Tammy Baldwin: “I rise today again to make a final plea to my colleagues. This President has campaigned for years and espoused the…”

“I rise today again to make a final plea to my colleagues. This President has campaigned for years and espoused the principle of no new foreign wars. Look, this is something I wholeheartedly agree with him on. This sentiment, of course, is, in part, a reaction to the United States' forever wars in the Middle East, and that is the irony of this. So much of what we have seen over the last 50 days has parallels with the war in Iraq. In both wars, we went to war under false pretenses of a threat to our security. In both wars, we had zero plans for the days to come and failed to outline our specific goals. In both wars, we had zero strategy to get out. And in both wars, we had servicemembers dying overseas for a cause that Americans did not support. But there is one key difference: In 2001, President Bush made his case to Congress and got signoff. We had public hearings and an open debate about the cost of a war--the cost to the American taxpayers, the cost to military families. Congress then voted on it. Look, I voted against the Iraq war, and all my fears were sadly proven right, but at least the American people had a say in it. This time around, President Trump--who has over and over again called this a war--hasn't bothered to make his case to the American people. They have bypassed the people's branch and skirted our very Constitution. Let's be clear: This Chamber is not powerless. We do have the power to rein in this President when he breaks a promise and breaks the law.”