The Obama administration has been “vacillating” on its request that lawmakers grant the president additional war powers to combat the Islamic State, leaving congressional Democrats frustrated and both the House and Senate poised to adjourn this year without passing any legislation, even as the conflict in the Middle East escalates.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had to abruptly cancel a hearing on the Islamic State scheduled for Tuesday after its star witness, believed to be Secretary of State John Kerry, said he could not attend.
The move leaves Senate Democrats little time to gather critical information about the U.S. strategy for combating the group, which the Senate needs to craft a measure known as an “authorization for use of military force,” or AUMF.
“How do you go forward with an AUMF when you are not being briefed by the administration?” a Hill aide asked the Washington Examiner.
House Republicans say they have no plans to take up a war powers bill this year, in part because President Obama has not sent over a specific request for what kind of authorization he wants.
“The House will wait till next year,” a spokesman for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told the Examiner.
Another GOP aide said Republican leaders “believe that Obama has an obligation, as previous presidents have done, to draft and send up language specific to the authorities he needs and work to ensure its passage.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has not indicated whether he would take up a war powers measure, but Democrats tell the Examiner that the leadership is in no rush, having taken cues from Obama’s recent public statement that he really doesn’t need Congress to take any action right now.
On Nov. 5, Obama told reporters he would request specific authorization for using the U.S. military to battle the Islamic State, a jihadist group waging a terrorist campaign throughout parts of the Middle East. But he also said the debate could perhaps wait until the new Congress convenes in January.
Congressional leaders, particularly Democrats, were listening.
“Enough people heard that and said, ‘Well, maybe this isn’t a priority for the administration,’” a Democratic aide told the Examiner.
Democrats and some Republicans had for months been clamoring for a debate on the issue during the lame duck session, arguing that the current use of military air strikes and the deployment of troops may already exceed the president’s authority.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced plans to double to about 3,000 the number of U.S. troops in Iraq who are serving as advisers to Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic terrorists.
The U.S. military has also stepped up targeted airstrikes.
Obama and some lawmakers in both parties, though, believe the president is authorized to act under war powers measures that were passed in 2001 and 2002, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many Democrats disagree and still want a debate and vote before Congress adjourns. But there is not much time. The House and Senate will leave for the Thanksgiving break, returning for just a few weeks before Congress adjourns for the year.
Earlier this month, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a top member of the Intelligence Committee, called on House Speaker John Boehner to schedule a war authorization vote before the end of the year, saying the current military action is exceeding the 2001 and 2002 measures.
“This is not a decision that can or should wait until 2015,” Schiff wrote to Boehner. “This action was begun during the sitting of the 113th Congress and it [is] well within our ability to authorize it properly before adjourning.”
Kerry is headed to Vienna for the next round of nuclear talks with Iran.
