Here and i want to salute tim kaine and this has been a passion of his for decades or years . Somewhere between decades and years. Tammy duckworth, dick durbin, they all work dedicated lee on this but i want to speak and say a few words and then i will have to go and then tim will it take over, i guess. Okay. Look, what the senate did today behind the leadership of the colleagues behind me is what we should be doing every day. Working on a bipartisan basis to make a real impact for our country. It is a rare day here in the senate and i wish we did not have to say that but it is. The senate just sent a clear shot across the bow of bipartisan majority of senators dont want the president waiting war without congressional approval. That sums up the whole thing. The president does not have the authority to go to war but democratic and publican senators have made that Crystal Clear and no president s, no president can sidestep congress when it comes to matters of war and peace. That is what the Founding Fathers embedded in our constitution on one of the most in america and we have to uphold it and that is why we are here today. The president , trump or any other president , cannot plunge the United States into an endless conflict in the middle east and today our constitution worked exactly as the framers wanted it to work. Senators Work Together to assert congress authority and served on the check of an overreaching executive branch. All 47 democrats, eight republicans stood up and said enough is enough and enough with endless wars and enough with an executive having too much leeway over the matters of war and peace and enough unilateral escalations of hostilities. We stood strong for the possible are country should not go to war without a vote of congress and now we wish there were more rural begins supporting us but i think President Trump certainly received this message. In the future, more republicans will join us. The American People dont want endless wars. And it will show, we have shown today the power of congress when we have members willing to make decisions based on what the constitution and our constituents want. Not what President Trump wants. We are supposed to use this power to prevent one branch from becoming too powerful and using our constitution. I hope and pray that this is not the last time that we will come together and make decisions on what our constituents want, not with the president wants. I hope this is not the last time we will come together and the senate will put country ahead of the party. Senator keynes war powers resolution is a new step in the right direction and will correct decades of decay and congressional power and i want to commend senator kaine, senator duckworth, senator durbin, and senator udall in so many others, this has been that long labor and it did not just happen like that and maybe miracles happen in the president will come to his sentence and he knows its the right thing to do great with that, let me turn it over to senator kaine. Thank you. I will be quick because i think others want to speak and some have to go and i will take questions. I appreciate the support of my colleagues and they are no i have been a pest about this since i got here. I said the word past and senator menendez, my ranking said we have a different word in jersey for pass. Its been an obsession of mine just because i feel so deeply that the sacrifice that our troops make and their families make and friends make is just so massive that we owe them the most careful deliberation to whether or not there should be war and that is sadly not what congress has been doing and congress has been under president s in either parties and its a step back in the right direction and i want to thank my colleagues here on the democratic side when the strike happened the killed general soleimani, dick and i were on the phone the next morning saying will only be open for one hour and we said we need to file this resolution and data files within that hour. Senator durbin and i and other joined in and i want to rot acknowledge the republicans that joined in. Some have a different view of executive legislative warmaking then we do but some were intrigued and said we would like it better if you change this or that and they gave us good suggestions in the version we called was not the original version but a version we worked out with many of the republicans who ended up voting and they gave us good suggestions to make it better and bipartisan. That is an important think matters of war and peace should not be the providence of one party or the other but when we speak in a bipartisan way then we send a message to the troops that is a message of unity and that is what the troops and their families deserve. I have loved working with my colleagues on this. Thanks, tim. Make no mistake we would not be standing here today if it werent for the efforts of it senator who showed a mastery of the subject, legislative skill, in normas patients and incredible effort on his part to work through a series of amendments, some of which were literally destructive amendments which would have ended our efforts had we not prevailed so thank you, time and again, you and your team and all of those who support you we are happy to be in that position. Last year in the United States senate you probably heard me say before we considered 22 un movements in the entire year, 22 amendments in one year and we did six amendments today. First things first, the senate has the lights on, open for business, taking up legislation and almost debating a few times. Its a refreshing and heartening and after what we have been through in the beginning of this year i hope it supports good things to come that we will Work Together on a bipartisan basis to solve problems but this one was the right to start the debate because they got to the heart of our constitutional response ability and the only branch of government with the power to declare war and i can remember i was in high school and college at the time the vietnam war divided this country bitterly and at the end of it congress stepped up and said i hope we have learned a lesson and from this point forward Congress Needs to be in on the decisionmaking going to war. The war powers act was introduced and passed over the veto of president Richard Nixon paid the republican senator from new york said this that the effort to greet the war powers act said congress has got to get up on its hind legs and fight for its right to join in the awesome decisions of war. Dad puts a finger on it. It is an authority and response ability under the constitution and it is awesome because it literally is a matter of life and death when we vote on a declaration of war. No one knows thats better than our colleague, senator duckworth who will speak shortly but today we validated our role under the constitution and i hope and sincerely hope that the president will not veto this but if he does i hope it will rally more republicans on their side to join us and override the video and this gets to the heart of why we ran to the United States senate to uphold the constitution. The junior senator from illinois is up, senator duckworth. I think my senior senator, senator durbin, this is something ive worked on since i was in thousand representatives and when i was in the house i stood up against president obamas attempt to expand a you enough to allow him additional actions back then even when i got over here to the senate it was one of the first conversations i had about the need to sunset the previous [inaudible] and have a real argument and debate over what the new authorizations should be. I think its very clear if the constitution does not give the president s power to declare war, only congress has that authority. It is regardless of who is in the white house. Congress must do its job it when i was recovering at walter reed there were protesters outside the hospital gates and especially on friday when the fresh [inaudible] they were flown in and write up at the gates and those buses with the war would have to go through those protesters and was proud they were there because they were exercising their right to free speech and they fought i fought for the right for free speech but when our troops are downrange and families are playing for their safety they need to know there is the backing of the country and they have the backing of the full congress of the United States. If they can go down and do the job and not have to worry about whether or not what they are doing and keeping of what our government wants. And so, this is why it is so important to have this debate on the au enough and to clarify Congress Role that its been five weeks since President Trump stopped the constitution, circumvented congress and watched a strike that killed general soleimani. While i am glad the man is dead and im glad he is gone to meet his maker i will tell you that that decision put Everyday Americans at greater risk because he did not have a good plan for how to react for the aftermath of the war. We have more troops in the region into the middle east and 15000 more troops in the middle east then there were President Trump took office so for man who said he would lower the number of troops in the middle east under his watch we now have 15000 more and i think that we need to have a discussion to avoid the expansion in the Mission Creep that happens. When i pointed out that secretary mark esper told me under oath that the a. M. Uf has would not authorize war with iran the administration gave other excuses as to why they were conducting this strike against soleimani. The rationale has been its fluid as water. I care that we do this but i care that we do this because i care about our troops and we truly care about our troops and the military family and the will of the world then he would be in a position to support sunsetting the oath, talking about real discussions here in congress and i am so proud of the rob wiggins who joined us and cast their affirmative vote today and as chuck said lets hope the president does not veto this so we can get on with those bipartisan work to make sure that we live up to the sacrifices of our troops. Thank you. I will be followed by senator udall. Thank you, tammy for that moving statements. Let me add that there was one thing that she said that i think is particularly moving, tim. Military families want to know when their children are out there on the line that the u. S. Government is totally behind them and we can talk about the constitution but that is a very important part of it. I know tim and his wife, and, he has a son in the military and that makes a difference and tammy knows that very well from her service. Today, this is in thank you, tim. Its been a great to be a part of your team and i think its a wonderful bipartisan victory. Today is a good day for the senates. We stood up for the constitution and for the balance of powers in a bipartisan way that is a big deal. It is pretty rare around here when it comes to some of these big constitutional issues. Some people may be asking why now when the situation has diffused somewhat. The answer is this. Under this president and his administration we know we will be on the brink of war again and we are tumbling down and they are doubling down on the failed maximum Pressure Campaign and this is president s newly emboldened and thanks he can do anything he wants and under article two and keeps saying that and repeating it over and over again so it is absolutely necessary to act now before it is too late and im glad we did. The message we sent today is unequivocal and make no mistake, this message is critical at this moment in time. We are not telling the president but we are telling the president congress has not signed off on a war with iran. The American People do not support it. Our troops and their families who deserve a congress that takes the hard vote to determine whether we put them in harms way. We cant congress has so much more work to do to reassert our authority and to take back the power that we have seated in executive branch. Any questions . [inaudible question] [inaudible question] churchill had this great statement, its not the [inaudible] i think this is the beginning of the end. Congress has advocated its response ability for so long that this vote Shows Congress and the Senate Getting back into it but its only a start because weve had to grapple with this question overran and i have a bill with senator young who in many bipartisan cosponsors that repealed the 91 and theres our need to rewrite the 20 01 a. M. Uf and the way senator duckworth was describing and we need to probably go back to the war powers act of the 1970s and updated to that Cyber Attacks and drones and theres a whole series that are vague, important and challenging that Congress Wants to hide under the desk rather than dealing with them but todays step is a good step to have a bipartisan Strong Majority in the senate saying we are taking this seriously. [inaudible question] sure, that would be a great example. Only twice in our history have we use this motion and we passed that last year and [inaudible] President Trump change the behavior and we were attacking and we were asserting where the u. S. Should not engage in fueling saudi jets and President Trump vetoed the resolution but then stopped vetoing us from doing what we wanted him to stop so this is a process of congress reasserting its rightful rule and having that dialogue with the president and we do not hurt ourselves honoring our responsibility and he will do what he do but with the Strong Majority in both houses we will end or at a minimum influence his thinking about whether another war is a good idea or not. [inaudible question] no, this was a joint resolution so this will go to the house and the house understood we did not take upstairs and theirs was a good bill for the house purposes and did not necessarily meet the requirements on the senate side and they would understand we take up our virgin version and its likely after the recess the house would take up our version and send it to the white house. You said putting the bill that there thinking about whether whether another war is a good idea or not but is there any evidence that hes thinking about this or that he hears you already in any evidence im very glad to talk and senator duckworth may need to weigh in on this too but i dont think i dont think President Trump was like the senate doesnt like this so i guess i better do Something Else and thats not the way he thanks but here is the way he thanks for he cares deeply about what the macon public thanks about this when a bill goes on his desk and his strong majorities in both houses, he knows this. When we talk to our constituents and listen to them and we know what they think about another war in the middle east right now, especially a war that might be unnecessary and a war that could have been avoided had we not torched a diplomatic deal where they blundered into and i know what virginians think about this. And what folks from illinois are saying about this. When we but this bill on the president s desk he will know what americans think about this but the president does have a sincere, i believe, it is not necessarily always consistent but it is sincere and we should probably and fewer wars and pull away from some of these wars and he says that over and over and he says that in the state of the union so when this bill im sure he could care less but if the bill getting to his desk says that weve listen to our constituents and going into another war would be a bad idea right now hes got an election hes focused on that he wants to win and looking at polls and much as the yemen resolution when he gets on his desk he could care less about us in some ways but does care what the market public thanks in a bill like this shows what the American Public thanks. If he vetoes it we cant override it but he could well be to wait and adjust behavior influences decisionmaking just like you did in the yemen situation. I dont know if senator duckworth wants to respond. I think we have to remember that hes dealing with the consequences of his action in iran with killing general soleimani. It would be the number of cases of brain injuries that have now come to the forefront and the fact that as a result of him wanting that attack we now sent an upper grade unprepared and they just got sent with [inaudible] into the middle east and we have 15000 more troops and abilities than he did before he took office and all those things he will take into consideration so when he thanks about what he will do next he will look back on the fact that by the way, i called brain injuries headaches and now weve got troops dealing with it and its a lifelong injury that our wounded will have to deal with. He is looking at 15000 more troops with the type of brigade he sent over and when he hangs his hat on or thinking on he thanks maybe he should not do this because of the Bipartisan Group of senators who pushes this forward think twice about launching this type of attack and that is great. Lets do that. Lets hope we change his behavior but we will not stop doing our job but we are the United States senate and we have to do our job. When we talk about the protests earlier of the people protesting outside walter reed that was with a war that the congress had voted to support. Our troops look back and see that. They see we are united behind them when we send them off to work, not that we are fighting about whether or not they should even be there and they arc down range. This is also a message to, yes to the president , but also to our troops, military men and women that we have to do our job as we expect them to do their job, time after time after time. How about one last one. [inaudible question]. To referee between congress. The president is doing this. There would be a tough court case. There have been a couple of, as a lawyer, before she was in congress but then i think it was maybe set aside by the second circuit, this goes way back. I just think we need to keep building on what we have gained here which is more and more of a bipartisan consensus. A number of republicans came up to me and said i would vote for this. I dont want to vote for it in the middle of this most recent thing with a run. As part of the mda or something, the general republican votes out there. The further we get away from 2001, and more people uncomfortable with being on autopilot north dakota non for 19 years. I think well start picking it up. To show just a stronger and stronger bipartisan recognition that we should be at war with iran. You can continue to stretch this definition to the mirror conducting activities in africa against this period is tied to the 911 attack. For crying out loud and we can stop bank doing our job just because you have a president was out there doing whatever he was to do. I said this before, my 21 month old toddler has more selfcontrol than the president does. So we cant just because, he will do whatever he wants. But we have to start doing our jobs. My constituencies voted for me to do my job. My job is to make sure that when it comes to matters of warranties, that we have a debate here. I will hold my colleagues accountable to that. And it make them have those debates as well. Thank you so much. [inaudible]. The majority of the towns in the panhandle they wouldnt exist if it was a the coming of the railroad. Cspan city tours on the road he scoring the story. This weekend we traveled to texas. Amarillo texas. Its in the texas panhandle. We kind of affectionately call ourselves the capital city of the panhandle. The reason arent superpower in anne arundel is we think regionally. With the help of our cable partners, will learn about the history of the city and the surrounding area. As we talk with local authors and visit historic sites, columns and yo come across ts second largest. She was in a marlow teaching from the Public School system in amarillo. In 1916, 1919 she came back and got a faculty position. We dont know what they said. But prolifically this letter both contagious so much more about this artist. If you can imagine, your self struggling with this. She so relatable. Shes not this grumpy and tight work figure. Stomach join us this saturday on cspan2 book tv. And then on sunday at 2 00 p. M. On cspan three, American History tv is a cspan city tour takes you to amarillo, texas. Sunday and 9 00 p. M. Eastern, on afterwards, selleck makes the argument against medicare for all in her latest book false premise, false promise. Just in december, there were over 4 million rest on the waiting list to get treatment. In the Cancer Treatment is not supposed to be delayed from general practitioner to treatment more than 62 days. They havent met in the uk the standard for over five years. And more important, on the World Health Organization study, the rents are at the bottom of the wrong in most industrialized countries. It. Watch afterwards on sunday night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on the tv. On cspan2. Monday christmas day, she spans washington journals life and 9 00 a. M. Eastern from mount vernon, the home library and museum of our first president george washington. The historian and ceo of mount vernon, doug ryburn. Also the start of museum week highlighting washington dc area museums with exhibits ignoring the american story. Be sure to watch museum week on
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