Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine and Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake are trying once again to get Congress to debate and vote on authorizing military action against ISIS.
The senators on Thursday unveiled a new Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban, their second attempt to prod their colleagues to formally vote on the military effort.
But their first attempt, introduced in 2015, went nowhere. Congressional leadership has shown no interest in taking up a new war authorization, as both the Obama administration and now the Trump administration have said they have the legal authority needed under the 2001 authorization passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the 2002 Iraq War authorization.
Lawmakers are wary of taking a formal vote on the issue, cognizant of how then-Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2002 Iraq War vote was used against her in both the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections.
“I frankly think this is, partly, hard because people don’t want to cast a war vote,” Kaine said. “Because there’s going to be a consequence. It should be the gravest vote we ever cast. People want to duck from that if they can.”
But the two senators said they were hopeful that their bipartisan effort can finally gain some steam. They said Senate foreign relations chairman Bob Corker indicated Thursday he was interested in taking some action on the bill in his committee in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment