Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Votes To Require President To Follow Constitution

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) voted for H.Con.Res.40, a resolution to direct President Trump to terminate the use of the United States Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress explicitly makes a declaration of war or authorizes use of military force against Iran.

"The United States Constitution provides that Congress has the sole authority and solemn responsibility to declare war. President Trump, however, has consistently disregarded the Constitution, as has this Republican Congress.

"Today, the House considered a resolution to require the President to come to the Congress-to the representatives of the people-and to the people of the United States to make the case for war, as the Constitution requires. I voted for it. It failed. House Republicans-for the second time since the beginning of this conflict-have ceded their Constitutional authority to the President, rather than doing the job they were sent to Washington to do.

"For more than a month, the President has acted unilaterally and unchecked, starting a war without any evidence of an imminent threat to the United States, while releasing statements that are unhinged and untethered to reality and spreading inflammatory rhetoric that threatens to escalate this war of choice.

"At this point, this Republican Congress is not merely a do-nothing Congress; it is a do-harm Congress: harm to the Constitution, to the separation of powers, and to the principle that the government is one of, by, and for the people rather than a king."