Washington, D.C. – Following President Trump’s unconstitutional strikes against Iran, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—issued the following statement:
“The Constitution is clear: Congress has the power to declare war, not the president.
“James Madison warned us: ‘the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. [The Constitution] has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature.’
“Donald Trump is not a king. These strikes are wrong and unauthorized.
“We know where this road leads. Over two decades of war, more than 7,000 American servicemembers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 50,000 were wounded. More than $8 trillion was squandered. Families carry that pain for generations.
“The Iranian regime’s human rights abuses and its support for violent proxies across the region are unacceptable. But those realities do not give a President the authority to start a war. The so-called President of ‘peace’ is anything but.
“I pray for our servicemembers, who are now in harm’s way because of this reckless decision.
“The Senate must immediately vote on the War Powers Resolution and reassert Congress’s authority. There is one message every member of Congress should make clear: No war with Iran.”
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