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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is criticizing Republicans over congressional war powers as the financial cost of the U.S.-Iran conflict reaches at least $45.1 billion, according to the Pentagon.

Raskin says Republicans have “given away” Congress’ constitutional power over war to the president, arguing that the conflict has already created a massive financial burden for the United States.

The Pentagon has told Congress that the Iran war cost $43.6 billion through September 3, with another $1.5 billion in additional fuel costs bringing the reported total to $45.1 billion. The estimate does not include the full cost of repairing damaged U.S. military bases and other indirect expenses.

Watch the video for Raskin’s remarks, the debate over congressional war powers, and the latest figures on the cost of the Iran conflict.

#JamieRaskin #Raskin #IranWar #Trump #USIranWar #WarPowers #Congress #Republicans #GOP #Pentagon #Iran #USPolitics #WarCost #45Billion #BreakingNews

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00:00The Republicans have given away the congressional power over war.
00:05We declare war, according to the Constitution.
00:08They've given that power away to the president,
00:10and now we are in a disastrous, catastrophic war
00:13that's already cost us more than $45 billion.
00:16They've given away our power over tariffs and taxes.
00:22So Trump imposed an illegal, unconstitutional tariff,
00:26the largest tax in American history.
00:28I'm so thrilled to be here with the Portsmouth County,
00:31or Portsmouth City Dems.
00:34And this is a great Democratic Party that you've got here.
00:37You've got extraordinary candidates.
00:39And I got to actually fulfill one of the dreams I've had
00:44ever since I met Chris Pappas,
00:46because I've been hearing about the Puritan restaurant for seven years.
00:52And then I was reading the newspaper,
00:54and I saw that Chris's opponent said something like,
00:58you know, he should go back to bussing tables at the Puritan restaurant.
01:03So I got to eat at the Puritan restaurant,
01:05and I got to meet the people who were bussing the tables and serving.
01:09And guess what?
01:09They love Chris Pappas, and they're voting for Chris Pappas.
01:16And the food was awesome.
01:18And that is, I know, a Pappas family tradition going back more than a century.
01:22And it was a thrill to get to be at that beautiful, wholesome, nutritious restaurant.
01:28That was very cool.
01:30But I've come from the free state to be with you guys on this Saturday
01:34because of the fundamental importance of this race.
01:37You are at the crossroads of history here.
01:41The Portsmouth Democrats, the New Hampshire Democrats and independents,
01:45and Republicans who are beginning to disaffect and melt away and come our way,
01:51and they're a little apologetic about what they've been part of.
01:55But this massive coalition we're building is going to take back the U.S. Senate
02:00and the U.S. House of Representatives for the Democrats.
02:03We're going to do it.
02:08And I brought you a slogan from Maryland that you're free to use in organizing young people.
02:16We had our Democracy Summer Project all across America now.
02:20We had nearly 2,000 young people working with us in the summer.
02:24But we've been going out and telling the young people a very simple dictum
02:30for everything that you need to know about voting in America.
02:34Because everything you need to know about voting is everything you need to know about driving.
02:39If you want to go forward, you put it in D.
02:43If you want to go backwards, you put it in R.
02:46That's all you need to understand.
02:54On the way out, I had to stop at the reflecting pool
03:00because they tried to set up my constituent, Davey Hearn,
03:05a three-time Olympic canoeist on the reflecting pool job.
03:10That was done by Donald Trump's pool guy from Mar-a-Lago
03:15who got the insider no-bid contract to repaint the color of the reflecting pool
03:25so it would be more to Donald Trump's aesthetic liking
03:28because you know he's spending his time on important things like that.
03:32And so anyway, Davey was on a bike ride
03:36and had heard about this toxic algae pollution
03:41that was now crawling over the banks of the reflecting pool
03:44and he went and he stopped and he dipped his hand in the water.
03:47Federal agents pounced on him.
03:49He was held for five hours.
03:52And then they charged him with felony destruction of federal property.
03:58It was a completely trumped-up prosecution.
04:04And the Department of Interior had to admit
04:07it was a botched installation by the contractor
04:10who has since admitted his mistake
04:12and so they had to drop the charges.
04:15The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,
04:17someone named Janine Pirro, had to drop the charges.
04:22But Trump still wanted to keep on going.
04:24So I wrote her a letter and I said,
04:27get your hands off of my constituents.
04:29And by the way, if you're still investigating
04:32felony destruction of federal government property in Washington,
04:37I've got some very strong leads
04:40about who bulldozed the East Wing of the White House
04:44causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.
04:46And we've got some very good leads
04:49on who's scrawling their name and graffiti defacing the Kennedy Center.
04:55We know about that too.
04:57So look, the Republicans, as Chris says here,
05:01the Republicans have given away the congressional power over war.
05:06We declare war, according to the Constitution.
05:09They've given that power away to the president
05:11and now we are in a disastrous, catastrophic war
05:15that's already cost us more than $45 billion.
05:17They've given away our power over tariffs and taxes.
05:24So Trump imposed an illegal, unconstitutional tariff,
05:28the largest tax in American history that was so bad,
05:32it was struck down even by Donald Trump's own
05:34gerrymandered, stacked and packed Supreme Court.
05:37They struck it down.
05:39The Republicans have given away our power over federal buildings.
05:43We've got the power over the White House and the Kennedy Center.
05:47If he can bulldoze the East Wing, he can bulldoze the West Wing.
05:51He could burn the whole thing down like the British did in the War of 1812.
05:55We need a senator for New Hampshire.
05:57We need a Congress that will stand up for the powers of Congress
06:01and the rights of the American people.
06:12Chris Pappas is a model public servant.
06:16I've been in politics long enough now I can recognize justice politicians and power politicians.
06:22People who are in it for themselves, their power, their wealth.
06:25We've got one right at the top of the government here.
06:27And people who are in it to represent their communities, to make progress for everybody.
06:33Chris Pappas is the model justice politician.
06:36You've got him.
06:37You've elected him already.
06:39Send him to the U.S. Senate.
06:40I'm going to leave you with the words of two of the great democracy patriots I've kept close in my
06:45heart
06:45as I'm going out to try to campaign for the great Democrats across America.
06:50One is Frederick Douglass, who was born 40 minutes away from my house at the Y River Plantation into slavery.
06:56And he escaped from slavery to become a great freedom fighter through the Civil War, through Reconstruction.
07:01And he said, if there's no struggle, there's no progress.
07:04And the struggle may be moral.
07:06It may be physical.
07:07It may be moral and physical.
07:08But there must be struggle.
07:10Power concedes nothing without a demand.
07:12It never has.
07:13And it never will.
07:14A message to you from the free state.
07:16And I'll leave you finally with the words of the great Tom Paine, who came over here in 1774.
07:23And he fell in love with the promise of America.
07:26He said, if this land lives up to its values and ideals, it will become, he said, an asylum to
07:31humanity.
07:33Not an insane asylum, mind you.
07:35But a place of refuge for people seeking freedom from religious, political, intellectual, economic oppression all over the world.
07:44And then he wrote Common Sense, the pamphlet that ignited the American Revolution.
07:49George Washington had the troops at Valley Forge reading it by campfire light to each other every night.
07:55But that was a tough year, 1776.
07:58We like to think everybody was together in fighting for freedom and independence.
08:03But it wasn't like that.
08:05Half of the people were running around saying, you can't beat the greatest military empire that ever existed.
08:09And you can't beat the greatest Navy that ever existed.
08:12You can't disentangle church and state in a freedom of speech and freedom of thought.
08:16And half the people said, you know what, let's give it a try.
08:19Like, let's pledge to each other our lives, our property, our sacred honor for the principles of democratic self-government
08:27and freedom.
08:28Which has been at the heart, I know, of the New Hampshire experiment.
08:31So anyway, Paine wanted to write this other pamphlet to give people a sense of courage and backbone moving through
08:38a tough time.
08:39And I'm just going to quote to you a little passage from his pamphlet, The American Crisis.
08:46And I'm going to update the language pursuant to strict instructions from Nancy Pelosi, who said that, you know, Paine
08:54was a feminist.
08:55He wouldn't mind.
08:56And he was fighting for women's voting rights in the 18th century.
08:58But he said this, he said, these are the times that try men and women's souls.
09:02The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink at this moment from the service of their cause and their
09:09country.
09:09But everyone that stands with us now will win the love and the favor and the affection of every man
09:15and every woman for all time.
09:18Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered.
09:20But we have this saving consolation.
09:23The more difficult to struggle, the more glorious in the end will be our victory.
09:27Let's make that victory.
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