James E. Risch

“Today, I come to the floor, once again, after numerous--and I have lost count of how many of these the Democrats have tried--to set the legal record on the war powers straight and in plain terms. The first thing we need to do is look at what the Democrats are trying to do here. They want to pass this resolution, which states in relevant part: Congress hereby directs the President to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran.”

“I am going to talk for a minute about H. Con. Res. 86, the item of business that is before the U.S. Senate this morning. This is a House concurrent resolution, which states, in operative part: Congress directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is wrong on so many levels, starting with the fact that a concurrent resolution process, which this attempts to do, has been held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“I am going to be very brief on this as I have given this speech I can't remember how many times before as the other side has attempted to help Iran and bring these resolutions forth that would stop the President from pushing back against Iran and the terrible things that they have done. Specifically, on this one, like the others, this is what they are asking Congress to vote for.”

“Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

“And fellow Senators, I come to the floor here to support the bill we are going to vote on here pretty quickly, and that is on a Russia and Iran sanctions bill. It is no secret that this thing has been worked on for a long, long time. It is also no secret that this is a bipartisan effort--I think you heard both sides speaking about this--and there is good reason for that. At nearly 4\1/2\ years, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has dragged on far too long. We all want to see this war end.”