responsibility to the Constitution. Because if we turn the clock back,
in the wake of Vietnam, when there was no authorization, Congress
passed the War Powers Act, and the War Powers Act attempted to create a
framework so that we would know how to exercise the debate for the
question of war. And it said the President--unless our interests are
attacked--cannot go to war unless there is authorization from both
Chambers. Pretty clear. It also said the President, if we were
attacked, could go to war for no more than 60 days without getting
authorization from this Chamber.
  Now, in this case, America had not been threatened in the fashion
envisioned in the War Powers Act, but the President went to war anyway.
So in that case we shouldn't have been under the 60 days. But many of
my colleagues in the majority thought that applied, and so we voted
time and time and time again. And time and time again my colleagues
failed to honor the Constitution and say to the President: Stop and get
an authorization because that is what the Constitution says.
  But then the House held a vote, and the House voted to actually pass
a War Powers Resolution. And it automatically came over here, and it
automatically came up on the floor. And we passed it this week 50 to
48. We adopted it. And that concurrent resolution--this one right
here--this says: Mr. President, stop military hostilities unless you
get authorization from Congress.
  Here is the exact wording:

       Congress directs the President to remove United States
     Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of
     Iran.

  And at the close of it, it notes that action can only occur if it is
``explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific
congressional authorization for use of military force against Iran.''
  So, Mr. President--and I am speaking Mr. President of the United
States of America--Congress has spoken, exercising its power under the
Constitution. You cannot restart hostilities against Iran unless you
get an authorization.
  You know, in 2015, many mocked the JCPOA. They said war is the only
way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. But now here we are at
this moment, and it turns out that we had the war and that diplomacy is
the only way to actually stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.
  And that JCPOA, it restricted Iran's nuclear stockpile to 300
kilograms--that is 300 kilograms of uranium--and prohibited uranium
enrichment above 3.67 percent. That is a very low level, way lower than
bomb level. It shipped their more highly enriched uranium out of Iran
to be under the care and supervision of another country. It dismantled
and removed the bulk of their centrifuges. It created vigorous--
vigorous--verification by international inspectors.
  There were a lot of details that were worked out to ensure that there
was no path to a nuclear bomb. And, in fact, it required them to
dismantle their plutonium reactor in Iran called the Arak reactor. It
took 2 years to negotiate.
  And our Republican colleagues cheered when Donald Trump tore up that
extensive, detailed agreement blocking the path to a nuclear weapon.
They cheered when President Trump tore it up.
  Well, I don't hear any cheering now, when it turns out this war of
choice has hurt everyone, in every possible way. More than 100 days of
war, and Iran still has their enriched uranium. And because Donald
Trump tore up the JCPOA, they now have 1,000 pounds of more highly
enriched uranium, enriched to 60 percent, enough for 10 nuclear
weapons, because Donald Trump tore up the agreement that blocked that
from happening.
  In return for ending the war, Iran has agreed to just 60 days of
negotiating in which they will talk about maybe returning to some of
the framework of the JCPOA. Pretty humiliating for Donald Trump.
  But humiliation is not the question. I hope the President and his
team will be successful in the negotiation to restore the many elements
that blocked the path to a nuclear weapon. That is in the interest of
all of us. I have little hope, however, that they will reach that
agreement in 2 months, in 60 days.
  So here is my crystal ball, Jeff's crystal ball: No detailed
agreement on Iran nuclear material will be signed by mid-August when
the 60 days expire. I hope I am wrong.
  It is also the case that we have a law that says any nuclear deal
must be submitted to Congress. So let's make sure that law is followed.
  We have seen the costs in blood and treasure when a President goes it
alone. We have been reminded of the wisdom of our Founders, who said
the President is not allowed, constitutionally, to go it alone. We
can't afford to have that happen again. And yesterday, finally,
Congress passed a bill--a resolution to rein in Trump's war. Do you
know that that is the first time that we have actually done that since
the 1973 War Powers Act was signed--the first time that both Chambers
approved a concurrent resolution directing the President to end a
military conflict? It is a powerful condemnation of President Trump's
war of choice.
  I will tell you, I am concerned not just about how the negotiations
will go, because I know how complicated they will be from how
complicated they were when President Obama undertook those
negotiations. Again, I hope they are successful, but I will tell you, I
am worried that they won't be. And I am worried that an angry and a
humiliated Donald Trump, who has slunk away from the war like a stuck
dog, is going to try to distract from all of this--distract by trying
to rig the November election.
  In fact, today, he was here to talk to Senators of his party about
how to rig the November election, that he wants his SAVE Act passed
that stops American citizens from voting that he doesn't want to vote.
He doesn't want college students to vote. He doesn't want Tribal
members to vote. He doesn't want women to vote. He doesn't want people
living in cities to vote. And he has crafted a bill to make it very
hard for those people to vote because he wants to rig the election.
  And I am also worried that he will create another international
incident, perhaps with an attack or further action regarding Cuba,
because when Trump makes one mess, he starts a new mess in order to
distract from the previous mess.
  Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury has become ``Operation Epic
Failure,'' devastating for the United States of America, and all
Americans should be furious at this abuse of the Constitution and all
the harm that has come from it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, for every American who is wondering what
on Earth the war in Iran over the past 3\1/2\ months was for, the
answer is relatively simple: next to nothing.
  Thirteen American servicemembers are dead. Thousands of Iranians have
been killed. We spent tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money.
Gas shot up to $5.70 in Hawaii. Grocery bills and energy bills spiked
everywhere. We depleted our stockpiles of critical weapons systems. We
alienated even our closest allies, who understandably wanted nothing to
do with this regime-change war of choice.
  And what was it all for? What did we get out of it?
  Well, if you take one look at the memorandum of understanding that
Donald Trump signed last week, what is plainly obvious is that not only
was this war reckless and illegal and unnecessary, but it also didn't
get us anything. It has made a lot of things worse.
  We don't have a nuclear agreement yet, only a framework to try to
reach something close to the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action.
  So to be clear, pre-Trump, we had a Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action. We had the ability for the IAEA to go into Iran and do
intrusive inspections. We had the plan to dispose of the fissile
material in a third-party country and to be able to verify it.
  And now, what we have is an MOU to negotiate. And if we are very
fortunate, if things break absolutely in every correct direction, we
will get back to where we were 12 years ago.
  The same regime is still in place, but now it is younger and more
radical, and they have demonstrated that they have substantial leverage
in the Strait of Hormuz. The opposition in Iran is weaker.
  One of the hopes of this regime-change war was that they were going