WASHINGTON – As President Trump begins his summit in Singapore with North Korea, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Monday introduced an amendment to the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 that would prohibit President Trump from starting a preemptive war against North Korea, absent an imminent threat or without express authorization from Congress. Murphy introduced similar legislation prohibiting funds from being used for kinetic military operations in North Korea without congressional approval.

“I want diplomacy with North Korea to work, but given the amateurish planning and unclear objectives of this summit, I’m not holding my breath. If this summit fails, there is a good chance that John Bolton and other cheerleaders for war in this White House will use this failure as an excuse to move towards military action. Congress needs to reclaim its constitutional duty of war making and make it clear to President Trump that he needs our approval before preemptively striking North Korea,” said Murphy.

“A preemptive strike against North Korea could be catastrophic for the nearly 80,000 American servicemembers who are stationed in the region and for the tens of millions of innocent human beings who live on the Korean Peninsula,” said Duckworth. “I am relieved that Donald Trump has paused the reckless rhetoric he’s been so eager to use over the last year and instead appears to be seeking a diplomatic solution to the North Korean crisis. Those in power need to understand the true costs of war – not just in dollars and cents but in human lives – before they consider starting a conflict and they must understand that prior to committing our military to armed conflict, the President must get Congressional approval.”