On Thursday, Senate Republicans again blocked a measure that would have confirmed Congress has not authorized the ongoing deployment of U.S. troops for Trump’s Iran War

September 25, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) took to the Senate floor to urge Senate Republicans to pass a War Powers Resolution to end President Trump’s illegal war in Iran. Schiff highlighted constituent stories from servicemembers’ families detailing the abysmal conditions onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, contrasting their sacrifices against the President’s downplaying of the war’s impact and obsessions with his vanity projects. 

Senate Republicans’ blocking of this resolution follows a series of similar resolutions led by Democrats in Congress, including by Senator Schiff and colleagues in the Senate, to confirm that Congress has not authorized this use of the U.S. military and require the President to end the war. The resolution failed today in a 49 to 50 vote. 

“In fact, the Lincoln set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea without a port visit. And a record away from its home port of San Diego. And even now, just recently after stopping in Thailand for its first regular port call in nearly nine months — hull rusted, paint peeling — the Lincoln and its crew were still a long way from home,” said Senator Schiff on the Senate floor.  

Schiff emphasized how the prolonged deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln has sent shockwaves throughout the San Diego community and continued his call for an end to this war.  

Watch the full speech HERE. Download the remarks HERE. 

Read the full transcript of his remarks as delivered below:   

Ever since the USS Abraham Lincoln was commissioned in the waning days of the Cold War, it has been known for many things.  

After a volcano erupted in the Philippines in 1991, the Lincoln led the largest peacetime evacuation of U.S. military personnel and their families. A baby was even born onboard during the evacuation — and named Abraham Lincoln.  

In 1993, the Lincoln became the first carrier in the Pacific Fleet to integrate female aviators.  

But today, as a result of the President’s war with Iran, the Lincoln has achieved another distinction — one it neither sought nor wished to claim.  

And that is for more than 300 days, over 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the Lincoln were at sea. 

Without visits to their family. 

Or other loved ones.  

Without visits to friends apart from their fellow servicemembers. 

In fact, the Lincoln set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea without a port visit.  

And a record away from its home port of San Diego. 

And even now, just recently after stopping in Thailand for its first regular port call in nearly nine months — hull rusted, paint peeling — the Lincoln and its crew were still a long way from home. 

As the President’s senseless war has dragged on, it has taken a heavy toll on the lives and well-being of our servicemembers and their families, many of whom are in California. 

So how does the Commander-in-Chief respond?  

When asked last month if carriers like the Lincoln had been deployed too long, Donald Trump said — and this is a direct quote — “No, no, no, not nearly long enough.” 

Not nearly long enough? 

It was long enough that our sailors have been working 12 to 16 hour shifts — at times facing the danger of enemy missiles.  

It was long enough that they were forced to ration food and water — shortages that have reportedly caused severe weight loss and health impacts. 

It was long enough that crew members have had severe mental health crises, which created significant distress for their families as well. To the point where some servicemembers sought to jump off the carrier into the sea. 

It was long enough that servicemembers had to deal with black mold that drips, as one servicemember described, “onto your face, shoulders, arms or head” while “standing in line for a meal or even walking out of the shower.” 

Doug, a constituent from California, wrote a letter to me expressing his deep concerns over his son’s service on the Lincoln. His son had to be medically evacuated from the ship after suffering a collapsed lung — which Doug believes was connected to malnutrition and overexertion. 

“The crew went about four weeks without hot water or laundry. They were on rations for two to three months while working 12 to 16 hour days. During that time, his family spent thousands of dollars sending him food, but only about half of it arrived.” 

Doug went on: “After time in the ICU [abroad], he returned home to us as a shell of the son who had left. He is 6’5″ and left weighing 210 pounds; and he returned closer to 180 pounds. He resembled a starved prisoner of war. What he told me as a father and veteran turns my stomach and must be brought to light.”   

Another constituent of mine, Annabelle from San Diego, shared her story about her husband attempting to jump overboard from the Lincoln during his deployment.  

“He’s scared,” she said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year-old career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.” But this, is what Annabelle and her three kids are now living with. 

Shelby, a high schooler whose mom is deployed on the Lincoln, spoke about how hard it is to start her senior year without her mom. She asked, “Will she be back before homecoming? My birthday? Christmas? I have no idea, and that’s all that I think about.” 

This week, we learned from the Acting Secretary of the Navy that eight U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the Lincoln’s carrier strike group attempted suicide during the prolonged time at sea. The navy also confirmed that one sailor went overboard from the ship this summer, while another attempted to go overboard. After months of denials, the Defense Department confirmed what has been reported for months, and that is, deteriorating mental health aboard the Lincoln and multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard. 

These are just some of the alarming, dangerous, and shameful conditions our sailors and Marines have endured aboard the Lincoln — and also what our families are going through — while Pete Hegseth posts workout videos and Donald Trump renames lakes and pours over blueprints for the gilded ballroom. 

For Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies — events in black tie. 

For our servicemembers aboard the Lincoln — showers and meals with black mold.  

Could there be a clearer encapsulation of this administration’s misplaced priorities? 

So, the American people were told that the war would be over “very soon.” 

That was March 9th. Ten days after the war started.  

Now, the U.S. is more than six months into the disastrous war. 

Months of negotiations to end the conflict have failed. But the President promises us that the war will soon come to an end — after the election.  

And what have we achieved in this war that has cost the lives of 19 U.S. servicemembers? 

Prices at the pump and grocery checkout have skyrocketed. Diesel prices, fertilizer prices are crushing farmers while the resultant food prices are crushing the rest of America.  

Utility bills and medical bills, out of control. 

Everyone but the President and his buddies are painfully aware that we’re experiencing an affordability crisis in America. 

While the President says… “Not long enough.” 

In the closing days of the Mexican-American War, our sixteenth president — whose name the Lincoln proudly carries — was a freshman here in Congress. He wrote to his law partner. 

“The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons,” Lincoln wrote. 

“Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.” 

“This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.” 

“But your view,” Lincoln wrote, “destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.” 

We need to take Lincoln’s words to heart. This Congress is not a royal court, to do the bidding and bow and scrape before an all-powerful sovereign. We are a coequal branch of government and two hundred and fifty years into this experiment in self-governance, we should show Lincoln’s resolve. 

Will we continue to place the president where kings have stood? 

Or will we say, at long last, “enough?” 

Will we make it clear that this war, illegal from the start, has gone on too long? 

Will we insist on the removal and return of our troops?  

I pray that we will, and I urge support of this resolution. 

Source: Senator Adam Schiff