McGovern: ‘When are we going to do our job?’

Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) chastised Congress on Thursday for not voting on a full authorization of military force to fight Islamic extremists.

McGovern voted against the amendment to a stopgap funding bill Wednesday that would authorize arming and training Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Massachusetts Democrat argued that Congress should vote on a new authorization to use military force instead of allowing the Obama administration to use one from the previous decade.

{mosads}”Unfortunately, it is not clear if any vote will ever happen at any time in this House, even after we come back in November, even though there’s a growing bipartisan consensus that such an authorization is needed,” McGovern said.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has indicated that the House would not vote on a new authorization of force unless President Obama requested Congress to do so. But McGovern said that Congress shouldn’t wait for the president to ask.

“It is Congress that is failing to carry out its constitutional responsibilities. It is Congress that is shirking its duties. It is Congress that is sniping from the sidelines while avoiding any responsibility for the servicemen and women that we are placing in harm’s way,” McGovern said.

In July, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution stating that Congress should authorize sending any new combat troops to Iraq. McGovern said that members should apply the same to combating ISIS.

“I want to remind my colleagues that war is a big deal. It is a big deal. And it is long past time that this House treated it as such,” McGovern said. “We have a constitutional responsibility that we’re not living up to.”