WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement after voting in favor of Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) War Powers Resolution on Iran:
“I want to thank our brave U.S. servicemembers who have risked, and continue to risk, their lives conducting Operation Epic Fury. I’m absolutely heartbroken for those who have lost their lives, and I pray that there won’t be any more American casualties.
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and it has been dead set on the destruction of the United States and Israel. The Iranian regime and its proxies have blood on their hands from the thousands of American and IDF troops who they have killed and wounded. For these reasons, I’ve always believed that Iran can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon and that the Iranian people deserve to have the chance at a better future. As we have seen in the recent violent crackdowns on Iranian protestors, the regime has had no hesitation in ruthlessly punishing its own innocent citizens, who have suffered for so many decades under their government’s cruelty. I shed no tears over the death of Ayatollah Khamenei and so many other leaders of the brutal Iranian regime. The world is better off without them.
“At the same time, we owe it to our servicemembers and the American people to ensure we don’t enter into another protracted conflict in the Middle East, without authorization from Congress and without concrete goals or strategy. The U.S. Constitution is clear that only Congress has the authority to declare war, and the American people are wary of open-ended wars with unclear objectives. The Trump Administration has so far failed to make the case to Congress and the American people of what they hope to accomplish and how they will protect U.S. servicemembers. That is why I voted in support of this War Powers Resolution, which still allows the United States to defend itself against imminent threats from Iran.”
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