Duckworth Statement on Senate Republicans Choosing Fealty to Trump Over Our Troops’ Lives and their Constitutional Duty by Blocking Iran War Powers Resolution

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today issued the following statement after Senate Republicans shamefully blocked U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) bipartisan War Powers Resolution that would’ve blocked Donald Trump’s illegal war of choice against Iran that has tragically already taken the lives of six U.S. servicemembers and wounded many others:
“I would never wish another needless, endless, unjustified war like the one I served in on anybody else. In the days following Donald Trump’s reckless decision to launch an unconstitutional war of choice against Iran, it is clear he carries no such sentiment. The man who couldn’t be bothered to serve in uniform himself has no problem throwing our servicemembers and our nation into a war without any known imminent threat or serious effort to justify to the American people why he is once again turning back on his promise that he would get our nation out of wars, not into them.
“Our troops are always ready to do their jobs, no matter what. It is an insult to their service that Senate Republicans have neglected to do their own by cowardly ceding our chamber’s authority and greenlighting Trump’s lawless recklessness that has already killed six servicemembers. I want to see the Iranian people free from the iron grip of its brutal authoritarian regime, and I’m not about to shed a tear for the Ayatollah’s death. But my first concern will always be the national security of the United States, and I’m gravely troubled by the consequences that are sure to become of Trump and my Republican colleagues’ actions.
“It’s much easier to ignore the everyday realities of war from inside the hallowed halls of Washington. But it’s nearly impossible if you’ve been outside the wire yourself. We ask a lot of tough things of our troops and military families—the least Senate Republicans could’ve done is their job. But today, they decided once again that kowtowing to Donald Trump was more important than doing the bare minimum for our servicemembers and the American people.”
Duckworth, who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, is a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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