In response to the release of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act conference report, in which the Khanna-Gaetz amendment to prevent an unauthorized war with Iran was not included, Ryan Costello, Policy Director for the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), issued the following statement:
“This summer, we came ten minutes from Trump launching an unauthorized war against Iran. The Trump administration’s dangerous and escalatory Iran policy prompted bipartisan majorities in the Senate and House to declare that Trump does not have the authority to launch a disastrous war of choice. Reps. Ro Khanna and Matt Gaetz, along with Sens. Tim Kaine and Tom Udall, deserve tremendous credit for their timely and important work to pass an amendment clarifying that there is no authorization for war with Iran out of the House and securing a majority of support in the Senate.
“However, the NDAA conference report released last night after months of negotiations senselessly dropped the Khanna-Gaetz amendment from the bill despite an overwhelming bipartisan vote (251-170) in favor in the House.
“Unfortunately, there is still a massive gap between the American people – who do not want another disastrous war of choice in the Middle East – and their leaders in Washington who have pulled out all the stops to keep a Trump war with Iran on the table. Particularly as the administration considers adding thousands more troops to the region with a vague mission of deterring Iran, failing to include the Khanna-Gaetz amendment in the final NDAA is legislative malpractice.”
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