WATCH: Sen. Schiff Urges Congress to Assert War Powers to End Trump’s Illegal War in Iran: “Have We Learned Nothing?”

"We are at war once again without Congressional authorization. […] I believe the Founders' worst fears have come to pass."

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) denounced President Trump's illegal war with Iran which began without congressional authorization and without a public case being made prior to launching a military operation that has resulted in the death of six American servicemembers and the grave injury of others.

In remarks on the Senate floor, Schiff urged his colleagues to join him, along with Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), in reasserting Congress's war powers by passing the War Powers Resolution they have introduced to end the current military operation.

"I join my fellow cosponsors of this War Powers Resolution once again to urge your support. To demand that the president - if he believes the threat is imminent, that war is justified, that the deaths of our troops is justified, that the expenditure of billions not on the American people, not on their health care, their groceries or their housing is worth the cost - to come before this Congress, this Senate, the American people and make the case for a war authorization. To make the case now, before other servicemembers are killed. Or if not, to cease and desist from further hostilities," said Senator Schiff.

Watch his full speech HERE. Download remarks HERE.

Key Excerpts: 

On Trump unconstitutionally and unilaterally declaring war with Iran, violating Congress' sole power to declare war:

[…] The Constitution gives Congress alone the power to declare war. That power was placed in our hands by our Founders, not by accident, but by design. They feared an executive grown too fond of war-making. And given that now this is at least the third broad use of military force by this president, I believe the Founders' worst fears have come to pass. He is too fond of going to war, to gain the oil assets of one country, and to engage in the regime change of another.

On the increasing loss of American servicemembers:

[…] It is a war that the president declared, incidentally, almost accidentally, when he talked about the prospect of casualties among our brave servicemembers being a possible outcome. An outcome that has already, all too tragically come to pass with the deaths of six of our troops and the grave injury of others. The massive size of the deployment also makes clear this is war, in a real sense, in a constitutional sense.

On the long-term consequences of war with Iran:

[…] Have we learned nothing from Afghanistan, have we learned nothing from Iraq, and elsewhere that it is difficult, costly, dangerous, time-consuming, and deadly to try to change a country, to try to change a culture, to build a new nation in our image or any other? And that it is impossible to do so through the dropping of bombs, the firing of missiles, even long-term occupation?

Read the transcript of his remarks as delivered below:

We are at war. Once again. This time, with Iran.

It is a war that the president declared, incidentally, almost accidentally, when he talked about the prospect of casualties among our brave servicemembers being a possible outcome. An outcome that has already, all too tragically come to pass with the deaths of six of our troops and the grave injury of others.

The massive size of the deployment also makes clear this is war, in a real sense, in a constitutional sense.

The scale of the bombing, the danger to not only our forces in the region but to all of our regional partners, the Iranian retaliation throughout the Persian Gulf, the closing of the Straits of Hormuz, the bombing of our bases, the bombing of ships, Iranian ships and that of our allies, the length of the deployment - the president says it could be weeks, at least a month or more. He is unwilling to rule out the threat of boots on the ground - American boots on the ground. The president says he may go there. All of this inescapably points to the fact we are at war.

We are at war. Once again. Once again, we are at war without imminent threat of attack.

The president said the Iranian nuclear capability had been obliterated. That was false, but there was no evidence presented by the president that the Iranians were making a mad dash to develop the bomb, no evidence that the centrifuges were spinning out bomb grade uranium, no evidence they were close to developing the mechanism of the bomb. None. Despite the president's bizarre claim they were two weeks away from having a bomb - there is no evidence to support such a baseless, intelligence free claim. Nor is there evidence that the Iranians had developed a missile capability that could hit the United States. None.

And to suggest such things brings painfully to mind the false claims, the overhype of intelligence that got us into the war in Iraq. Have we learned nothing?

We are at war. Once again. We are at war once again without Congressional authorization.

The Constitution gives Congress alone the power to declare war. That power was placed in our hands by our Founders, not by accident, but by design. They feared an executive grown too fond of war-making. And given that now this is at least the third broad use of military force by this president, I believe the Founders' worst fears have come to pass. He is too fond of going to war, to gain the oil assets of one country, and to engage in the regime change of another.

Have we given up on any semblance of allegiance to that part of our Constitution - the War Power - even as we appear to have surrendered our other great power, the power of the purse? Are we now mere constitutional afterthought? Not a paper tiger, indeed not a tiger at all. Unable to constrain a runaway executive, unwilling even to demand a vote on an authorization to use force when our troops are getting killed, uncomprehending of the long term damage we do to our system of checks and balances, of the license we are giving a future president to do as they please, make war as they will, and be confident that Congress will not make a peep? Of the license we give to other powers around the world to use force, not diplomacy, in Ukraine, Taiwan, or elsewhere.

We are at war. Once again. We are war once again over regime change.

We have killed the Ayatollah Khamenei. Good riddance. He was a brutal dictator who slaughtered his own people, sponsored terrorism around the region for decades that claimed American lives and threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Good riddance. Our military attack killed him and over forty other leaders of the regime. This may have only rid the world of part of the regime, but make no mistake, this war is about regime change.

The president has urged Iranians to rise up and take control of their country. He has told them that this may be the last chance they have to do so. He has bragged that no other president has given them this opportunity. Pete Hegseth may try to deny it, but this is what regime change is all about.

And regime change is messy. Don't take my word for it, take his, the president. This president who says that regime change wars unleash chaos. Yes, they do, and that is what this war has unleashed.

And what of the brave Iranian people who have been urged to rise up against their rulers, to bring down armed IRGC goons, without having the arms themselves to do so? If they do, are we prepared to support them? If they are mowed down, will we come to their rescue? Or will we simply mourn their passing? What is the plan? What are the contingencies? Why has the president left our country, and the Iranian people in the dark? Could it be because there is no plan? There is only a hope?

Have we learned nothing from Afghanistan, have we learned nothing from Iraq, and elsewhere that it is difficult, costly, dangerous, time-consuming, and deadly to try to change a country, to try to change a culture, to build a new nation in our image or any other? And that it is impossible to do so through the dropping of bombs, the firing of missiles, even long-term occupation?

My fellow Americans, we are at war once again. And I join my fellow cosponsors of this War Powers Resolution once again to urge your support. To demand that the president - if he believes the threat is imminent, that war is justified, that the deaths of our troops is justified, that the expenditure of billions not on the American people, not on their health care, their groceries or their housing is worth the cost - to come before this Congress, this Senate, the American people and make the case for a war authorization. To make the case now, before other servicemembers are killed. Or if not, to cease and desist from further hostilities.

###