Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Votes to Pass War Powers Resolution

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaiʻi today voted to pass a war powers resolution demanding the end of military action against Iran without Congressional authorization.

House Concurrent Resolution 83 also reasserts the Constitutional authority of Congress to debate and declare war. Prior to passage of the bill, she took to the House Floor calling on Congress to pass the resolution which she and more than 130 Members of Congress introduced.

A transcript of her full remarks is posted below:

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“President Trump has committed an illegal and unconstitutional act of war, pushing our nation headlong into a war with Iran without any authorization from Congress — a war so devastating and costly it would make our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a picnic.

In doing so, he has undermined our national security in two critical ways. Number one, Iran is no longer complying with the Iran Nuclear Agreement and is quickly speeding forward in developing their nuclear weapons capability, putting us and the world at greater risk.

Number two, our troops in Iraq are no longer focusing on preventing a resurgence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, instead all of their efforts are now focused on Iranian forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias.

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Congress must act today to stop further escalation of this war. Vote yes on H.Con.Res.83 to uphold the Constitution, which we all took an oath to support. Vote yes to stop Trump’s war with Iran.”

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has expressed opposition to what she calls “unauthorized Presidential wars.”

During the House consideration of the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act, she introduced an amendment to strike a provision within the bill that she said “provided a blank check to the Administration to go to war with Iran” without any authorization or declaration of war from Congress. Only 60 members of Congress voted to support her amendment that retained Congressional war authorities.

Through her work on the House Armed Services Committee, Congresswoman Gabbard included a provision in the FY20 NDAA to prevent the President from going to war with Iran without Congressional authorization. This was included in the House-version of the NDAA but was stripped from the final version of the bill, which she said was one of the reasons why she voted against final passage of the bill.

Last summer, she introduced H.Res.411, the “No More Presidential Wars” resolution which would make it an impeachable offense for a President to engage in war without Congressional authorization or continue a war that has not been authorized by Congress. She worked closely with the late former Rep. Walter Jones on this measure in the 115th Congress.

In November 2019, she led the charge in the House of Representatives to draw attention to and introduced war powers resolutions to halt President Trump’s use of U.S. armed forces to secure and defend Syrian oil fields.

She has called on the Administration to end its armed support of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen’s Civil War, highlighted what she called “the catastrophic impact it has had on Yemen’s civilian population,” and led bipartisan efforts to oppose US involvement in the conflict.