{"id":22543,"date":"2025-06-28T14:13:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T18:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=22543"},"modified":"2025-06-28T14:13:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T18:13:36","slug":"merkley-senate-fails-constitutional-test-on-trumps-strikes-against-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-senate-fails-constitutional-test-on-trumps-strikes-against-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley: Senate Fails\u00a0Constitutional Test on Trump\u2019s Strikes\u00a0Against\u00a0Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2014today issued the following statement after the Senate failed to advance\u00a0Senator Tim Kaine\u2019s (D-VA)\u00a0War Powers Resolution<\/a>, which would have required the United States to end unauthorized military involvement in Iran and forcing a debate and vote on the use of force:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Constitution is clear: Congress has the power to declare war, not the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo prevent another disastrous forever war, Congress must reassert its constitutional authority. The Senate once again failed that test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: Trump\u2019s unconstitutional strikes on Iran were\u202fwrong\u202fon all counts\u2014undermining regional stability and diplomatic efforts at a critical moment and risking a regional war that would have put American troops, diplomats, and civilians in danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we can all agree that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon, preventing that requires following U.S. law and a renewed commitment to diplomacy, like the negotiations that produced the JCPOA, which Trump recklessly abandoned in his first term. President Trump now faces a choice: return to diplomacy or become yet another Republican President who dragged us into another forever war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMembers of Congress took an oath to the Constitution, not the President. We must reassert Congress\u2019 constitutional authority to declare war and double down on diplomacy to secure a durable peace. We owe it to our servicemembers\u2014and to the American people\u2014to debate and vote before sending U.S. troops into harm\u2019s way. Anything less is a betrayal of that oath.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Merkley\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor in support of Senator Kaine\u2019s resolution can be found by clicking\u00a0aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley\u00a0has repeatedly\u00a0spoken\u00a0out<\/a>\u00a0against President Trump\u00a0for bringing the U.S. to the brink of another war in the Middle East and\u00a0called for the Administration<\/a>\u00a0to use its leverage to lead a renewed commitment to diplomacy. Prior to the U.S. strikes against Iran, he joined Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in introducing the\u00a0No War Against Iran Act<\/em><\/a>, legislation to prohibit the use of federal funds for any use of military force in or against Iran\u00a0without\u00a0specific Congressional authorization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2014today issued the following statement after the Senate failed to advance\u00a0Senator Tim Kaine\u2019s (D-VA)\u00a0War Powers Resolution, which would have required the United States to end unauthorized military involvement in Iran and forcing a debate and vote on the use of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":17054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-22543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-foreign-policy-and-national-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMerkley: Senate Fails\u00a0Constitutional Test on Trump\u2019s Strikes\u00a0Against\u00a0Iran - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-senate-fails-constitutional-test-on-trumps-strikes-against-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merkley: Senate Fails\u00a0Constitutional Test on Trump\u2019s Strikes\u00a0Against\u00a0Iran - 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