A vital new bill introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) would prevent President Trump from launching a war against Iran without first obtaining Congressional authorization. J Street urges Senators to support this legislation — and fulfill their constitutional obligation to act as a check on the president’s ability to take our nation into another disastrous war of choice.

The “Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2018” would deny funding to a US military operation launched against Iran without the authorization of Congress. It is co-sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The bill’s introduction shows that Senators are prepared to stand up to President Trump’s extreme and dangerous foreign policy.

The president and his war cabinet have repeatedly acted to increase the prospects for armed conflict with Iran. As we saw this week in the president’s speech before the UN General Assembly and his remarks before the UN Security Council, this administration has substituted bellicose rhetoric and threats for substantive diplomacy and strategy. They have unilaterally violated the JCPOA nuclear agreement, undermining successful diplomacy that blocked all Iranian pathways to a nuclear weapon. They have sought to pressure US allies into abandoning their own commitments under the agreement.

As the bill makes clear, US violation of the nuclear agreement “risks an unnecessary conflagration with Iran through the use of sanctions against both allies and adversaries in the region and throughout the world without a clear diplomatic path for resolving the crisis absent regime change.”

J Street welcomes this crucial bill and the leadership of Senator Udall and his Senate colleagues. We will continue to call on Congress to live up to its constitutional responsibilities and restrain this reckless president — before it’s too late.