MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Syria

Interview

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REP. JOHN GARAMENDI, (D) CALIFORNIA: Always good to be with you, Ed and a profoundly important question you just raised and the answer...

SCHULTZ: Well, I`ll post it to you.

GARAMENDI: ... Sure.

SCHULTZ: Was the -- Is the President and is the United States on solid constitutional ground to take this action?

GARAMENDI: Well, we`re clearly at war and the lawyers can play with this any way they want to and frankly the administration lawyer say they don`t need Congress but if you`re going to have a successful event, if you`re going to have a successful conclusion to this, you have to have the American public with you and you really need to have all of us standing together. That requires Congress. The constitution I believe requires Congress to declare war.

You can call it an authorization. You use military force which is the same as declaration of war, different words, same result. We must do that because we are in fact constitutionally mandated to do that and it is how you rally the American people. We need the hearings. We need to know how much this is going to cost.

How long it`s likely to last. Who will be the boots on the ground? If they`re not going to be America, who will they be? All of these questions need to be thoroughly discussed.

Last week, we took up the issue of arming Syrian rebels. The debate was only on that. It didn`t include the other four issues but the other three issues that the President raised.

SCHULTZ: So Congressman, it seems now that we are in the mode of act first, explain later. Are you upset this wasn`t put up for a vote? And we have talked with you on the past about hitting Syrian targets and how that plays into the mix. Your thoughts tonight?

GARAMENDI: Well, I`ve always said that we had to take the airstrikes to the ISIL leadership, to the rebels wherever may they may be, degrade them, give the Iraqi army the courage, the others in the area the opportunity to reform, to get back on their feet so that they can then conduct the ground war. That`s been done but I`ve always said all along, this is something Congress has to take up. This is in fact a new war. This is not an extension of the Afghanistan war. This is not an extension of the Iraq war which the President actually declared was over.

And so, come to the Congress, make the case, tell us how it`s going to cost, how we`re going to pay for it. What kind of opportunities there are to stop the flow of money and men and material into the ISIS arms? Those are all issues that are critically important and they`re the kind of issues that should be debated and should come to a conclusion. I will support the President on these airstrikes but I want it limited and that can only be done through the authorization to use military force which would limit and define how we`re going to conduct this war.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, does the information that`s coming out about the Khorasan group change the equation at all? It`s been ISIS who has gotten all the attention as of late and now the reports on the Khorasan group, they`re may be even worst.

GARAMENDI: Well, I think it doesn`t really change the underlying question that this is an issue for the Congress to take up, for the Arm Services Committee to hold detail hearings to hear it out and to come to a conclusion that "Yes, we support what the President is doing. We`re willing to pay for it and we`re willing to endure whatever may come of it." That`s what we must do.

The Khorasan group is said to be a direct offshoot of al-Qaeda. And in that context, the 2001 authorization to use military force in Afghanistan does extend worldwide. That authorization is used in Yemen. It`s used in Somalia. It`s used throughout the Sahel of Africa.

It is the unending worldwide authorization to conduct military campaigns and it is now being applied to the Khorasan. But that doesn`t negate the fact that this is really quite different, this issue of...

SCHULTZ: OK.

GARAMENDI: ... ISIL and so we need to go after it with an authorization to use force.

SCHULTZ: Congressman John Garamendi, appreciate your time tonight here on the Ed Show.

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