Congress Takes Step Toward Authorizing Attack on Syria

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By Fran Berkman2013-09-04 21:49:04 UTC

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Wednesday to approve a resolution that would give President Barack Obama the ability to use military force in response to the Syrian government's reported use of chemical weapons against its own citizens.

After a day of closed-door meetings followed by markups of the resolution, the committee passed it by a 10-7 vote.

Two notable senators and probable Republican candidates for president in 2016 — Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — voted against the resolution. Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (R-N.J.), ranking member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were among those that voted yes. Only Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey declined to take a position, voting present.

"To be sure, there is a tragedy of a horrific nature in Syria, but I am unconvinced that a limited Syrian bombing campaign will achieve its intended goals," Paul said in a statement released after the vote.

The resolution (embedded below) calls for the authorization of "the limited and tailored use of the United States Armed Forces against Syria" for a period of 60 days. Obama would have the ability to extend the authorization one time for a period of 30 days under certain conditions.

The Senate committee members did not vote along party lines, underscoring the divisiveness of the issue. While key members of Congress have backed Obama's plan to strike, recent poll found that about six in 10 Americans do not support taking military action in Syria.

Meanwhile, the triumvirate that laid out the president's plan to the Senate committee Tuesday testified before the House Foreign Affiars Committee Wednesday. Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent more than four hours trying to convince the representatives to authorize a resolution.

The House hearing lasted even longer than the Senate hearing, at which an apparently bored Sen. McCain was caught playing a poker game on his iPhone.

Obama, who was making a stop in Sweden before the G20 economic summit in Russia, spoke for nearly an hour in a joint press conference with Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Wednesday. "I didn't set a red line," Obama said, during the press conference. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent, and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated, in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act, that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for."

Watch the president's remarks below.

Syria Joint Resolution by AmandaWills

Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Topics: Barack Obama, congress, Politics, Syria, U.S. Senate, U.S., US & World, World