but there is nothing President Trump can do to stop the enhanced
background checks or the ability of prosecutors to go after gun
traffickers or the denial of weapons purchases to individuals convicted
of domestic violence.
  And so I don't want you to hear me say that the President is
unwinding all of our progress. He is unwinding some of our progress--
our bipartisan progress--but much of the statute can't be unwound.
  And so I just want to give us a little pat on the back because 4
years ago, after the awful shooting in Uvalde, four Senators got
together--supported by another bigger ring of bipartisan Senators--and
we were able to come up with a bill that was not perfect, was not
everything that I wanted or that many other Democratic Senators wanted,
but it was progress.
  And we have seen the impact of that bill: literally extraordinary
declines in mass shootings and homicides, all happening, not
coincidentally, as soon as we passed that bill.
  The gun lobby has a habit of arguing that the only way to stop a bad
guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The gun lobby says the answer
to gun violence is more guns. Well, we proved that if you pass
legislation that just makes it a little bit harder for the wrong people
to get their hands on weapons--people who have serious criminal
convictions, people who are mentally ill--you make it a little bit
easier for prosecutors to go after the gun traffickers, you give a
little bit more resources to the people who do anti-gun violence work
in our communities, that you can make a big difference.
  I live in one of these traditionally high-gun-violence-rate
neighborhoods. I live just south of downtown in Hartford, and my home
is on the route to the primary critical care hospital in the south end
of Hartford--Hartford Hospital. And I will just say: There are far
fewer ambulances passing my house with victims of gunshot wounds. In
fact, it is an extraordinary reduction.
  In 2020, I think the year that I bought that house, there were 223
shootings--223 gun violence victims being rushed to Hartford Hospital
or Saint Francis Hospital. In 2025, there were 89. So I know we are
often consumed with the bad news here, but that is really good news.
That is really good news. And it is evidence of the fact that this
place is not fundamentally broken. There are these moments when
Republicans and Democrats can come together and pass laws that save
lives--4 years since the passage and signature of the Bipartisan Safer
Communities Act, something that this Senate should be proud of.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

                                  Iran

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury has
become ``Operation Epic Failure.'' He started a war of choice. It
turned out, Iran had a lot more leverage than he ever anticipated.
  The President thought that superior weapons, a huge number of bombs
would give, well, the opportunity for America to conduct a war in which
Iran would unconditionally surrender. The President expected that in
short order.
  But not all unfolds accordingly because Iran had an ace up its
sleeve: It had the ability to stop traffic on the Strait of Hormuz. And
if the President had listened to any expert, they would have said: You
are totally underestimating the leverage and power Iran has over the
world economy.
  But he didn't listen. So like a dog that got skunked, he has slunk
away humiliated--``Operation Trump Humiliation''--and the American
people and the world are paying the price.
  I am relieved that the bombs have stopped falling, but Trump's
disastrous deal has left everyone so much worse off.
  The American military: a huge number of munitions expended, 13
servicemembers killed, hundreds wounded.
  The U.S. Treasury: depleted by some $50 billion to $80 billion.
  American families are paying a much higher price for gas and now
facing year-over-year inflation of 4.2 percent because of Trump's war.
  American farmers are paying so much more for fertilizer, paying so
much more for diesel; bad for the farmers for sure, but that is going
to mean higher grocery costs for the American family.
  And in international affairs, Russia has been enriched, the Iranian
hard-liners have been strengthened; the reformers in Iran have been
undermined; our alliances have been deeply, carelessly damaged. Now, of
course, Iranian civilians have paid the price with thousands dead and
far more injured.
  And Iran's highly enriched uranium? Still in exactly the same place
it was before his war started.
  Now, Trump has signed a 14-point framework, and it has some troubling
elements. Donald Trump calls himself ``Dealmaker-in-Chief,'' so let's
look at the deal that he has struck.
  What does Iran get? Access to $24 billion in unfrozen funds, waivers
that allow Iran to sell its oil at the world price, a commitment by the
United States to organize a $300 billion plan like a Marshall Plan to
rebuild Iran, and a stipulation that after 60 days, Iran can work with
Oman and work out fees for vessels traveling through the Strait of
Hormuz.
  Let's compare that to the JCPOA that President Obama negotiated. And
for more than a decade, I have listened to colleagues across the aisle
say President Obama did a side deal that returned $500 million to Iran
in frozen funds and interest on that $500 million; that we had had it
so long, it had stacked up to $700 million.
  All right. We are talking about less than $2 billion. Here is Trump:
$24 billion in unfrozen funds, $300 billion in redevelopment, waivers
for your oil, and the ability to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz--
not even vaguely comparable.
  And those elements, those are not an exchange for a final nuclear
deal. They are an advance of one, undermining America's leverage to get
a nuclear deal done. And Trump calls himself a dealmaker, giving away
all the leverage up front.

  And what else does Iran get? No restrictions on cruise missiles or
drones; no restrictions on ballistic missiles; no restrictions on
funding proxy groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, the
Houthis in Yemen. Wow. Those are all important elements.
  But the deal does deliver two things: America lifts its blockade of
the Iranian ports, and Iran lifts its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
But those were the conditions before the war started. So the one
positive thing it delivers was already in place before there was a war.
So no improvement because of the war.
  President Trump has recklessly squandered American lives and
treasure. He has recklessly weakened America's standing in the world.
He has recklessly raised costs for American families here at home.
  This is absolutely the embodiment of why the Founders gave the
question of war, not to the President, but to Congress. It is why we
have to stand up for the constitutional vision that we swore an oath to
when we became U.S. Senators.
  Is there any Senator here who didn't swear that oath to the
Constitution? Is there any Senator here who hasn't read the
Constitution and read that the question of war was assigned to
Congress, not the President?
  Here is how Madison described it. He said: The Constitution supposes,
what the history of all governments demonstrates, that it is the
Executive most interested and most prone to war. The Constitution has
accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the
legislative branch.
  Does anyone need a clearer explanation than that, under our
Constitution, a President cannot take us to war and that there was very
careful reasoning that went into making that decision: because
Executives are too prone to go to war, and no one person should be able
to put the lives and treasure of America at risk.
  That isn't to say Congress always gets it right. This Chamber and the
House Chamber, they had a debate over the authorization to go to war in
Afghanistan. These two Chambers, they had a debate over going to war in
Iraq. I believe they got it wrong on both occasions. But there was an
opportunity to seek information, to compare ideas, to wrestle with the
prospect--an appropriate debate on such a monumental question.
  Now, this Chamber and the House Chamber have started to exercise
their