The Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed Thursday to authorize the ongoing U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State terror group.
However, the measure prohibited the use of ground troops in the mission to defeat ISIS. The authorization passed in a 10-8 party line vote, The Hill reported, with Democrats voting for and Republicans against the measure.
The new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is set to be binding for three years. The White House is expected to report back to Congress every two months. The Obama Administration is currently using President Bush’s 2001 AUMF as justification to target ISIS in Syria.
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), the highest ranking Republican on the committee, told The Hill Thursday that fellow Republicans have “no earthly idea how the administration plans” to defeat ISIS. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) added, “I don’t believe it really commits us to victory. We’re not defining what defeat is.”
On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asking lawmakers to grant President Obama the tools to fight ISIS. Kerry promised that no ground troops would be required for the mission, but added that new legislation should not “bind the hands of our commander-in-chief–or our commanders in the field–in responding to scenarios and contingencies that are impossible to foresee.
The original AUMF was signed in the wake of Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks against America. It authorized the President to use “necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”
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