Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said President Obama’s failed foreign policies have lead to a strong Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“The rise of [ISIS] is not an isolated failure,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “If we hope to defeat this threat, we need to come to terms with that now.”
{mosads}Obama is expected to give a speech at 9 p.m. on Wednesday detailing his plans to combat ISIS, a terrorist group that has taken swaths of land in the Middle East and killed two American journalists.
McConnell said the public doesn’t want a lecture from the president tonight — they want a plan and presidential leadership.
“The president must seize this opportunity to lead,” McConnell said. “It’s an opportunity to reconsider his failed national security policies.
“Present us with the credible plan the American people have been waiting for.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he believes Obama will “lay out a strong approach” against ISIS.
McConnell said that because Obama failed to secure a combat force contingency agreement with Iraqi leadership, the United States now faces a threat from ISIS.
Some lawmakers have called on Congress to authorize military use of force against ISIS, but Obama has said he doesn’t need that to launch air and drone strikes against the Islamic militants.