U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling for public hearings on the ongoing war in Iran, which she said represents “yet another broken promise” by President Donald Trump.
Seven American servicemembers have died in the conflict, which began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran late last month. Baldwin, D-Madison, has questioned the rationale for the war and pointed to the lack of congressional approval. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole authority to declare war.
Baldwin at a virtual press conference yesterday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to hold public hearings for Trump administration officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “to make their case to the American people.”
“At my core, I want this war to end, I want to stop wasting billions of dollars abroad, and I want to prevent any more servicemembers from dying. But to get to that end, we need sunlight and to get some answers so that the American public can see in plain sight what is happening here,” Baldwin said.
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Last week, she voted in favor of advancing a bipartisan resolution to block the Trump administration from continuing hostilities against Iran. The vote failed 47-53, with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, in opposition.
“If Leader Thune refuses to hold public hearings and the Trump administration continues to hide in darkness, I’m prepared to force every single senator to go on record and tell the American people whether or not they support another endless foreign war,” Baldwin said yesterday.
She argued public hearings can make a big difference and that they are “the bare minimum.”
“Just ask former Secretary Kristi Noem the difference that public hearings in Congress can make,” Baldwin said.
Noem, the former Department of Homeland Security secretary, was fired last week amid congressional hearings where lawmakers questioned her over spending more than $200 million on an ad campaign and labeling American citizens killed at the hands of immigration agents “domestic terrorists” despite pending investigations into their deaths.
A state GOP spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on Baldwin’s remarks.
