House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon on Thursday drew a red line on the administration’s request for a new authorization to use force against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, saying any proposal was “DOA” if it does not allow for the use of U.S. ground troops.
“I will not support sending our military into harm’s way with their arms tied behind their backs,” the California Republican said at a committee hearing on the administration’s strategy against the extremist group.
President Obama has asked lawmakers for a new resolution to authorize the administration’s military campaign against the Islamic State, which he has vowed will not include U.S. ground troops. It would replace a resolution passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers, “I don’t know specifically what they are going to propose,” but noted that administration officials and lawmakers were holding discussions about the resolution’s language.
Hagel also repeated the administration’s bottom line, saying, “U.S. military personnel will not be engaged in a ground combat mission.”
Though he is retiring at the end of the year, McKeon remains a key player on military policy, and his position — which is backed my many others in the Republican House majority — indicates Obama may have a hard time getting congressional authority for continued military operations without revisiting his vow to keep U.S. troops out of combat.
At Thursday’s hearing, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey gave McKeon’s position a measure of support, saying again that he would be open to using a limited number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq to help retake the city of Mosul or secure the border.
While he noted that “there is no gap” between what he has recommended to the president and Obama’s current approach, he said that approach assumes Iraq forms a national unity government and Iraqi forces are up to the task of recapturing territory from the Islamic State.
“If those assumptions are rendered invalid, I will have to adjust my recommendations,” he told lawmakers.
Dempsey caused a stir in September when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that using U.S. combat troops against the Islamic State remained an option he might recommend to Obama.
The administration has requested $5.6 billion in additional war funding from Congress, including $1.6 billion to train and equip Iraqi forces, for a bolstered effort to help build Iraq’s military fight against the Islamic State.
Obama last week ordered 1,500 new advisers to Iraq, doubling the U.S. forces there.
This story, originally posted at 10:39 a.m., has been updated.
