Approval. In the senate it is being cosponsored by senators. Let me also say that i am also pleased that the house leadership has committed to andng that a similar bill the repeal of another bill are coming up for votes and i look forward to working with them to getting our legislation passed in the senate. When i look back upon american two mosti remember the significant foreignpolicy mistakes our country made in the modern era. And those were the war in be at phnom and the war in iraq. Clear, we were led into both of those wars by a series of lies. Vietnamlt, the war in 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. Vietnam, laos,in and cambodia are almost incalculable, 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 distraction, 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 increase this stabilization 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 children, provide health care for the uninsured and underinsured. That, after all of the pain and suffering and deaths and the expenditure of chileans of dollars, the Iraqi Parliament voted earlier this vote u. S. Forces out of their country. Whonow we have a president abandoned the Nuclear Agreement with our allies has turned to a policy as collation and appears to be working as towards another disastrous war in the middle east. And let us 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 a United States senator, i personally will do everything i can to prevent such a war. Just as we were led into vietnam and iraq, the Trump Administration is misleading us on iran. They claimed that general suleimani was planning attacks on americans in the region and yet they provide no evidence. Even in a classified setting. And that is why it is so important that we are all here today, numbers of the house and because under our constitution, and let us never forget this, it is a 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 a country into a disastrous military conflict. That is why they gave the exclusive power of war and peace to the people elected. Last year, many of us worked together to pass a war powers resolution on yemen in which congress for the first time in history used the powers laid out in the 1973 war powers act to constrain the president on matters of war. While President Trump vetoed that resolution, there is no doubt that it figured prominently in. And now, nows 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. Applaud my colleagues. Senator sanders talked about the lies in vietnam. I think back to the pivotal vote on vietnam in april, 1975 when the Armed Services committee with four or five votes to continue to work. Each one lost by one vote. Most whenember the the chairman of that committee turned toward a very conservative senator who had already said or did a war in vietnam and said you need to vote no. And he said i meant to vote no but they have lied to me long enough. Bernie, i have never forgotten that. Hadny of irans missiles killed americans at military bases in iraq, i think President Trump would have acted much differently without Consulting Congress and that is a nightmare of a scenario. Trump recklessly abandoned the Nuclear Agreement that our allies had joined us on. For too long, this president have sent has sent u. S. Troops into hostilities without Congress Consent from and too often, congress has been a voting collaborator with that. And the result is endless wars with thousands of american lives lost. And millions of other lives lost and trillions of dollars wasted. Of course, whoever the president is has a right to selfdefense for an imminent threat but let us not rely on an authorization that should have been there in the first place for the use of force to remove said on who same hussein,ove saddam something that was passed. Oth of us voted against againstfy a tax now against iranks now 20 years later. As the dean of the senate, this made my blood oil. Mistaked it would be a or the senate to even have a debate on the war powers act. We read the constitution. If they saw we were a democracy, we have differences of opinion because others including senators in the president s party said it was dangerous with a lack of understanding of the l. Ngress role role. I strongly support senator sanders bill. Toshould have the courage stand up and follow the constitution and vote, vote, vote. Thank you. You, senator sanders for your leadership and encourage in topping war. Thank you, senator leahy for your advocacy on human rights. Us be very clear the power of congress is the power of the first. Caucus,e progressive senator sanders introduced these amendments to the National Defense authorization act which would have stopped frankly the killing against the general or anything that happened afterwards. The amendment said we will not fund and offensive strike against iran or iranian officials. Senator sanders and others of us in the progressive caucus said we should not hand money to iran without restriction. We did not stand up strong enough. That has not in the history of congress. 1969 hadhurch in amendments to stop the expansion of the war in vietnam, laos, and cambodia. He put in the National Defense authorization that they would not have any funding. And the Nixon Administration pushed back and tried to get rid of that amendment. But then, the congress did not acquiesce. They passed the Church Amendment to prohibit and stop the wars expansion. 1972, senator church again introduced an amendment to stop any funding for vietnam and the war and there is no quinces and that in 1976, congress stopped funding for the fight against angola. And the communist regime there. Congress in the past has been willing to exercise the power of the first. It is only in this century that we have not. We shouldve stopped the escalation in iraq. In afghanistan. But now, we must stop the escalation in iran. We are not an innocent body. We get to decide who gets funding for military operations and this will says absolutely no funding or an offensive war in iran. Start i you, i want to commending senator sanders and forressman ro khanna introducing this legislation that my colleagues and i are here to stop the war in iran. Reaffirmsbill does is two important principles in the constitution. One, that congress has the power to declare war and number two, we have the power the purse. What this act says to moms and dads across the country who pay taxes to their federal government that we are not going to send your sons and daughters to a war in a ron unless in iran unless the congress has acted. It is that simple. President trump should not be able to take taxpayer dollars to send those kids to war unless congress acts. Now, this bill was very clear that you can, of course, fund acts of legitimate selfdefense. But what we have seen from this president , as recently as yesterday from the folks he sent up onto the hill, is that there was no evidence to some were their claim that there was an imminent attack on our forces or the United States. Not. At none. So what we have seen is a repeat of what we saw in those earlier cases that have been mentioned. In vietnam and more recently in where peopleraq manipulated facts, manipulated intelligence, and manipulated the application of the law to justify unnecessary wars of choice. Act is Something Else that is very important. It reaffirms that the two dozen one and 2002 authorizations do not give the president the authority to go to war. I want to thank barbara lee for her work over many years on that issue as we have just seen in the last couple of weeks, people like Vice President pence Vice President pence hall out the totally false, totally debunked suggestion that you ran was somehow that iran was somehow part of the 9 11 attacks. That is an established live. Iran has done a lot of bad things and we all agree on that but to try to manipulate the facts once again . To try to justify perhaps using the 2001 authorization to attack. Ran and other efforts this legislation is absolutely essential. What we have seen from the president s a tax and actions over the last three years including the recent attack is simply to make americans less safe. And to make iraq and that region more unstable. We need to use our authority to stop that and that is what this is all about. Again, i want to thank all of the members here for working to unnecessary war with iran. Thank you, very much in the morning. Let me first thank senator sanders and congressman ro khanna for a study, consistent, and bold leadership. And also, i want to thank all of our senators here today who have come to say this cycle of violence has got to stop. Make no mistake, donald trump is responsible for this crisis. Since shunned diplomacy day one filling his cabinet with mongereers with war rs and war hawks. Today, 19 years ice den with my colleagues and say the American People do not want another unnecessary war of choice in the middle east. Let me be clear the dangerous and reckless actions taken by donald trump has brought us to the brink of an allout war with iran and has made us less safe. Ever, Congress Needs to exercise our Constitutional Responsibilities to stop these endless wars including passing senator sandersand congressman ro actnas no war with iran which i am proud to cosponsor. The power of the purse has got to be exercised and used at this point. This was passed with bipartisan support in the house in the 2020 bill but it was stripped by republicans and the Trump Administration from the bill and now we know why. We see the disastrous consequences of the war raised on faulty intelligence before. In 2002, i dont know if you remember this, but i offered an amendment when the authorization to use the literary force against iraq came to the floor. This amendment says hold up. Let us let the inspectors determine whether or not there are weapons of mass distraction in iraq. We wanted the inspectors to go supposedy these weapons of mass distraction before any military action. 72 or 73 votes unfortunately for that amendment. But even then, as flawed as the was come it was never intended to authorize future actions against a country that had personnel in iraq. Neither was the 2001 flight check which i opposed. This administration has falsely canmed that the 2002 aumf be used as authorization to attack iran. That is outrageous. U. S. Deployments carried out pursuant to the 2002 aumf, remember iraqi freedom . That ended in 2011. In the u. S. Recognizes the sovereignty of iraq and can vendors the Iraqi Government a key ally. We have known for years that there are no military solutions for the middle east and it is past time to return to a diplomatic strategy with our allies including looking at how we get back into the nuclear deal, the jcpoa. The path peas is not through waging war. Not allow this presidency responsible and irrational decisionmaking to drag us into another catastrophic war in the least. Together with the American People, we can come together and put a check on this president and stop the march to war. Again to thank you all and senator sanders and and ourman ro khanna colleagues for coming forward and raising their voices and using the power of the first to say no to work. Will finally exercise its constitutional responsibility. Thank you, again. Thank you, senator sanders for bringing us here today. The crisis we are facing today in iran was unnecessary and avoidable. Without seeking congressional authorization or presenting any clear strategy, President Trump has brought us to the brink of war. Im greatly relieved that irans retaliatory missile strike did not result in casualties of any u. S. Service caught in the middle of these hostilities. The president s actions have damaged our relationship with iraq. Their call to expel u. S. Troops will create chaos and enable isis to regain power. Make no mistake, President Trump has made us less safe. The founders of this country only congress the power to declare war. They understood the danger of giving too much power to one person. When war isood that waged, it is the American People that bear the brunt, make the sacrifice. Congress must assert its authority before it is too late. That is why i am sponsoring the act to prohibit the president from taking any further military action involving iran unless he Notifies Congress immediately and obtains our authorization. I urge my colleagues to support this critically needed will immediately. In addition, congress should debate and pass my war powers reform resolution which would appeal the 2001 and two dozen to a umf. Aumf. A clearwould require explanation of the goals of a military action. Based on the 2001 and 2002 aumf we have deployed 220 countries against terrorist groups that did not even exist when those authorizations were passed. It will stop funding for were after two years unless Congress Passes a new authorization. We as Congress Must restrain this president and future president s from using open ended authorizations to unilaterally engage in military actions of their choosing. We must end this abuse of power. We must and the abuse of the war powers act. And we must pass no war with iran act today. Thank you, senator sanders for your fierce leadership on this issue. Congressman ro khanna, it is a pleasure to work with you and senator lee, thank you for your long work. Make two points about why we are here. First, we are exercising our authority and our obligation. To assert our power over going to work. Use all ofhave to the tools in our toolbox and the our twillst tool in box is the purse. That is why the congressional endorsedve caucus has both representative ro khannas bill and representative lees andal of the aumf of 2001 2002 and were working closely with leadership to bring those to the floor in the next week. We understand several things. Number one, or is devastating. Devastating. Hundreds of thousands of people whose lives just in the war in afghanistan and iraq, that has been true. We know families are split. Countries are destroyed. And we know it continues the impact continues for generations to come. What we also know from our classified briefing yesterday and the information you have, nore was no actual evidence, raw intelligence provided to us of any imminent threat. And the result of that means that we are significantly less safe because had waste a in the we not putome had forward a maximum pressure strategy, had we not assassinated the general on false claims that somehow the this, we would be in a safer place and yet today, we stand on the brink of work and it is up to us, the u. S. Congress to reassert that fundamental authority. Americans do not want endless wars. Americans certainly want us to learn from our mistakes. It is 17 years ago next month that as an organizer, we organized the largest antiwar protest in seattle. 50,000 people strong at the seattle center. I stood with jim it german to say that we could not go to war because we did not know that there were weapons of mass destruction. Let us learn from this and past this bill as well as the repeal strong war and a powers resolution to say this is congress job and this is how we do it. Thank you, senator sanders and representative ro khanna and all of my colleagues that have in here but especially my congresswoman for her leadership in the house of representatives and to be here with senators congresswoman lee and senator gilt geoghan brand. President trump needs to follow the law and Congress Needs to hold him accountable. This bill creates a very important line that specifically calls out our actions related to iran and can help us prevent further escalation. Congress will use the power of the purse to stop from putting our men and women in harms way and that is what we need to do in passing this legislation. As my colleagues have said, even republicans of rethe president needs to be held accountable for his actions in the middle east and he cannot go to war before coming to the congress. We need a strategy to deal with our allies and Diplomatic Solutions for the region. We do not need to start another war and we need to make sure that congress does its job by using the power of the purse. I think my colleagues for being here today. Sen. Sanders any questions . Reporter you were at the this attack. Rding you describe it as evidence being lacking. And you put air quotes around imminent. What more would you like to see from the administration about their response . Sen. Sanders you dont have to take my word for it. I think you can hear what several republican sanders what several republican senators that were in the briefing had to say. The bottom line is we did not hear there was any imminent attack being planned against the United States. Yes . Topic of thethe briefing, were there specific issues that you were disappointed on . Sen. Sanders i was disappointed in the overall quality of the briefing. Win the if you election, how long would you want to keep u. S. Forces in . Sen. Sanders i voted against the war in iraq and against the first gulf war. I will do my best as president to bring our troops home as soon as possible but i will not do it through a tweet or by creating a situation where we are kicked out of a country. What we need to do is work with the government of iraq and other allies in the region and make sure that in an orderly way, we bring our troops home. Reporter given the situation, what steps can President Trump take . Comesanders first of all he needs to understand and come to congress and say i have read the constitution of the United States and i have no intention of engaging in warfare unless i have authorization from the United States congress. That would be the most important thing he could do. Reporter [indiscernible] sen. Sanders that is a question. And i think it is fair to say this is not a new problem. Others of you can jump in as well. Perhaps the answer has been the fear that someone will be seen. S soft on terrorism the truth is we have seen under republican and democratic administrations, congress not utilizing its responsibility under the constitution. Herevery happy our methods mentioned that as a result of the disastrous, horrific saudi led intervention in yemen which has cost the lives of tens of thousands of poor people in a desperate country, finally the house and the senate did the right thing but unfortunately it was vetoed by the president. We finally utilized the authorization of the war powers act to do the right thing. Reporter are you going to call for any of this to be declassified . Sen. Sanders as much information as the American People can receive is justified. I just wanted to call your attention to one statement that the pentagon publicly issued after the assassination. And thisent said was the final conclusion of their statement. The final paragraph was that the military action was conducted to prevent and inter and i am paraphrasing but to prevent and inter future attacks. Imminentates to the threat, im still trying to understand what future attacks meant did it mean imminent . Past . Future . I would hope the press would drill down more with the pentagon because they did not use imminent threat in the initial statement. And also as to why congress has been missing in action i think senator sanders is correct in terms of the notion that reining in any president would mean we are soft on terrorism which we are not. I believe that the public has been way ahead of members of congress and now the voice of the people is being heard very clearly and loudly that they do not want another war. Sen. Sanders thank you. Our campaign 2020 live coverage continues sunday at 3 00 eastern with senator Michael Bennet in bedford, new hampshire. Watch live on cspan, on demand at cspan. Org or listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. Live friday on the cspan returns at the house 9 00 eastern for work on epa regulations that would require a designation of a Certain Group of chemicals as hazardous. , armypan2 at 9 00 secretary Ryan Mccarthy will speak at the Brookings Institution about how a modernized army will operate in the indo pacific. On cease on cspan3 at 9 30 a. M. , analysts from the u. S. And china will talk about the emerging economic challenges for china as it sets out each its centennial goals in the next three decades. Isjoining us from california our guest, the ia