White House presses Congress to pass Obama’s war powers request

The White House is urging Congress to show “strong bipartisan” support for a war powers request to fight the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria amid a lack of enthusiasm from lawmakers.

“What they shouldn't do this time is what they did in 2013 when they took a pass on this issue,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” broadcast Sunday.

“It's very important in questions of war and peace for Congress to be heard. The president has given them a roadmap to follow,” he stated.

President Barack Obama has sent Congress a request, seeking formal authorization to fight the Takfiri terrorist organization, six months after he signed off on an air campaign in Iraq and Syria.

The resolution limits US operations to three years, and prohibits the use of “enduring offensive ground forces,” leaving the door open for limited combat operations.

The request has rekindled the debate over presidential war powers at a time when the United States is still grappling with the consequences of two prolonged wars in the Middle East.

McDonough urged lawmakers to take the president’s request or “they can come up with something else. But they should not take a pass on this important issue.”

He said the US and its allies have conducted more than 2,400 strikes against ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, which have had “a very dramatic impact” on rolling back the terrorist group.

“We've seen ISIS's progress blunted in Iraq. We're making good progress in Syria,” McDonough added.

Lawmakers skeptical about Obama’s war request

Some senior lawmakers have expressed skepticism on whether Congress should pass any version of Obama’s war powers request.

“It does not seem to have resonated with anyone,” said Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to the New York Times. “I haven’t found any colleague who’s been enthusiastic about it.”

Sen. Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called for extensive hearings on Obama’s current strategy in Iraq and Syria before taking his request for a formal authorization.

“I know there’s all this rush and media inquiry, but what we need to do is take our time,” he said in an interview with the Times. “We need to understand what the administration’s plans are. And once we do that, we’ll be in a position to try to move forward with an authorization.”

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