During Senate Floor debate, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke in support of a war powers resolution to require Congressional approval prior to U.S. military action against Iran.
00:01The Constitution is clear. Congress, not the President, has the authority to declare war.
00:09The Founders were unanimous in proclaiming that the power to declare war belonged exclusively to Congress.
00:17James Madison, the father of the Constitution, said that the executive branch was the branch most prone to war.
00:24Therefore, the Constitution, with studied care, vested that power in the legislature.
00:31Madison would further state that in no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war and peace to the legislature and not to the executive branch.
00:45Hamilton, who didn't always agree with Madison or Jefferson, wrote that the legislature can alone declare war, can alone transfer the nation from a state of peace to a state of war.
00:57And if the legislature has a right to make war on one hand, it is on the other hand the duty of the executive to preserve peace till war is declared.
01:09Madison and Hamilton had very different visions of executive power, yet they both agreed that it was vitally important to entrust the power to declare war to Congress, not the executive branch.
01:22George Washington remarked that the Constitution vests the power of declaring war with Congress.
01:29Therefore, no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.
01:42No offensive expedition without congressional approval.
01:46St. George Tucker, a Revolutionary War-era law professor, wrote in 1803 of how our Constitution diverged from the English tradition.
01:57He wrote,
01:58In England, the right of making war is in the king.
02:03With us, the representatives of the people have the right to decide this important question.
02:08It is without question that Congress neither deliberated nor authorized the recent offensive military action against Iran.
02:18Each of us has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution,
02:21Deferring the decision as to when, where, and why the country goes to the war to any president is a dereliction of duty on the part of Congress.
02:33To commit America's military to fight wars on behalf of the nation is the most consequential and humbling responsibility that Congress is entrusted with.
02:42If we are to ask our young men and women to fight and potentially give their lives,
02:47then we in this body can at least muster the courage to debate if American military intervention is warranted.
02:55Washington's record of involvement in the greater Middle East is particularly abysmal,
03:00with dozens of campaigns costing thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars.
03:06Afghanistan,
03:07Afghanistan,
03:08Iraq,
03:09Syria,
03:10Lebanon,
03:11Pakistan,
03:12Yemen,
03:13Sudan,
03:14Somalia,
03:15and now Iran.
03:16All countries in the region that the U.S. has bombed or is bombing.
03:21In each case, the hawks in Washington were adamant that the U.S. military intervention would lead to a glorious future and a great peace.
03:31Instead, after tragically losing thousands of lives and trillions of lives,
03:36the U.S. is not in a better strategic position thanks to our interventions.
03:42After September 11th, a generation of brave Americans answered the call to serve,
03:47many enduring multiple deployments in the region.
03:51Some 7,000 U.S. service members paid the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror.
03:57Tens of thousands more carry with them the scars of war,
