Congress should act to pass an authorization to use military force against the Islamic State, but should also be wary of granting the president a “blank check,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, argued Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Last week, six months after the start of the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State, Obama sent a proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force to Congress that authorizes three years of military action against the militant group, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
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“What his draft resolution would do is say we need to destroy ISIS to a point, unless it takes enduring offensive operations — whatever that means — then in which case we just don’t have the authority to do it,” Kinzinger continued. “The job of Congress, and Adam [Schiff] said it, is to declare war, it’s not to be commander in chief. And this authorization as the president put out would be, in essence, Congress being commander in chief and making strategic decisions.”
