The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he expects the White House will soon deliver a proposed authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“We may be getting close to discussions about language,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told The Hill on Thursday.
Corker said he knows administration officials are “discussing it, and my sense is that … in the near future, we may have some language to look at that comes from them.”
{mosads}In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama called on Congress to pass a new AUMF, despite White House assertions that he already has the authority needed to carry out military strikes on ISIS.
“Tonight, I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against ISIL,” Obama told lawmakers, using an alternate acronym for the terror group.
A number of lawmakers, including several Democrats, have urged Congress to consider a new AUMF for months.
Republicans leaders, most notably Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), say it’s up to the White House’s to send a proposal to Capitol Hill.
“It’s sort of out of my hands; we’re waiting on the White House,” Corker said.