WASHINGTON -- The Paris attacks have given new impetus to a bipartisan push to approve new war powers to fight Islamic State militants, with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday joining Republican and Democratic lawmakers in calling for what would be the first war vote in Congress in 13 years.
RELATED ARTICLES
http://www.arkansas…">Suspected mastermind deadhttp://www.arkansas…">Chemical weapons part of ISIS' plan, reports say
It's unclear whether the push will be fruitful, as many lawmakers remain reluctant to vote on legislation giving President Barack Obama new authority to fight the Islamic State. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says the White House already has the legal authorization it needs to combat the extremists.
To fight the extremist group, Obama has been relying on congressional authorizations given to President George W. Bush for the war on al-Qaida and the invasion of Iraq. Critics say the White House's use of post-9/11 congressional authorizations is a legal stretch at best. And they note that the battle has grown exponentially.
In a speech in New York, Clinton urged Congress to pass an updated authorization to use military force against the militants.
"That will send a message to friend and foe alike that the United States is committed to this fight," she said. "The time for delay is over. We should get this done."
On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, said he plans to introduce, after the Thanksgiving recess, a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force against Islamic State militants responsible for last week's bombings that killed 129 in Paris.
Graham's legislation would not put any time or geographic restraints on the U.S. military or intelligence services' battle against the Islamic State, authorizing the U.S. to take the fight anywhere for as long as necessary. The bill would allow the deployment of U.S. ground troops to fight the extremist group. It also would not restrict the United States in working to disrupt the militants' recruiting efforts, propaganda and communications.
"We must allow this president and every future president to do whatever is necessary to destroy ISIL before they hit us here at home," Graham said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "This authorization will mirror the approach we took against al-Qaida after 9/11."
Earlier this week, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., spoke on the Senate floor to call for a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force after attacks in Paris and in Beirut. On Nov. 12, two powerful suicide bombings tore through a crowded Shiite neighborhood of Beirut, killing 43 people and wounding more than 200 others. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Flake argued that the campaign to destroy the Islamic State warrants its own specific authorization because of its size and the growing role of the U.S. military in combating the group.
In June, Flake and Kaine introduced a bill authorizing the president to use U.S. Special Forces for three years against the extremist group and associated persons or forces. Their bill said that the use of "significant U.S. ground troops in combat" against the Islamic State cannot be used except to protect the lives of U.S. citizens from imminent threat.
Obama, traveling overseas, criticized Congress for failing to come up with legislation authorizing the use of military force in Syria that he has been seeking for months.
In February, the administration proposed a three-year authorization to fight the Islamic State unrestricted by national borders. The fight could be extended to any "closely related successor entity" to the the Islamic State extremists, but the measure did not authorize large-scale ground operations.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Obama's proposal "nonsense," saying the White House knew it would get no real support in Congress.
After Obama sent over his draft of a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force, 30 members of the House asked John Boehner, who was House speaker at the time, to bring it up for debate and a vote. Instead, Boehner suggested the president rip it up and start over.
A Section on 11/20/2015