Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reported that President Obama is not seeking Congressional authorization for action against ISIS and argued the president should seek Congress’ permission to launch a long-term campaign against the terrorist group on Tuesday’s “The Situation Room” on CNN.
“I think it would be extremely lacking in judgment for him to not seek that from us, a formal authorization. I don’t think that he’s going to ask for that, and I’m dismayed by that because when you begin these kinds of efforts, things go wrong … so I think to have Congress’ buy into them would show strength, would show credibility, would show a durable effort. So, I’m dismayed by the fact that, at present, they’re not seeking that authorization,” Corker stated. And, “I think you can debate whether he has the authority. Most people in the White House would say they do, as most presidents do, but that’s not the debate. The debate is are you going to involve Congress, are you going to ask for the authorization in advance so that he knows he has support for the longer term.”
He further criticized the administration’s approach to dealing with ISIS in Syria, saying, “One of the things that I’ve not heard yet is any coherency to how we deal with Syria … we don’t have that in Syria, and I haven’t heard anyone yet from the administration explain how we’re going to deal with that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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