PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 13th, 2025)
After Israeli Strikes on Iran, Libertarian Party of Iowa Slams Statehouse Inaction on Defend the Guard Bill
Des Moines, IA (06/13/2025) – As nearly 2,000 Iowa National Guard troops are being deployed to the Middle East amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, the Libertarian Party of Iowa is renewing its call for urgent action on Defend the Guard legislation. The party opposes America being drawn into another Middle Eastern conflict and criticized Iowa Republican leadership for refusing to advance the bill during the 2025 legislative session, calling it a betrayal of Iowa’s service members and families.
The Defend the Guard Act is a state-level proposal gaining momentum across the country that would require National Guards cannot be deployed into active combat overseas unless Congress has formally declared war, as required by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Despite strong grassroots support and growing momentum nationwide, Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature declined to move the Defend the Guard bill forward in 2025, refusing to hold a single hearing or vote on the measure.
“Once again, Iowa troops are being sent into harm’s way without a congressional declaration of war,” said Jules Cutler, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Iowa. “Iowa families shouldn’t bear the cost of foreign conflicts that have nothing to do with defending America. The Iowa Legislature had the chance to protect our Guard members from being used as pawns in undeclared, endless wars—but Republican leadership refused to even give the bill a hearing.”
Defend the Guard legislation was introduced in 27 state legislatures in 2025 and has already passed committees in several. In West Virginia, it passed the full House 99-0 with bipartisan support.
“As a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, I’ve seen firsthand the physical and mental toll these deployments take on our service members and their families—all for undeclared wars that provide no benefit to the American people,” stated Nicholas Gluba, Marine veteran and former Libertarian candidate for U.S. House District 1 in Iowa. “The Defend the Guard Act would prevent Iowa from being complicit in sending our sons and daughters into harm’s way without Congress doing its constitutional duty. We need to stop sacrificing Iowa families for politicians who won’t even vote on these conflicts.”
The Libertarian Party of Iowa, alongside veterans, Guard families, and Iowans across the political spectrum who oppose endless wars and perpetual conflict, is demanding that the legislature take up Defend the Guard legislation in the 2026 session.
Further information about Defend the Guard: https://defendtheguard.us/
The Libertarian Party of Iowa is committed to America’s heritage of freedom: individual liberty and personal responsibility, a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity, a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.
For media inquiries or additional information, please contact:
Libertarian Party of Iowa
Email: info@lpia.org
Phone: (515) 423-0093
