SHIRLEY — Costs encumbered on consumers and farmers stemming from the war with Iran are “required sacrifices,” Illinois Republican Senate candidate Don Tracy said Monday.
Tracy, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Se. Dick Durbin, spoke about the war in Iran at the farming legislative roundtable in Shirley, Illinois, on Monday.
In June the U.S. Senate struck down a war powers resolution that would have limited President Donald Trump’s ability to continue to wage war in Iran. The vote went along party lines 50-47-1, with Kentucky Republican Rand Paul voting “present.”
Tracy would’ve also vote against the resolution if he was a senator at the time, he said.
“I would’ve voted against that war powers resolution,” Tracy said. “I don’t think Congress should be micromanaging a limited military conflict like we are engaged in with Iran, they’re not qualified to do it, they can’t do it in real time. Some suggest a war powers resolution is unconstitutional, as a lawyer that’s important to me.”
Costs of Iran war called ‘required sacrifices’
The war in Iran, which is now in its sixth month, as seen the price of gasoline to skyrocket for Americans, particularly in Illinois, where most consumers are paying more than $4 a gallon.
On Monday, the cost increases on fertilizer, which figure to hit Illinois farmers hard come next planting season, was also brought up to Tracy, who said he did not yet have a solution to the closure of the Straight of Hormuz, which has strangled shipping in the Middle East.
Tracy said he hopes the American people can be “patient,” but he does like the “economic approach” he said Trump is taking toward the war, which is to “win economically, win this war by economic leverage, including the blockade and sanctions and limited military action, opposed to massive boots on the ground.
When asked if he thought the American consumer was winning the war economically, Tracy said:
“People are hurting. Everybody is hurting because of the Iranian war, but that’s what happens,” Tracy said. “If it’s not a worthwhile war, it’s wasted pain. In World War II we had victory gardens, we had rations, you couldn’t buy a new car because all of the car plants were building tanks. So there is required sacrifice whenever the country is engaged in significant military conflict. And I hope the American people are patient enough until the current administration can resolve this, and I hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
Tracy is facing former Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in November’s election to replace Durbin in the U.S. Senate. Stratton did not attend Monday’s roundtable.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: U.S. Senate hopeful Don Tracy labels Iran war costs ‘required sacrifices’
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star | USA TODAY Network
