1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

Immediate Enforcement of H.Con.Res.86 and Withdrawal of U.S. Forces from Unauthorized Hostilities I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to enforce H.Con.Res.86, the historic, bipartisan War Powers Resolution passed by both chambers, which explicitly directs the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran. This resolution represents the first successful invocation of the War Powers Act’s hostilities-termination provision in its 53-year history, reaffirming Congress’s constitutional authority over war. Despite this clear directive, the administration has refused to comply, has publicly claimed the resolution “lacks the force of law,” and has escalated hostilities rather than terminating them. This defiance violates both the War Powers Act and the constitutional separation of powers, and it places U.S. servicemembers in ongoing danger within an unauthorized war. Under our Constitution, Congress—not the President—holds the exclusive authority to decide when, where, and against whom the nation goes to war. The Founding Generation intentionally vested war powers in Congress because the executive was “not safely to be trusted” with unilateral war-making. This structure protects American democracy, the American people, and especially U.S. servicemembers who bear the costs of war. In 1973, Congress reaffirmed this principle by enacting the War Powers Act, rejecting presidential usurpation of war authority during Vietnam and other conflicts. The Act’s Section 5(c) hostilities-termination mechanism—used in H.Con.Res.86—was designed precisely for situations like this: when a President continues hostilities without authorization. No court has ever struck down this provision, and leading scholars such as John Hart Ely and Louis Fisher have affirmed its binding legal force. The Iran conflict is unauthorized from its inception, and it has been in unambiguous violation of the War Powers Act since the statute’s 60-day withdrawal deadline expired on May 1, 2026. Yet U.S. forces remain deployed, and hostilities have escalated. Congress has already ordered their removal. The President must comply. I urge Congress to: 1. Reaffirm that H.Con.Res.86 is legally binding and enforce its requirement to remove U.S. forces from hostilities. 2. Use every legal and political tool available, including litigation, oversight, and statutory enforcement, to compel compliance with the War Powers Act. 3. Cut off supplemental and unauthorized war funding, including the administration’s $87.6 billion request, to prevent further escalation of an illegal conflict. 4. Protect U.S. servicemembers by ensuring they are not deployed in hostilities that Congress has explicitly rejected and that violate federal law. Congress has already taken a historic stand. Now it must finish the job and ensure the safe and lawful return of U.S. servicemembers deployed in this unauthorized war.