THE WAR IN IRAN

THE WAR IN IRAN

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 56 (Wednesday, March 25, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 25, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2681-H2682] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] THE WAR IN IRAN (Mr. Doggett of Texas was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, before departing the Capitol last week, I stood at this very spot with Democratic and Republican colleagues, three separate times, to honor, with moments of silence, American servicemembers who have fallen in Trump's reckless war in Iran. If congressional Republicans continue to remain silent, the only result will be more of those ceremonies and more deaths of innocents like the 168 children and teachers who were killed by a U.S. bomb. An arrogant Hegseth dismisses all of this with a shrug as ``bad things happen.'' To Trump, he sees it as a fundraising opportunity as he solicits money using the pictures of these fallen heroes. But for the families who lost a father, a son, or a daughter, a spouse, it means an empty seat at Thanksgiving. It means a bride walking unaccompanied down the aisle. It means an untouched pillow on the bed. It means years of grief without the good advice, the laughter, the hope, and the bear hug that will never come. While Iran certainly has a tyrannical regime that has murdered thousands of its own citizens and in prior years was responsible for the deaths of some Americans, Iran posed no imminent or immediate threat at the time President Trump chose to suddenly abandon negotiations and launch an assault. Republicans are rubber-stamping a war that lacks any plan or any set goal. More than 200 American servicemembers have already been wounded, and Trump is certainly not dispatching more ground troops to the area for the sunshine. We are now in week 4 of what he told us was a 4- to 5-week war. All we have to show for it is death and destruction, a depleted weapons supply, soaring gas prices, and an Iranian regime that is intact and more hardline than ever. Israeli officials have advised that any Iranian protestors will be ``slaughtered'' by a brutal regime that is ``not cracking.'' What is much worse about this is that Trump knew. He was told by close advisers that this would be the outcome before this war began. As one said: ``It wasn't just predictable, it was predicted.'' Instead of acknowledging this complete failure, Trump continues to endanger all of us. Now, he is submitting to this Congress a bill for American taxpayers of $200 billion. Let's face it, Iran has grabbed Trump by the Hormuz, with no path out of a quagmire that could be like Iraq where we lost 4,400 servicemembers and wasted over $2 trillion. With Trump's $200 billion bill, about 22 million Americans could have affordable access to healthcare, not just this year, but with restored tax credits for the next 7 years. Our veterans, 9 million veterans could get their VA healthcare paid for for the next 2 years. With $200 billion, we could double the National Institutes of Health budget to explore research for Alzheimer's and [[Page H2682]] other dreaded diseases. We could fully fund Pell grants and educational opportunities for 7 million Americans over the next 7 years, actions that could have been taken here at home, but Trump yielded to pressure from abroad. We know that under Trump it is Netanyahu first and Americans second. Too weak to prevent this war by saying no to him, he continues to blindly follow strongmen. Amazingly, when Trump is told that war criminal Vladimir Putin is helping Iran target American servicemembers, he shrugs it off. He is so desperate that he has now not only lifted sanctions on Russian oil, fueling the Russian war machine to attack innocents in Ukraine, he has actually removed sanctions on Iranian oil to fund the Iranian Government and the missiles that they continue to send our way. While Trump declares himself the ``acting president of Venezuela'' and says that he can do ``anything I want'' to Cuba, while one of his many lies contradicts the next one, he really believes that he is not just king of America, but king of the universe. Yet, it is Americans that will pay the very severe price for his gigantic ego and constant whims that embark us in danger around the globe. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President. ____________________