Senate

Senators aim to jump-start debate on ISIS fight

by Jordain Carney - 06/10/15 4:29 PM ET

As the White House prepares to send more troops to Iraq as part of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), two senators are hoping for traction on getting Congress to authorize the war.

Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) suggested Wednesday their proposed authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against the ISIS could serve as a springboard for further action.

“[We’re] basically trying to prod Congress to take action that we think is highly desirable and necessary,” Kaine told reporters. “It’s not the beginning of the end. It might be the end of the beginning. At least we’re going to take a step forward.”

{mosads}Asked about the president’s announcement of the new deployments, Kaine suggested it underscored the need for an authorization bill.

“This is not going away anytime soon. It’s not going to be short,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy.”

The two senators attached their proposal to a State Department policy bill, though it didn’t get a vote Tuesday as part of a Foreign Relations Committee meeting.

Flake said they didn’t expect to have a vote, but added he believes Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are “amiable and ready” to try to move forward on the war bill.

Their proposal comes 10 months into the war against the terrorist organization, with little action from Congress on an official authorization. Both parties quickly dismissed a draft President Obama sent in February.

Flake acknowledged his Republican colleagues have some “discomfort” on the issue.

“They’re concerned with ceding additional authorities to the administration,” he said. “But that just hasn’t yet trumped the concern, from some in my party, there’s a concern that if we start this, we’ve got to be able to finish it.”

More Republicans will “be coming around if they think there is a product that can actually get across the finish line,” he added.

Corker and Cardin have pledged to try to find a path forward on a war authorization bill, though they’ve downplayed expectations.

“We’re in every week this month, and I would expect within the next couple of weeks, I’m assuming, we’ll sit down,” Flake said.

Kaine added he’s “really going to push, because we go to recess in July, and that will be a year of war,” though he acknowledged “it’s up to leadership.”

Asked whether he had a timeline, Corker told reporters Tuesday, “Not yet, but we’ve had good conversations. … They’re moving the issue along, and I appreciate them doing that.”

Kaine and Flake’s are pushing the AUMF on the sidelines of the Senate’s debate of a defense policy bill, where senators also trying to bring up the measure.

Cardin is offering an amendment that would have the 2001 war authorization currently being used by the administration expire in three years.

He told The Hill earlier this year he believes “it is not right to be using a 2001 authorization” to fight ISIS.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also wants to use the defense bill to repeal the 2002 authorization that greenlit the Iraq War.

The Kaine-Flake proposal would also repeal the 2002 war bill, with Kaine saying, “On that one, we’re not expecting a lot of pushback from anybody.”

Tags Jeff Flake Tim Kaine