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This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions legislation such as To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress., committees such as Committee on Foreign Relations, members such as Adam Schiff.
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April 30, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextDIRECTING THE REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM HOSTILITIES
WITHIN OR AGAINST THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN THAT HAVE NOT BEEN
AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS—Motion to Discharge
Mr. SCHIFF. Pursuant to 50 U.S.C 1546(a) and section 601(b) of the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 184.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to discharge from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, S.J. Res. 184, a joint resolution to direct the
removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within
or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been
authorized by Congress.
Mr. SCHIFF. For the last 8 weeks, I have taken to the Senate floor to oppose the Iran war. I have pointed out the lack of an imminent threat from Iran and the shifting justifications for the war.
in higher gas prices and costs of groceries. And I have lamented the loss of 13 servicemembers including a Californian and the injury of scores of others.
that is that the administration is poised to violate the War Powers Act and that if we permit such a flagrant violation of the law, we, the Senate, and the Congress, will have surrendered the war power completely to the Executive.
This would be enormously dangerous and wrongheaded. I believe it is also in direct contravention of the Constitution and our duty to uphold it.
notified Congress under the War Powers Act that we were at war with Iran—60 days. It is also a moment that some of my Republican colleagues have pointed to as a turning point in their consideration of the legal and constitutional bases for the Iran war.
legally mandated to remove military forces from a conflict if Congress has not voted to authorize it within those 60 days.
in response to an armed attack or the imminent threat of an attack if those dangers require immediate action, but that power and responsibility is not unlimited.
continue the war or, failing to receive it, he must order the withdrawal of our forces.
President properly began this war because they believe that we faced some form of an immediate threat to our forces or our allies. But they have also affirmed that the President's authority to use military force expires after the 60 days set out in the War Powers Act.
or an imminent threat of attack—from Iran, justifying this war. But I respect the fact that some of my Republican colleagues have acknowledged that authority, if it exists, lapses tomorrow night.
Chief for the past 60 days. We have multiple carrier strike groups, tens of thousands of servicemembers, pilots and sailors and soldiers and marines, all serving halfway around the world and now for 60 days.
than 200 others have been seriously—or have been injured, and some seriously. The letter of the law is clear. This is what the act says “Within sixty calendar days after a report”—and that is a report on the beginning of hostilities like the one we received from the President on March 2—“Within sixty calendar days . . . the President shall terminate any use of the United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted . . .”
“Shall terminate.”
That is “Unless the Congress has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of [the] United States Armed Forces.”
Now this is important. The law does not turn on the introduction of an authorization to use force or committee consideration of such an authorization or even a Senate floor vote on an authorization. No, the law requires the enactment of a war authorization. Failing that, the law requires the President to remove U.S. forces.
itself, which we have not done, or cannot meet as a result of an attack, which is demonstrably not the case because, well, we are all here.
Those are the only two carve-outs. There are no other exceptions. If the President is still using the military for the same purpose as he was 60 days earlier and there has been no authorization of military force enacted—or war
Iran—because there is a tentative cease-fire in place—that somehow the War Powers Act no longer applies, that somehow the war powers clock stops ticking. But this is simply not true.
or ships embarking from Iranian ports. We are still using our Navy to blockade Iran. Our servicemembers are still at risk. And there is no provision in the War Powers Act to suspend the clock when military force is used in one respect but not another.
For the law says:
The President shall terminate any use of [the] United
States Armed Forces . . .
There is no exception made for the Navy or the use of naval forces. Now, the law allows for a 30-day period for a safe withdrawal if the administration seeks it, but the President has not requested one. It is important to note that the purpose for an extension is explicit in the law. It exists:
If the President determines and certifies to the Congress
in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the
safety of [the] United States Armed Forces requires the
continued use of such armed forces in the course of bringing
about a prompt removal of such forces.
The President has made no such certification.
And so I say to my colleagues: This is the moment you have pointed to and waited for. This is the moment when Congress must assert itself. This is the moment when we must recognize that the Founders gave Congress alone the power to authorize war. The moment of reflection and action that you have identified—and I respect you for doing so—is here.
And we must take action. We should all bear in mind that today's vote is simply to bring a resolution to the floor to discharge my resolution S.J. Res. 184 from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee so that it can be debated by the Senate. That will happen well after the 60-day clock has expired.
Colleagues, we must not move the goalposts again. If we do, we surrender all authority to authorize war to the President, and he already has enough power. What we have remaining is already so greatly diminished, already a poor reflection—a mere shadow—of the power granted to us by the Constitution and our Founders.
which took years to negotiate in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, another deeply unpopular war that stretched far longer than the American people wanted.
Republican Senator from New York, words he spoke on the Senate floor while Senators overrode a Presidential veto of this law with a full 75 votes in the Senate and nearly 300 in the House.
Senator Javits said “No one is impairing the President's authority to carry on the foreign policy of this country. Let us not confuse this with foreign policy. Foreign policy does not mean war, and war does not mean foreign policy, unless there is a breakdown or failure of foreign policy. Congress is determined to recapture for ourselves the representatives of the people at the State level in the Senate and as the House did on the local level, the awesome power to make war. When we judge, by this measure”—he said—“that an incident would become a war, then we, and we alone, have the right to decide that it shall go on into war or that it shall stop. For the Constitution lays upon the Congress, unmistakably, the responsibility of deciding whether or not the state of our Nation should be changed from peace to war.”
the act—and those who supported it—by President Nixon and his allies, but he also understood that the Constitution was clear. And he helped draft a law that upheld, reinforced, and strengthened the separation of power between a Commander of Chief and a Congress empowered to authorize his use of that command for the purpose of making war.
muscle. And if we do not exercise it, it will not hold our weight. And Congress for years has allowed that muscle to atrophy.
Mr. President, 50 years ago Republicans and Democrats alike tried to reinvigorate our war power with an eye to restoring the authority that Congress possesses but which the Vietnam war had eroded. We must not ignore that law now.
this senseless directionless war, for the sake of future generations who may be sent into battle without the approval of Congress or the American people, by a President grown too fond of war, this has to be the moment we stand up. This has to be the moment we say enough.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in just a few hours, it will be 60 days since Donald Trump officially notified Congress he was dragging us into one of the most foolish foreign misadventures in American history. Pete Hegseth can't just hit the pause button on that countdown, not when American troops are in harm's way.
this mess of his own making. For 60 days, prices on everything from gas to groceries have soared at a rate not seen in years. For 60 days, military families have stayed up at night, praying their loved ones won't join the ranks of the brave 13 American servicemembers killed and nearly 400 wounded. And after 60 days, Republicans have sat idle.
Well, I say to my colleagues: Time is up. Republicans, stop sitting out. Start speaking up. The American people have had enough. They have been calling for peace for weeks. Americans literally cannot afford this war to drag on, not when gas costs $4.30 a gallon—$4.30 a gallon—and inflation just hit a record for over 3 years for 3.5 percent, higher inflation than we have had in a long time. And that means people pay more for just about everything.
the first five. The 60-day threshold for war powers is upon us. No more dodging. No more hiding. No more shirking. Republicans need to help us end this illegal, costly war. They should have done it long ago. The most important vote a Senator can take is on matters of war and peace.
brave members are showing in the field every day as this war continues and to do what is right. Do your duty.
I yield the floor.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, I know of no further debate.
Vote on Motion to Discharge
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge.
Mr. SCHIFF. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: The Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and The Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).
The result was announced—yeas 47, nays 50, as follows:
Rollcall Vote No. 113 Leg.
YEAS—47
Alsobrooks
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt Rochester
Booker
Cantwell
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Gallego
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
Kim
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schiff
Schumer
Shaheen
Slotkin
Smith
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS—50
Armstrong
Banks
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Curtis
Daines
Ernst
Fetterman
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Husted
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Justice
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
McCormick
Moody
Moreno
Murkowski
Ricketts
Risch
Rounds
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sheehy
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING—3
Moran
Murray
Tuberville
The motion was rejected.
(Ms. LUMMIS assumed the Chair.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Budd). The majority leader.