Rep. Adam Schiff Introducing Narrowly-Tailored Authorization for Use of Military Force Against ISIL

Press Release

Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), announced he is introducing a narrowly-tailored authorization for use of military force against ISIL. The bill, similar to one he introduced last year, is designed to give the President authority to carry on the military campaign he began almost six months ago and provides Congress an opportunity to debate and vote on the war against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, a goal that both Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama have stated and which Congress has yet to meet.

First, the measure would provide a three-year authorization for the use of force against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Second, the measure would harmonize the legal authorities under which the President is authorized to take offensive action by sunsetting the 2002 Iraq AUMF immediately and by sunsetting both the new authorities and the 2001 AUMF three years after the enactment of the joint resolution. And third, the resolution prohibits the use of American ground forces in a combat mission in Iraq or Syria.

"More than five months after strikes began against ISIL in Syria and Iraq, Congress has yet to debate and take a vote on an authorization to wage war, in clear abdication of our constitutional duties," said Schiff. "ISIL represents a serious danger to the United States, having taken over large swaths of the region and used it to terrorize the population. With thousands of foreign fighters joining its ranks who have the ability to return to the United States and Europe, we have a compelling interest in stopping ISIL. There is no doubt that our current offensive amounts to war, and Congress should take action both to authorize its prosecution and to set limits on that authorization so it may not be used by any future administration in a manner contrary to our intent."

Schiff continued, "The bill I'm introducing today authorizes the use of force against ISIL, narrowly tailored to provide the President with the authority he has said is necessary to achieve our military goals. It also immediately repeals the 2002 AUMF and sunsets the 2001 AUMF, both of which provide a poor description of the nature of the conflict in which we are engaged more than a decade after their passage. Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took an important first step by debating and voting on a draft authorization -- it's my hope that today's introduction of this bill can help jumpstart the process in the House so Congress gets off the sidelines. Congress needs to do its job and debate and vote on an authorization, so the troops we have fighting this war know that we, too, have done our duty."

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