60 Days of War: Congress Has Failed Its Constitutional Duty

Sixty days ago, the Unite for Veterans Coalition called on Congress to perform its constitutional duty — to authorize or reject President Trump's war with Iran. Sixty days later, we are still waiting.

This coalition knows what war costs. Service members have disproportionately shouldered the burdens of war, through visible and invisible wounds. Through time away from family and loved ones. We know that wars without clear objectives, without congressional authorization, and without accountability to the American people have a way of stretching on — and the tab always comes due.

The Constitution is unambiguous: the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Not the President. Not the Pentagon. Congress. That is not an accident of history. It is a deliberate safeguard built by the founders who understood that no single person should have the power to send Americans to die without the consent of their representatives.

Two months into this conflict, there has been no formal authorization vote, no public accounting of the strategy, no defined objectives, no plan for de-escalation, and no honest reckoning with what is being asked of our service members — many of whom have already served multiple deployments in the wars of the last two decades.

This is not acceptable.

We saw what happens when Congress abdicates its war powers. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the lack of clear authorization and oversight contributed to 7,091 dead service members, 53,556 wounded, and at least $6 trillion added to the national debt. And when those veterans came home, they were met with a VA that was underfunded, overwhelmed, and under attack from the very administration that sent them to fight.

We refuse to let history repeat itself.

The American people deserve answers. A formal authorization vote — yes or no — must be on the record. Public oversight hearings must examine the conduct of this war, its strategic objectives, and its human and financial costs. And before more Americans are sent into harm's way, there must be a fully funded, fully honored plan to care for them when they come home.

Sixty days. No vote. No accountability. No plan.

Our service members deserve better. The Constitution demands better.

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