Congress is flummoxed about how to deal with President Barack Obama’s proposed authorization for war against the Islamic State. While there's a sizeable majority of members who favor putting congressional guidance on the war, the lack of agreement on how to do so raises the possibility that efforts to pass legislation will flounder on Capitol Hill.
All week, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have been meeting behind closed doors to strategize on the White House’s proposal, which places vague limits on the use of ground troops, allows the president to expand the war to any country, and sunsets in three years. Many Republicans want to give Obama (and his successor) more flexibility; many Democrats want to tighten restrictions.
Both parties acknowledge the need for some bipartisan support for their ideas. But neither leadership has figured out how to craft a coalition that can muster 60 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House.
“It is certainly possible this thing could fall apart,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told me. “The war would go on even in the absence of a new authorization, but that would really be a blow to the institution of the Congress.”
Schiff is engaged in an effort by House Democrats to add stricter definitions to the bill’s prohibition on the use of ground forces for “enduring forward combat operations,” a term they argue could have various interpretations. He wants specific language spelling out exactly what ground troops could be used for, such as special operations or combat search and rescue.
Some House Democrats are looking to libertarian-leaning Republicans to join in them in opposing any authorization bill that could be interpreted to allow large combat operations on the ground in Iraq or Syria.
“I suspect that there are a number of libertarian-oriented Republicans who share the same concerns. It will be interesting to see how many of them there are and how they line up,” Schiff said. “A lot will depend on how many Republicans will be similarly uncomfortable with another open-ended authorization.”
The Republican House leadership, on the other hand, is determined to build a mostly Republican voting block to support a bill with more flexibility for the president, not less. They hold a strong majority, but if they lose 30 Republicans on the bill, they will need to pick up some hawkish Democrats to get it passed.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-13/congressional-chaos-over-obama-s-war-authorization
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