King: Obama shouldn’t ‘wait until Congress acts’

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) doesn’t want President Obama “to wait until Congress acts” before moving against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, arguing that lawmakers could approve military action “retroactively.”

“I think the president should take the action, and then I think the Congress should pass legislation supporting what the president does,” King said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday.

{mosads}“I don’t want him to wait until Congress acts because I don’t have full faith in Congress myself, to be honest with you,” he added. “I know these people want to duck the vote, and I don’t want our foreign policy being tied to that.”

The Republican, who supports expanding U.S. airstrikes against the terror group to Syria, said Congress should approve any actions Obama authorizes.

“We owe that to the American people. And if you’re afraid to vote on war and peace, then you don’t deserve to be in Congress,” he said.

King is a member of both the House Homeland Security Committee and House Intelligence Committee. He attended a briefing the CIA provided to lawmakers on Capitol Hill Monday night.

His comments come as congressional leaders remain split about the prospect of holding a contentious vote on military action ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate, though, have introduced bills authorizing Obama to act, but it is unclear if either bill will see a vote.

Obama is expected to deliver a speech on Wednesday to sell an expanded military campaign against ISIS to the American people. King advised him to lay out a clear strategy.

King said he would “fully support” Obama, and would take responsibility himself if the strategy is unsuccessful. 

“If this goes good, I’ll give the president the credit, and if it goes bad, I’ll take responsibility because I’m one of those calling for strong action,” he said.

Obama is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the administration’s strategy to weaken ISIS. 

King also said the U.S. has no information about threats tied to the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 on Thursday. But he pointed out that the intelligence community also had no direct evidence of a threat before the attacks 13 years ago and urged vigilance.