But just so you know
sometimes we
let these things just go
on.
Well, if I were live in studio,
you know, it would be...
I miss doing that, by the way.
Well, you're always welcome.
Thank you.
I'm almost always.
The U.S. War in Iran wages on
with no let-up in sight.
The Wisconsin Army National Guard
has more than 400 troops on
the ground in Kuwait and Iraq
and were praised for their value
to the mission by the U.
S. General and Chair of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The six guard members killed in the
first hours of the war have been
identified and were not from
Wisconsin. But the expanding
war and fears of a forever
war, even against a long
standing foe has divided
this country.
Tonight, we hear from Wisconsin U.S.
Senators, Democrat Tammy Baldwin and
Republican Ron Johnson.
First, to Senator Baldwin.
And thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So you voted this week in favor of
a war powers resolution to
block future U.
S. Military action in Iran.
It failed mostly on party lines,
but describe why you voted for it.
Look, first of
all, Americans have been
clear they do not want another
forever war in the Middle
East. They want Congress and
this president to be focused
on needs at home,
addressing the high cost of things
like groceries, housing,
child care, and health care.
And this president, in fact,
promised that he would bring
foreign wars to an end,
not start them.
Let me be very clear.
This is a war of choice.
The U.S.
And U. S. Interests were not under
attack, nor were we under
imminent threat of
attack.
And because of that, this
is a War of Choice, and
the president needed to go
to Congress to
get authorization.
It is an illegal war because
of his failure to do
that.
I voted to
bring this to an end and
would note, though,
that it is the proponents of this
war who bear the
burden of getting congressional
authorization for it, and they
have failed to do that.
The Constitution makes it the
responsibility of Congress,
who represent the people
to declare war.
And that has not happened.
And instead, we are spending
billions of dollars each
day in this war, and
we're losing the lives
of our troops, including
six who have lost
their lives in this conflict.
So far you say
that Iran poses a
real threat then why not
take decisive action to
thwart them?
I took decisive action in
2015 when I
voted for the Iran nuclear
deal.
I believe that this dangerous
and murderous regime should never
have a nuclear weapon.
And that 2015 Iran
nuclear deals reigned
in their nuclear
program.
Diplomacy is the way
to address this.
Sadly, when President Trump
took office in his first
term, he ripped up
the Iran nuclear deal
and let that program
continue unfettered
by intrusive
international inspection.
That was a very
bad mistake on President
Trump's part and
led to Iran
continuing with its nuclear program,
its Ballistic Missile Program.
So that's the
way we rein them in
is through diplomacy,
hard diplomacy, but through
diplomacy not war.
Does it matter that the
administration's justification for
the strikes was changing in the
early days?
It matters significantly
that from almost hour
to hour, there was a new
reason why the
Trump administration said it was
contemplating military action and
then engaging in it.
So a few weeks ago,
reacting to the uprising
within Iran against
the regime and their economic
situation,
President Trump said we're
contemplating military action to
support those protesters.
A few weeks later,
he was talking about the nuclear
program, then he was talking about
ballistic missile program, and
then he was talking regime change.
What is crystal clear is
that this is a war of choice,
and that this administration has
articulated no
specific reason or strategy
or exit strategy,
which is something that we need to
hear from this administration.
Thank you very much.
What are your utmost concerns
about this war?
Look, I think that this is something
that could become a
regional war.
It already is, let's be
clear.
In response to
our attacks along with
the Israeli strikes,
Iran has sent drones
and ballistic missiles to countries
all across the region.
This is exactly what this
president promised to get us out of,
not get us into.
And I'm very worried about
the loss
of life,
both civilian,
allied troops, as well
as our troops, and the
exorbitant expense that
this will cost to have
such a military operation
continue on maybe for
weeks, maybe for months.
I'm very, very worried about
it. And it also means that this
president's attention is once again
somewhere else, Venezuela,
boats in the Pacific and Caribbean,
now Iran.
His focus is not on
the concerns of Wisconsinites,
everyday concerns like the high
cost of things, and barely being
able to get by.
What is your message to men and
women from Wisconsin National
Guard now serving as part of this
war mission?
My message to those
serving in theater, but
also those serving their country,
is thank you for your service.
And we will do our best
to make sure that service
is, and make
sure the war
that is ongoing becomes something
that is the subject of congressional
debate, so that the people
of this nation, your parents,
your families.
Have a say in whether we
continue this or not.
We leave it there.
Senator Tammy Baldwin, thank you so
much.
Thank you for having me.
I have another,
just one more question
that falls outside my
time limit for that
interview.
And we're still recording.
It just struck me
that in June when
the U.S.
Launched strikes against Iran, there
was a public-facing, heightened
threat alert for inside
the U S.
Now I see
that the National Terrorism Advisory
System says this when
you pull it up, due to
the lapse in federal funding,
its website will not be actively
managed.
What is your response to that?
So.
Democrats are moving forward
to make sure that the
Department of Homeland Security
operations are funded,
except for ICE operations
and border patrol operations,
because they have shown themselves
in our neighboring state of
Minnesota, as well as other states,
to be acting
as rogue agencies, and they
need to be reined in.
But we're offering Republicans
the opportunity to fund all
other activities of the Department
of Homeland Security except
for ICE and Border Patrol.
All right, we leave it there.
Thank you, Senator.
Thank you.