Friends -

For years, one of my highest priorities in the Senate has been to reassert Congress's authority in matters of war.

More than three years ago, I began sounding the alarm about our unauthorized military involvement in Yemen. And the drums of war are now beating with Iran.

Right now, we have a chance to put both of these issues on the president’s desk again. I have been pushing a bill that would make clear that President Trump cannot take any preemptive military action against Iran without a vote from Congress. Now, I need you to tell my Senate colleagues to pass this legislation as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, but first I want to explain what’s happening:

The National Defense Authorization Act is one of the biggest bills that Congress passes each year. Because it’s the bill that sets our national security policy and funds things like military pay, it’s usually a pretty bipartisan process. This year, that wasn’t true in the House.

The House just passed their version of the bill, and for the first time ever, the bill passed on a strictly party-line vote. Not a single Republican voted for it.

That’s because the House version managed to include two important provisions that will help us prevent war with Iran and pull us out of the conflict in Yemen – the legislation we’ve fought to pass previously.

With their version of the bill, the House reasserted the fact that only Congress can declare war.

Now this bill is in a conference committee, where we have to hash out the differences in the House and Senate versions. The Senate version unfortunately did not include these provisions, but we now have a chance to add them into the final bill.

I think that we can get the votes in the Senate to pass both of these provisions, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they end up in the final version. But I need your help to add pressure on some of my Senate colleagues.

Tell the Senate: Make sure the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes legislation to end our involvement in the war in Yemen and to prevent Donald Trump from going to war with Iran.

Thank you in advance for making your voice heard on this important issue.

Every best wish,

Chris Murphy