1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, demand immediate congressional action to halt the unauthorized and reckless escalation of military operations in and around the Strait of Hormuz. The facts are these: On April 12, 2026, President Trump announced a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the most significant military escalations since the war began on February 28. This came hours after peace talks in Islamabad collapsed, talks that his own Vice President attended. The administration chose blockade over diplomacy. This war was launched during active negotiations with Iran. It has now killed at least 13 U.S. service members and wounded more than 520. The administration has repeatedly undercounted and delayed reporting of those casualties. CENTCOM has issued outdated casualty figures and failed to respond to requests for corrections. During his first term, President Trump told the American people “we suffered no casualties” after the 2020 Al-Asad Air Base attack — a claim the Pentagon later corrected five times, ultimately acknowledging 110 traumatic brain injuries. This pattern of dishonesty about American blood is not new. It is policy. Now, billions of dollars in naval assets — aircraft carriers, destroyers, and the men and women who crew them — are being positioned in one of the most contested waterways on earth, not to defend the United States, but to enforce a blockade with no clear legal authority, no congressional authorization, and no defined end state. We ask you directly: What is the strategic objective? What is the exit? What is the legal basis under the War Powers Resolution? The President has offered none of these. He has instead promised “the next conquest” and threatened to bomb Iran “back to the stone age.” To every member of the majority party: You are the party in power. You hold the gavels. You have the constitutional authority and the procedural ability to constrain this President. Every day you choose not to exercise that authority, you own the consequences — every casualty, every dollar spent, every inch of escalation. You do not get to claim support for the troops while refusing to account for how they are being used. To every member of Congress regardless of party: You swore an oath to the Constitution, not to a president and not to a party. Article I, Section 8 gives Congress alone the power to declare war. That power is not decorative. If you will not use it, the American people are entitled to ask whether you are unable or unwilling to fulfill your oath of office. We demand: 1. An immediate vote under the War Powers Resolution to end unauthorized military operations against Iran. 2. A full, transparent, and independent accounting of all U.S. military casualties sustained since February 28, 2026. 3. Public hearings on the legal authority under which this blockade was ordered. 4. A formal congressional debate on the strategic objectives, costs, and exit strategy of this conflict before a single additional service member is placed in harm’s way. If our elected officials will not act, the American people will use every tool of democratic accountability available to us — at the ballot box, in the courts, in the streets, and through every lawful mechanism our Constitution provides — to replace those who refuse to govern. We did not elect representatives to serve as silent partners to unchecked executive power. We elected them to represent us. Silence is complicity. History is watching. Quit with performative actions, do something you cowards.