further escalation of this war. Vote yes on H.Con.Res.83 to uphold the Constitution, which we all took an oath to support. Vote yes to stop Trump’s war with Iran.

Background: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been a Congressional leader in opposing unauthorized Presidential wars.

During the House consideration of the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act, she introduced an amendment to strike a provision within the bill that provided a blank check to the Administration to go to war with Iran without any authorization or declaration of war from Congress. Only 60 members of Congress voted to support her amendment that retained Congressional war authorities.

Through her work on the House Armed Services Committee, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard successfully included a provision in the FY20 NDAA to prevent the President from going to war with Iran without Congressional authorization. This was included in the House-version of the NDAA but was stripped from the final version of the bill, which was one of the many reasons why she voted against final passage of the bill.

Last summer, she introduced H.Res.411 , the “No More Presidential Wars” resolution which would make it an impeachable offense for a President to engage in war without Congressional authorization or continue a war that has not been authorized by Congress. She worked closely with the late former Rep. Walter Jones on this measure in the 115th Congress.

In November 2019, she led the charge in the House of Representatives to draw attention to and introduced war powers resolutions to halt President Trump’s use of U.S. armed forces to secure and defend Syrian oil fields.

About Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is serving her fourth term in the United States House representing Hawai‘i’s Second District, and serves on the House Armed Services and Financial Services Committees. She previously served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Homeland Security Committee. She was elected to the Honolulu City Council in 2010, and prior to that at age 21, was elected to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature in 2002, becoming the youngest person ever elected in the state. Tulsi Gabbard has served in the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard for 16 years, is a veteran of two Middle East deployments, and continues to serve as a Major. Learn more about Rep. Tulsi Gabbard...

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