Page 3 - ATODAY
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U.S. NEWS A3
Monday 11 January 2016
McConnell:
No intention of push for
a new war powers vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic State militants. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washing-
Senate won’t take up Pres- McConnell said he could ton. The Senate won’t take up President Barack Obama’s request for new war powers to fight the
ident Barack Obama’s re- not imagine voting for Islamic State group, McConnell said Sunday.
quest for new war powers Obama’s draft of an au-
to fight the Islamic State thorization for the use of (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
group, Majority Leader military force because it
Mitch McConnell said Sun- “restricted his activities,
day, to avoid tying the what he could do based
hands of the next presi- upon conditions on the
dent. ground. But I don’t want
The Obama administration to tie the hands of the next
last February proposed president ... who’s going
a three-year authoriza- to have to clean up this
tion that would take the mess, created by all of this
fight beyond national bor- passivity over the last eight
ders and expand it to any years,” he told ABC’s “This
“closely related successor Week.”
entity” to IS. The plan did To critics, the White
not authorize large-scale House’s use of post-Sept.
ground operations. It has 11 congressional authori-
languished in Congress as zations is a legal stretch,
Republicans and Demo- and they note that the
crats have failed to co- fight has expanded great-
alesce around a new au- ly.
thorization. In a statement this past
McConnell’s resistance to week, Royce said that if
a fresh authorization for Congress can get a new
the use of military force authorization done “that
puts him at odds with ensures our command-
House Speaker Paul Ryan, ers have the flexibility they
who said this past week need to defeat ISIS, I want
that he had asked House to move it. But ultimate-
Majority Leader Kevin Mc- ly, it is going to be up to
Carthy and House Foreign President Obama to lead.
Affairs Committee Chair- Containment has failed.
man Ed Royce to conduct The administration already
“listening sessions” with has the authority it needs
lawmakers on a new plan. to take the fight to these
Obama has relied on con- radical Islamist terrorists,
gressional authorizations and it needs to step up.”
given to President George Obama, in an Oval Of-
W. Bush for the fight against fice address days after the
al-Qaida after the Sept. San Bernardino shootings
11, 2001, attacks and the in December, said that if
2003 invasion of Iraq. Congress believed, as he
Many lawmakers are re- did, that the U.S. was at
luctant to commit, given war with IS, “it should go
the political fallout from ahead and vote to autho-
the 2002 vote for the inva- rize the continued use of
sion of Iraq, even though military force against these
the attacks in Paris and terrorists.”
San Bernardino, Califor- He added that more than
nia, have resulted in a bi- a year after ordering mili-
partisan push for new war tary airstrikes against IS
powers. Others are loath targets, “I think it’s time for
to grant the president new Congress to vote to dem-
authority, seeing that step onstrate that the American
as approval for Obama’s people are united and
strategy in the fight against committed to this fight.”q
