1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

As your constituent, I demand that you exercise Article I war powers authority and refuse to approve defense appropriations or supplemental funding that sustains military operations against Iran that Congress itself has already voted to end. This is not a hypothetical overreach. Congress has repeatedly exercised its constitutional authority to halt this conflict: the House passed a bipartisan war powers resolution on June 3 (215–208), followed by the Senate on June 23 (50–48). In response, the White House claimed it didn't need congressional approval because the war had effectively ended with a temporary ceasefire back on April 7. That defense is absurd. Claiming that an April 7 "ceasefire" satisfied the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day clock—even as active combat operations and naval blockades raged on—is an insult to statutory law and a transparent ploy to wage an unauthorized war with zero accountability. When hostilities persisted, the House passed a second war powers resolution in late July (214–208). The President has publicly dismissed these votes as "meaningless." A president cannot be permitted to ignore Congress twice on a question the Constitution assigns to it alone. Because Congress failed to enforce those votes, the domestic blowback from this undeclared conflict is now hitting American soil. CISA, the FBI, and the NSA have jointly warned that Iranian-affiliated actors are exploiting internet-exposed Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) across water, energy, and government-services systems—an advisory expanded after disruptions in at least seven states. Recent reports confirm that this targeting has now expanded directly into civilian telecommunications networks. An undeclared war overseas is actively compromising the basic utilities that power our homes, businesses, and communications. Congress is in the final stretch of its summer recess. Every day between now and when full floor action resumes in September, these threats continue unaddressed while the body constitutionally responsible for authorizing this conflict—and for funding our defenses against its blowback—fails to act. You hold the power of the purse, and you do not need to wait to use it. I urge you to take three immediate legislative actions: 1. Attach a binding, unconditional funding cutoff to the NDAA and any defense appropriations bill: not one dollar for offensive operations against Iran beyond the immediate self-defense of U.S. forces already in the region, unless Congress passes new, explicit authorization. 2. Use the War Powers Resolution’s privileged status to force an immediate floor vote in both chambers the day Congress reconvenes for full session, not another symbolic resolution, and require the Pentagon to certify in writing every 30 days that no funds are being spent beyond that authorization, with funding automatically lapsing if it fails to certify. 3. Make federal infrastructure security funding for utilities and telecom providers conditional on compliance with CISA’s PLC security advisory, and subpoena DHS and Pentagon records on what, if anything, has been done to harden critical infrastructure since the April advisory. Congress already voted on this—twice. Reassert that authority, stop funding a war you voted to end, and protect the infrastructure our communities depend on every day.