A bipartisan pair of lawmakers want to force a House vote in the coming weeks on authorizing military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said they plan to introduce a “privileged” resolution to try to force a floor vote after the House returns May 12 from a weeklong recess.
“This really is getting to a point, where it’s about the only option we have to force any discussion on debate on the floor,” Jones said in a joint appearance with McGovern on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program.
{mosads}President Obama sent an authorization for use of military force (AUMF) to Congress earlier this year, but it has since stalled, appearing to lack support from either party.
McGovern said lawmakers should be warned they might have to vote on a war authorization.
“That’s why we’re also putting our fellow members of Congress on notice that we’re going to use every procedural motion available to us to try to force this debate,” McGovern said.
Jones and McGovern argued that Congress should at least debate formally authorizing the use of military force against terrorists in the Middle East, even if the war resolution doesn’t pass. McGovern said that doing nothing in the meantime amounted to lawmakers shirking their responsibilities.
“We hope that people will vote with us, or vote ‘present,’ at least to send a message to the leadership and to the committee of jurisdiction that you’ve got to do something. And look, if the majority in Congress say no, then it’s no. If the majority say yes, then it’s yes. But being silent, that’s moral cowardice,” McGovern said.
Jones said in response to a question from a C-SPAN caller that he came to regret his vote in favor of authorizing the Iraq War, once he came to believe the Bush administration manipulated Congress into approving the military authorization.
“It’s one of the worst mistakes I’ve made since I have been a member of Congress,” Jones said. “I will go to my grave regretting that vote, quite frankly.”