Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Demanding The Trump Administration Answer Before Congress About Their War Of Choice In Iran As Costs Continue To Spike

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor demanding public testimonies, under oath, from senior Trump administration officials as costs continue rising, American servicemembers remain in danger, and the administration dodges questions on why they started the war and how it will end. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

We are three and a half weeks into Donald Trump’s Iran War, and today the price of Brent crude hit nearly $110 a barrel.

Experts say that even if the war ended tomorrow, it would take a long time for prices to come back down. We know oil prices are sticky from going back down. When oil prices spike quickly, they tend to fall very slowly.

And now central banks are worried that Donald Trump’s war is driving up costs not just for energy, but for transportation, shipping, and other key goods that pass through the Middle East. Mortgage rates, after inching down, are moving back up.

And the worst part is, there are no signs that this war is going to end tomorrow, next week, or anytime soon. Donald Trump, the old saying is: if you break it, you buy it. Donald Trump is breaking the Middle East, but now he is trying to dodge the cost and leave the American people with the bill.

So I will affirm again what Democrats have been saying for days: we need cabinet officials to testify because the story from the administration does not add up.

This morning before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard insisted in her prepared remarks that Donald Trump’s operation from last year—Midnight Hammer—did in fact, she says, obliterate Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. She noted that “There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability...”

So then what gives now? Why did Donald Trump strike Iran again if you say that Midnight Hammer did in fact obliterate the nuclear enrichment program? And of course no one wants a nuclear Iran.

Why do the American people still not have any clear answers on the goals and timeline of this war?

Secretary Rubio needs to testify under oath. He must answer tough questions from both sides of the aisle, which there will be, in public.

Secretary Hegseth needs to testify publicly under oath.

The American people deserve to hear directly from them. They deserve answers. They deserve accountability. And they need to hear from the administration about how we are going to get out of this before it is too late.

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