U.S. News & World Report
Opposition to $5.6 billion war request, 1,00-troop deployment builds, but it's unclear if skeptics can win
President Barack Obama abandoned his August 2013 request to bomb Syria’s government when a significant number of lawmakers said they would vote "no."
Nearly a year later, Obama ordered airstrikes in Iraq to protect Kurds from the Islamic State group and expanded the strikes to Syria in September after the retaliatory murders of two U.S. journalists (and to stop alleged plotting by a different group). No congressional vote was necessary, he said, and polls showed overwhelming support for the airstrikes.
Now, more than two months after the most recent videotaped beheading of an American by jihadis, Obama is asking Congress for two separate nods of approval for continued intervention against the Islamic State group, also referred to as ISIS.
The requests present a conceivable opportunity for anti-war lawmakers to halt the expansion of U.S. military action, and some House members are stirring for a fight.
Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-09) was among those voicing concerns. Read his comments and the full story here.
