Congressional lawmakers on Joint Resolution on U.S. and Iran
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday to discuss their Joint Resolution on U.S. and Iran sponsorship.
Both representatives said they are "tired of endless wars in the Middle East," and that the House should have been notified before the attacks, not after.
"We haven't been briefed. They should have called us all back. And, frankly, we should have debated this War Powers Resolution that Ro Khanna and I offered, instead of staying on vacation and doing fundraisers, and saying, 'Oh well, the President's got this under control. We're going to cede our constitutional authority,'" Rep. Massie expressed.
"The tragedy in this country is that we keep entering these overseas wars. We triumphantly declare the mission is accomplished the day after, and then we're left with Americans bearing the consequences for decades. Now, Thomas is absolutely right, and showing courage. I mean, the headlines all across this country says the United States enters war with Iran. He is, actually, representing a lot of the people in the MAGA base. People like Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Theo Von, who has had them on, who's saying, we don't want this war. And I heard your interview with Secretary Rubio, he's saying, well, we want a peace deal. We want to make sure that Iran can enrich uranium through civil purposes. Well, we had that. We had that at the JCPOA, and there was not a single violation that the IEAE found during that time. So, my question, I guess, is, now you're going to force Iran to go covertly in developing this nuclear material. Now you put American troops at risk. Now you're wasting billions of our dollars because we're sending more troops to the Middle East. What did you accomplish? And why are you oblivious to the American people who are sick of these wars?"
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
During the interview, Brennan, Khanna and Massie talked about the next steps with Israel and Iran.
When Brennan asked if he sees a difference between Israel's interests and American interests, Massie said:
"Yeah. I mean, look...the reality is, [Iran doesn't] have a missile that can reach the United States. They're not near to getting a missile that can reach the United States. I think this, what has happened, what has transpired this week has been planned for months that, you know, this administration, and maybe even the administration prior to that, said, 'You go in and soften them up, take out their air defense capabilities, and then we'll send in the big bombers.'"
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
Brennan then asked Khanna if he opposes sending more weapons to Israel to defend themselves to which he said:
"I have supported aid and support defensively. And even the War Powers Resolution says that if Iran is striking Israel, we can provide defense so that Israel isn't hit. What I opposed was giving Israel offensive weapons to go kill more people in Gaza. I think that war needs to end. But I think the bottom line is what have we achieved here? We have- we're going to push Iran to now be like Pakistan or North Korea going and try to develop a nuclear bomb covertly. We have put more American troops at risk. We're going to spend more resources going and getting more entrenched in the Middle East, and we've created a generation of hate. It's like, can this country learn? We keep voting for people for president who say we're not going to get into war, and then they keep getting pushed by the Washington beltway to get us into this mess."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Khanna and Massie, click here.
