WATCH: “It Isn’t Worth the Costs,” Sen. Schiff Slams the Burden Trump’s Iran War is Putting on American Families, Servicemembers on NBC’s Meet the Press

Schiff: "Let's think about what is being lost right now, and that is all of these billions, this $11 billion just within the first few days. That's money that could have gone into new hospitals and new schools. It could have gone into health care for people. It could have gone into meeting the needs of the American people."

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined NBC's Meet the Press with Kristen Welker to call out the burden that Trump's Iran War is putting on American families and U.S. servicemembers, including how the affordability crisis has been exacerbated by the ongoing chaos in the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition, Schiff highlighted the threats created to Americans when we ease sanctions on Russia, an actor that is reportedly providing material supporting the Iranian regime's continued attack on the United States.

Schiff also discussed the continued shutdown of key Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies, which Senate Republicans refused to reopen this week without adding additional funding for immigration enforcement agencies ICE and Border Patrol and zero reforms.

View the full interview here.

Key Excerpts: 

On the President's shifting timeline for the end of the Iran War:

[…] There are no guarantees in war, it may very well have been that when they began this war, they expected it to be over very quickly. That they thought it would be like Venezuela, except Iran isn't like Venezuela. You can't simply pick the number two Mullah to replace the number one Mullah and expect things to be any different. So, the bottom line is they don't really know when this war is going to end, and I hope and pray that it does end very soon.

On the president's broken promise to not start new wars:

I certainly concur that Iran is a terrible actor. That it engages in state sponsored terrorism, but let's remember, we had a nuclear agreement with Iran that put serious constraints on the Iranian nuclear program, and Donald Trump tore up that agreement. And when you do that, when you essentially say, diplomacy is not the way to resolve this. Then that leaves war, and that's what we are capturing now. But the president promised us he wouldn't engage in this, and there was nothing imminent about the threat from Iran.

On the U.S. easing sanctions on Russia:

I think this is a terrible decision, but it is one of the things that comes about as a result of the unpredictability of war. We are now giving Russia, essentially $140 million a day by releasing Russia from these sanctions. $140 million a day when Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to better attack and kill American troops.

And you're darn right when you ask the Secretary about this. It is rewarding Russia, and it is punishing Ukraine. And for the president, when he is criticized about lifting the sanctions on Russia to somehow turn around and blame Zelensky, blame Ukraine. No, Russia is the problem here, and we are enriching our adversary Russia at Ukraine's expense.

On his potential vote on a supplemental funding bill for the Defense Department:

[…] Let's think about what is being lost right now, and that is all of these billions, this $11 billion just within the first few days. That's money that could have gone into new hospitals and new schools. It could have gone into health care for people.It could have gone into meeting the needs of the American people. A hospital costs about $100 million that means that if we're spending a billion a day in Iran, we're effectively dropping 10 hospitals a day on Iran. And destroying the potential we would have had to make that kind of investment in our country. That's money we're never going to get back. So, the Pentagon doesn't need more money right now for this war.

On the continued shutdown of key DHS agencies:

[…] We offered vote after vote, resolution after resolution, even as recently as this week to reopen those agencies to fund them. And the Republicans voted it down.We said, let's wall off ICE funding. Let's fund these other agencies that protect the country and the Republicans, one after another, voted them down. Voted down funding TSA, voted down funding the Coast Guard, voted down funding FEMA. So, Republicans are controlling both Houses and the presidency. They can't very well blame the minority party for their own inability to govern, particularly when they're voting down democratic motions to reopen these agencies.

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