DES MOINES, IOWA (December 19, 2025) — During the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session, Defend the Guard legislation was introduced in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate. Had these bills been enacted, they would have required the United States Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty by issuing a formal declaration of war before Iowa National Guard troops could be deployed into active combat zones overseas.
Those bills were buried.
The tragic deaths of two Iowa National Guard soldiers deployed in Syria — Sgt William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, and Sgt Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines — make that legislative failure impossible to ignore. Their deaths are even more bitter given the opportunity the Iowa Legislature had to act and chose not to.
During the 2025 session, the Libertarian Party of Iowa actively engaged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. With apparent support from the VFW Department of Iowa, the party organized bipartisan phone banks and coordinated e-mail outreach to members of both chambers. Efforts intensified once subcommittee assignments were made. Despite this, neither Defend the Guard bill was granted even a public hearing.
The message from the Capitol in Des Moines was clear: There was no appetite to hold Congress accountable to its constitutional responsibilities, even when Iowa National Guard members’ lives were at stake.
Defend the Guard legislation does not weaken national defense. It restores the constitutional balance of war powers and ensures that deployments into active war zones occur only after open debate, lawful authorization, and accountability. That safeguard was deliberately ignored.
As Iowa approaches the 2026 Legislative Session, the Libertarian Party of Iowa calls on House and Senate leadership to acknowledge this failure and take meaningful action. Real support for Iowa National Guard members and their families requires more than praise after tragedy — it requires leadership before lives are lost.
The legislature must not repeat this mistake. Defend the Guard legislation should be brought forward, debated publicly, and enacted into Iowa law.
