Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) stood on the Senate floor Monday not only as a lawmaker, but as a combat veteran, to denounce President Donald Trump’s escalating war with Iran and to back Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) War Powers Resolution.
Duckworth, who lost her legs flying missions in Iraq, said she is proud of her service but would never wish “another needless, endless, unjustified war” on a new generation of troops. She spoke of the desert sand soaked with blood, of families waiting anxiously for news from half a world away, and of an American public struggling with rising costs at home while facing the prospect of another open-ended conflict abroad.
She reminded colleagues that she first ran for office with a promise: when the drums of war began beating again, she would be in a position to ensure elected leaders fully considered the true costs—not only in dollars, but in human lives. That promise, she said, compels her to act now.
As Duckworth pointed out, Trump launched military operations against Iran without an imminent threat to the United States or its interests and without congressional authorization. While she made clear that she has no sympathy for Iran’s authoritarian leadership and supports preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, she stated that the president’s approach has made America and its allies less safe.
She also noted that Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement that had constrained Iran’s weapons program, a decision Duckworth said helped create the very crisis he now cites as justification for war. What the administration frames as strength, she described as instability—a “manufactured crisis” born of failed diplomacy and impulsive decision-making.
Duckworth Calls Out Her Republican Colleagues, Urges Passage Of War Powers Resolution
Duckworth warned that American troops, now deployed thousands of miles from home, are once again being asked to bear the burden of a war without a clearly defined objective or end state. Six U.S. service members have already been killed, and civilians across the region have suffered as well. She expressed concern that the conflict risks creating a power vacuum in Iran, inviting further chaos or extremist exploitation.
Beyond the immediate battlefield, Duckworth argued that an expanded Middle East conflict strains U.S. military readiness and distracts from strategic priorities such as the Indo-Pacific, benefiting adversaries like Russia and China. Far from putting America first, she said, the administration’s actions have weakened deterrence and heightened global instability.
The Illinois senator also delivered a constitutional rebuke. Article I vests the power to declare war in Congress, she said, not in the president acting alone. If the administration believes military force is justified, it should come to Congress, make its case publicly, and seek authorization. Lawmakers, she argued, have a solemn obligation to vote before Americans are sent into combat.
Duckworth challenged her Republican colleagues directly, urging them to consider that the president circumvented Congress rather than seeking its constitutionally mandated approval. Voting on the War Powers Resolution, she said, is the least lawmakers can do for service members who risk everything in uniform.
