‘War is too big for any one person’: Kaine speaks on Senate floor about war powers resolution after Iran-Israel ceasefire
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Sen. Tim Kaine spoke on the Senate floor about a war powers resolution just days after Iran and Israel entered a ceasefire on the morning of June 24.
On Friday, June 27, Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, spoke about a war powers resolution he filed on June 16, nearly a week after President Donald Trump announced the United States entered the Iran-Israel conflict by bombing three nuclear sites in Iran.
After Saturday's decision, Kaine emphasized that many Americans were overwhelmingly opposed to war, Virginia lawmakers on both sides showed their concern or their support.
Kaine's resolution would cause the Senate to debate and vote about whether the president could declare war or attack Iran, ensuring Congress has a voice in decisions regarding peace, war and diplomacy.
Kaine shared that he had what he calls "100 interests and 10 passions and one obsession," with that one obsession being to "do everything in [his] power to stop the United States from getting into an unnecessary war," he said.
Sen. Tim Kaine speaking on the Senate floor about a war powers resolution on Friday, June 27.
"War is too big for any one person," he said. "I think the events of this week have demonstrated that war is too big to consign to the decisions of any one person."
He emphasized his time as governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia, which he said showed the effect of the wars since the turn of the century on "the Commonwealth and my country" and highlighted the rush to approve war powers for President George W. Bush over two decades ago in Iraq.
Kaine recalled when former President Barack Obama was contemplating military action in Syria and emphasized that he told Obama, who he calls a "friend," that he "does not have Congressional authority to do that. You need to bring this to Congress."
The senator brought out a detailed letter that six Republican members of the Senate who were in the House of Representatives wrote in August 2013. They consulted Obama to "strongly urge you to consult to receive authorization from Congress before ordering the use of military force in Syria. Your responsibility to do so is prescribed in the Constitution."
Kaine emphasized the different standards when the former members of the House urged Obama to consult Congress before engaging in military force in Iraq, to the stance they are taking with Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, and emphasized his hope that the Iran-Israel ceasefire in place works and holds.
He urged the Senate to stand up for the Constitution, the proposition that war is too big to be decided by one person and their principles when addressing Obama thinking of military use in Syria more than a decade ago.
"I pray the ceasefire continues, but I fear we're going to be back here on this floor, and I hope when we are on this floor again, members of this body will stand for the proposition that has been part of our history, that war is too beg an issue to allow one person to make the decision that sends our sons and daughters into harms way." Sen. Tim Kaine
