On Wednesday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) stated that the Iran War needs to end and “We should use the appropriations power to say we’re not funding this war.” But “the military has to be able to execute the commands they’re given to do something like a withdrawal that’s responsible.”
Deluzio said, “We should put a stop to the war and bring our troops home. We just passed a war powers resolution in the House. We should use the appropriations power to say we’re not funding this war. We need to end it. … And this war has been disastrous. He should end it.”
Co-host Eugene Daniels then asked, “One of the things when I talk to experts, military experts, folks that used to work in the Department of Defense, they used to be secretaries even, is that just stopping the war cold turkey is actually also dangerous. And I’m curious, as Democrats are talking about this, right? Because once you break it, you bought it. There’s that. But also, starting a war, you have to end it in a certain way. Us just pulling out of Iran and not engaging anymore seems to be something that is also dangerous. So, how do you square those two things?”
Deluzio responded, “Look, you need — and this is where the military has to be able to execute the commands they’re given to do something like a withdrawal that’s responsible. Donald Trump’s the only president this millennium who couldn’t keep the Strait of Hormuz open. And by the way, asking Americans to risk their lives so that Middle Eastern despots can sell their oil, principally to China, is a pretty tall task to ask Americans to do that. This is a quagmire — or the makings of one that Donald Trump is responsible for. I can’t go back in time to make him make a different decision, but we should put a stop to it. We should support our military in finding a way to tactically withdraw from this and bring some semblance of order back to energy markets in the Middle East.”
Co-host Symone Sanders Townsend then asked, “If Democrats get the gavel on the House side, and let’s just say the Senate side this November, how would you all tackle this? What would be the first thing you do? We know that people want the war not to happen. There have been three — at this point, three votes on that. What would you all do?”
Deluzio responded, “I think a combination of these war powers resolutions needing to pass in both the House and the Senate. But the real power is the power of the purse, the appropriations power to say, look, you cannot continue to spend money at this war. They pretend like it’s not a war, by the way. They keep calling it a conflict or overseas operations. It’s a war. Americans have lost their lives. Americans are at risk. Your reporting shows the consequences and the cost of this war to those Americans. We should use the powers we have in Congress to make sure our troops are being respected, they’re being treated with the right kind of defense they need, and then ultimately bring them home out of this conflict.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett