WASHINGTON (AP) On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Republicans and Democrats in Congress voiced strong pre-election support Thursday for President Barack Obamas call for new authority to combat Islamic State militants in the heart of the Middle East.
Over the next week following a series of briefings Congress will work with the administration to ensure that our forces have the resources they need to carry out these missions said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. predicted Congress would swing behind the presidents request not the least of which is the authority to equip and train Syrian troops to fight these ... evil terrorists.
Reid and McConnell spoke the morning after Obamas prime-time speech and as House Republicans appeared to be grudgingly coalescing around a vote to support the presidents request.
We do not want to go home without voting on some measure that goes toward destroying and defeating ISIS wherever it exists said Rep. Michael McCaul R-Texas referring to the militants.
Congress is in a brief two-week pre-election session and the presidents request is an unexpected addition to what had until recently seemed a period devoted to domestic issues such as extending government funding beyond the end of the current budget year.
Public sentiment also appears to be shifting with polls showing Americans more supportive of military action than they were in the immediate aftermath of the long deadly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Even so there were scattered objections to Obamas request.
I cant vote for what the president proposed because there was nothing new last night in the presidents speech. He wants to continue the same failed strategy but he wants to make it even worse by giving even more money to the so-called vetted moderates who arent moderate at all said Rep. Michele Bachmann a Minnesota Republican who is retiring at the end of the year.
In the immediate aftermath of Obamas speech on Wednesday night both Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif. spoke favorably about his call for new authority to battle forces that have overrun parts of Syria and Iraq and have also beheaded two American journalists whom they had held captive.
Still the outlines of a longer-term national debate over Americas role in the region seemed to be emerging.
In his speech McConnell envisioned a multi-year campaign that would extend beyond Obamas time in office.
Rep. Pete King R-N.Y. told reporters a 15-year conflict may be in the offing and that the country needs to adopt a wartime footing when it comes to defense spending.
Rep. John Fleming R-La. said Republicans are divided into two camps on the issue. He characterized the view of one side this way: This is not the president we choose but its the only president that we have and that we just have to go along with the one that we have and hope that we can hold him accountable for doing the right thing.
Fleming said the other group including himself believes it is an insane strategy to go out there and depend on people that are proven undependable to combat the militants. He said he prefers all-out war waged by U.S. forces.
Rep. Howard Buck McKeon R-Calif. chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said in a speech that he supports several elements of Obamas strategy including an expansion of airstrikes and training and equipping the rebels.
Obama says he already has the authority he needs to expand airstrikes from Iraq into Syrian terrority although he did not say in his speech when he would order them launched.
Given the proximity to the elections it was unclear what the political fallout would be from Obamas speech.
In his remarks Reid accused unnamed Republicans of taking cheap political shots at the president.
This is a time for the rhetoric of campaign commercials to go away he said.
Associated Press writers Erica Werner Andrew Taylor Alan Fram and Donna Cassata contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON (AP) On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Republicans and Democrats in Congress voiced strong pre-election support Thursday for President Barack Obamas call for new authority to combat Islamic State militants in the heart of the Middle East.
Over the next week following a series of briefings Congress will work with the administration to ensure that our forces have the resources they need to carry out these missions said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. predicted Congress would swing behind the presidents request not the least of which is the authority to equip and train Syrian troops to fight these ... evil terrorists.
Reid and McConnell spoke the morning after Obamas prime-time speech and as House Republicans appeared to be grudgingly coalescing around a vote to support the presidents request.
We do not want to go home without voting on some measure that goes toward destroying and defeating ISIS wherever it exists said Rep. Michael McCaul R-Texas referring to the militants.
Congress is in a brief two-week pre-election session and the presidents request is an unexpected addition to what had until recently seemed a period devoted to domestic issues such as extending government funding beyond the end of the current budget year.
Public sentiment also appears to be shifting with polls showing Americans more supportive of military action than they were in the immediate aftermath of the long deadly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Even so there were scattered objections to Obamas request.
I cant vote for what the president proposed because there was nothing new last night in the presidents speech. He wants to continue the same failed strategy but he wants to make it even worse by giving even more money to the so-called vetted moderates who arent moderate at all said Rep. Michele Bachmann a Minnesota Republican who is retiring at the end of the year.
In the immediate aftermath of Obamas speech on Wednesday night both Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif. spoke favorably about his call for new authority to battle forces that have overrun parts of Syria and Iraq and have also beheaded two American journalists whom they had held captive.
Still the outlines of a longer-term national debate over Americas role in the region seemed to be emerging.
In his speech McConnell envisioned a multi-year campaign that would extend beyond Obamas time in office.
Rep. Pete King R-N.Y. told reporters a 15-year conflict may be in the offing and that the country needs to adopt a wartime footing when it comes to defense spending.
Rep. John Fleming R-La. said Republicans are divided into two camps on the issue. He characterized the view of one side this way: This is not the president we choose but its the only president that we have and that we just have to go along with the one that we have and hope that we can hold him accountable for doing the right thing.
Fleming said the other group including himself believes it is an insane strategy to go out there and depend on people that are proven undependable to combat the militants. He said he prefers all-out war waged by U.S. forces.
Rep. Howard Buck McKeon R-Calif. chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said in a speech that he supports several elements of Obamas strategy including an expansion of airstrikes and training and equipping the rebels.
Obama says he already has the authority he needs to expand airstrikes from Iraq into Syrian terrority although he did not say in his speech when he would order them launched.
Given the proximity to the elections it was unclear what the political fallout would be from Obamas speech.
In his remarks Reid accused unnamed Republicans of taking cheap political shots at the president.
This is a time for the rhetoric of campaign commercials to go away he said.
Associated Press writers Erica Werner Andrew Taylor Alan Fram and Donna Cassata contributed to this story.
