“If the American people haven’t bought in to the administration’s strategy, or the war effort, if the Congress hasn’t bought in, then it puts the whole war on a precarious footing,” Schiff told Sputnik on Wednesday of the possibility of a lengthy legislative process to authorize US military action against the Islamic State.
The past two sessions of the US Congress have been historically unproductive in passing legislation, according to Library of Congress records, but the California congressman believes there is a sufficient sense of urgency to pass a war powers authorization against IS.
During a Wednesday press conference, the congressman told the press that practically speaking, the passage of an AUMF will take weeks, “hopefully not months.”
A delay in the passage of war powers to fight Islamic State could come as the result of a popular rejection of the approach to the war against the Islamic State, but could also come as a result of the disfunction of Congress, Schiff told Sputnik, but he believes there is extensive support for the war effort.
“Even though there are differences on this resolution… I think there’s broad support for what the [US] president [Barack Obama] is doing even if there are many who would like the president to go further,” he commented.
Congressional committee hearings to amend the White House AUMF and question members of the Obama administration will begin the last week of February, once Congress returns from recess, Schiff said.
President Obama delivered a draft authorization for US military action against Islamic State on Wednesday morning. US hostilities against Islamic State have been ongoing since August 2014 without an official congressional authorization of war powers to the president.
