Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday dismissed the suggestion that a vote for the authorization for use of military force (AUMF) against Islamic militants has any shot in the lame-duck session.
“There’s not a snowball’s chance in Gila Bend, Ariz., I promise you, to get in AUMF in this session of Congress,” he told reporters.
{mosads}McCain, the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Congress should hold off until the 10 new members of the Senate are sworn in next year.
He also repeated calls for the White House to send lawmakers a draft first of its AUMF proposal against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“I’ve been involved in many AUMFs, it always starts with the administration sending over their proposal. There is no proposal. Why is there no proposal? They have no strategy?” he asked.
Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Robert Corker (R-Tenn.) worked out a compromise where the Foreign Relations Committee would vote an authorization some time next week. However, it is unclear if the full Senate will vote on the eventual measure.
The decision to move forward was made after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced the intention to attach his resolution declaring war on ISIS to a water authorization bill.
GOP Foreign Relations members, including McCain, Corker and Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), derided the move to tack such a major policy decision onto an innocuous measure.
Hours later, McCain was still steamed.
“It was the most bizarre meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that I have ever attended in my life or ever expected to attend. A water bill. A nice little water bill, uncontroversial,” he said. “An obscure water bill! I mean, you can’t make that up! Where in that little book on how the laws are made does it say water bill, get a declaration of war? It’s ludicrous. It’s a living, breathing argument against lame-duck sessions.”
McCain also said any AUMF must include airstrikes against the Assad regime in Syria.
“If it’s not in there, I will lay down on the floor of the Senate,” he warned. “This is obscene. How in the world do you justify leaving [Syrian President Bashar Assad] alone?”
He said to leave Syria unmentioned would be a “a degree of immorality that’s contradictory to everything the United States has ever stood for.”