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This week, there have been dizzying developments in the war with Iran.

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Last week, the U.S. called the war concluded, moving instead, to project freedom, to open

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the Strait of Hormuz.

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But President Trump quickly quit project freedom.

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Now both sides are considering a peace plan in the midst of an uneasy ceasefire.

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How to make sense of this, even as the price of oil goes up and down with mixed messaging,

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while the price at the pump stays high.

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Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin is here.

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And thanks very much for being here.

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Thank you for having me.

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So with all that's happening, what in your mind is the best outcome?

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The best outcome would be for the war to come to a quick end and to use diplomacy to settle

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the issues.

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I always have to remind folks that in 2015, there was an international agreement that

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would have prevented Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

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There were intrusive inspections.

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And Donald Trump, in his first term as president, ripped it up.

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I think we may end up in this conflict with a deal that's less robust than the one that

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was agreed to in 2015.

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Look, diplomacy is the answer.

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And instead, Donald Trump has brought us into a war of choice.

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And I emphasize that point, because we were not under attack from Iran.

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We were not under imminent threat of attack.

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And in those circumstances, the president needs to come to Congress to authorize use

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of military force.

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He didn't.

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So now we have 13 service members dead.

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We have hundreds more injured some very seriously.

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And we see these price shocks with gasoline, with fertilizer for our farmers that are just

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getting ready to plant.

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I've been a part of an effort with a number of colleagues to force votes on war powers

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resolutions.

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And we are gaining support over time from our Republican colleagues.

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But that's what we need to do is bring this to a quick end and use diplomacy to achieve

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our goals.

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Do you feel as though the administration is skirting the War Powers Resolution by declaring

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this war concluded, terminated over?

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I heard just a week ago, the Secretary of Defense say, well, you can't toll the days

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that we've been in a ceasefire.

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Those don't count as part of the 60 days that the War Powers Act references.

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But regardless, we are currently in hostilities.

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We are clearly in a war, and it is an unmitigated disaster for the U.S. and the global economy.

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Because you were just describing the best case outcome.

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What would be the worst?

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The worst is that we end up far less secure and as an economy as well as as a nation because

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of this war of choice, this illegal war of choice, you know.

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And while it's not tangible, the damage it's doing to the rule of law in this country is

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worth noting.

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What are your constituents saying about what it means for them here at home?

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Well, I'm hearing mostly about the costs.

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We have had the highest cost, really, ever on average for gasoline at $4.50 on average

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across the state.

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Farmers are really reaching out to describe the shortage of fertilizer as well as the

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high price if they can source it.

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This will affect what they're able to plant this year.

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And, you know, that's all on top of the president's previous trade wars that have cut off markets

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for our farmers and have really jacked up the cost of input.

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So I would say overwhelming opposition to the war, but mostly articulated by folks who

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are just feeling the squeeze.

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And they were already feeling the lack of affordability prior to the war beginning.

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This has just doubled down on that.

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Saying all of that, how do you think the war in Iran affects the midterm elections?

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I think that people will be more likely to vote for those who have opposed the war and

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have taken actions or spoken out against it and have articulated that they will be a check

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and a balance to this president, not, you know, not somebody who just lily goes down

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whatever path he takes us.

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So we were just talking about agriculture and fertilizer and inputs for farmers.

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The U.S. Senate is poised to take up the Farm Bill after the House passed the $390

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billion version of it.

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What are your priorities for the Farm Bill for Wisconsin?

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Yeah.

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Well, looking at the bill that was passed by the House, I realized that it doesn't really

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respond to the enormous headwinds our farmers are facing.

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Look, they're the hardest working people I know, supplying food for not only the country

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but the world.

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And the Farm Bill needs to address those challenges.

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One of the things that makes the House passed bill really a non-starter in the Senate is

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the refusal to restore some of the nutrition funding that was cut from the president, what

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he calls his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

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It doesn't restore the $186 billion that was cut out of the SNAP program.

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And that is something that brings folks together in terms of farm policy.

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But in the terms of my priorities, the Dairy Business Innovation Act is one that I got

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in the last Farm Bill.

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It's been so successful for dairy businesses to grow and improve their bottom line.

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And I want to see increased support for that.

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The House passed bill does not include my Healthy H2O Act, which helps folks in rural

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areas check their water for PFAS and other contaminants, things that they really can't

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afford to do without some help.

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And also the Farmers First Act.

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Farmers because of the stresses, financial and otherwise that they face, have high rates

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of suicide.

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And so this is a mental health program that helps reduce that stress and helps make sure

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that there are support groups locally for them to turn to.

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How difficult will it be to pass the Farm Bill?

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I think that we can craft a bill on the Senate side that is bipartisan and that foresees

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what will be necessary to garner the bipartisan support necessary to pass a bill.

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We see this over and over again in the Senate.

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You need 60 votes to pass a Farm Bill in the House.

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It's a simple majority, so they can write a partisan package and pass it.

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But we need to write a bipartisan package that really addresses the challenges that we're

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hearing from our farmers.

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On disaster aid, we know that Governor Evers reached out to Wisconsin's congressional

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delegation for help getting more than $26 million in federal disaster aid to fix infrastructure

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after last summer's floods that the president had denied.

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What inroads is our delegation making into recovering that aid?

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Yeah, I mean certainly I was pleased that the administration approved some of the grants

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for personal loss, that individual losses that were faced.

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But for the public infrastructure, they turned it down and I see no reason for that.

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In fact, I'm concerned that there were politics involved.

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Meanwhile, we have a new set of tornadoes and flood damage that has just happened in

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the past month.

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And we need to work with the administration to make those citizens and communities whole

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as best as possible through work with FEMA.

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You know, the president came into office pledging to abolish FEMA.

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He hasn't succeeded in that.

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We understand that there is a role for the federal government in emergency management

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and emergency relief.

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And we need to hold them accountable to that.

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All right.

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We will see.

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Senator Tammy Baldwin.

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Thanks very much.

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Thank you.