Top Dems see shot at ISIS vote slipping away

Top congressional Democrats on Wednesday said lawmakers’ shot at voting this year for military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) appears to be slipping away.

“I am increasingly despairing of the likelihood of taking up an authorization for use of military force [AUMF] in the lame duck,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said at a Defense One Summit panel on Wednesday. “Congress has found numerous excuses not to do its job. … There’s no excuse for congressional inaction.”

{mosads}Schiff, a senior House Intelligence Committee member, and other lawmakers want to pass an AUMF against ISIS in order to give the president congressional authority to wage what has already been a three-month war on the group.

Doing so would allow Congress to debate the war and set conditions for that authorization, such as restricting conventional ground troops from combat in Iraq or Syria, or requiring the president to seek authorization again in 18 months, as Schiff proposes.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who spoke alongside Schiff, criticized members of Congress for not saying a “mumbling word” about the war against ISIS during the lame-duck session, which has been preoccupied with the Keystone XL oil pipeline and spending bills.

Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services panel, also criticized the White House for not taking the initiative to draft an AUMF.

“This works a whole lot better if the White House offers a draft,” he said.

Republicans in general oppose an AUMF that would set conditions on the president’s options against ISIS, and they say the military strategy against the terrorist group is not robust enough.

The White House would not say whether it is drafting AUMF language for Congress before it recesses for the year on Dec. 12, but insists it is continuing to “have conversations with members of both parties regarding an AUMF.”

“Over the coming weeks, the President will work with Congress to lay out the areas where he thinks we can work together,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement Tuesday. 

The White House says the president already has authority to pursue ISIS under the 2001 AUMF drawn to target al Qaeda and “associated forces.”

“That has not changed. Nonetheless, as the president has said, we are strongest as a nation when the Executive Branch and Congress work together on matters involving the use of U.S. military force,” Meehan said.