House Intel Chair: Obama Would Not Get Authorization if Syria Vote Held Today

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS’s Face The Nation that Congress would not give President Barack Obama authorization to attack Syria if the vote were held today. 

Rogers claimed Obama actually lost support last week and criticized the administration for not having strong relationships with members of Congress. Rogers said this process “should have started two years ago,” and the Obama administration has done an “awful job” of explaining the national interest of a Syria strike. 

When host Bob Schieffer said he believed the Obama administration would not get authorization if the vote were held today, Rogers said, “I can’t disagree with that. The only thing more confusing to me than what their Syria strategy has been the last two years has been their strategy to get buy-in by Representatives of Congress and the American people.”

Rogers said he felt Obama needed to be empowered to have a negotiated settlement to resolve the matter, but the country does not yet have the credibility to tell the Syrian rebels to stop shooting for a few weeks to allow America to negotiate with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

He said Obama’s strategy to get congressional approval has been “mystifying,” noting that the President did not even call Congress back after his announcement last Saturday that he would seek congressional approval for military action against Syria.