Washington, D.C. \u2013 Amid President Trump\u2019s threats against Iran, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2014issued the following statement warning against unilateral military action without consultation and authorization from Congress:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cDespite Trump claiming to be a president who would choose peace, we are once again watching a Republican president drag us into another war in the Middle East. Any decision to launch military action without congressional authorization would violate the Constitution, undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts, and risk putting American troops and innocent civilians in the crossfire.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI strongly condemn the Iranian regime\u2019s repression at home and abroad\u2014which includes human rights abuses against the Iranian people and its support for violent proxies in the region\u2014but these realities do not justify unilateral U.S. military action or regime change, nor do they override the Constitution. They certainly do not give the President the authority to move this country toward another war on his own, which doesn\u2019t make Americans safer or put \u2018America First.\u2019<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war. That power does <\/strong>not belong to any one president.<\/strong> <\/strong>The American people, including our men and women in uniform, deserve a full debate about the objectives, the risks, and the consequences of any potential war with Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe American people are tired of endless wars. We cannot allow this nation to be pulled into another one without debate, authorization, and accountability\u2014no war with Iran.\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, D.C. \u2013 Amid President Trump\u2019s threats against Iran, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2014issued the following statement warning against unilateral military action without consultation and authorization from Congress: \u201cDespite Trump claiming to be a president who would choose peace, we are once again watching a Republican president drag us into another war in the Middle East. Any decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":18846,"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-24034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-foreign-policy-and-national-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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