KMA Land - Young discusses ISIS developments on KMA

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By Mike Peterson

Congress will soon consider President Obama's proposal for military intervention against the Islamic State.

The president indicated Tuesday he would invoke the War Powers Act to authorize the Pentagon to fight ISIS forces "without an enduring offensive combat role," according to the Associated Press. Iowa 3rd District Congressman David Young and his colleagues are gearing up for that discussion. In his weekly interview during KMA's 7:35 newscast, The Van Meter Republican indicated he would examine the proposed military action against ISIS very carefully.

"I'm looking forward to debating that," said Young, "seeing the text of it, deliberating and hearing from Iowans about it. Whatever the president does submit--and this is just historical fact--it will likely be altered by Congress. As soon as we get this authorization from the president, there will be hearings in both the House and Senate, and I'm hoping that by Memorial Day, we can bring this up for a vote."

Young hopes the president and Congress can work together on the issue.
"We're going to look at this in the context of hoping that it's bipartisan," he said, "how narrow or broad of a scope this authorization may be, whether it's open-ended, prolonged, whether you sunset the time limit on it, what the strategy is, if there's geographical restrictions in this. So, we must defeat ISIS, and Congress and the president must work together on this."

The president's announcement came on the same day the U.S. learned that Arizona native Kayla Mueller has been executed by Islamic State captors. Calling her execution "heartbreaking," Young says the incident exemplifies ISIS.

"With this group, it just symbolizes the savagery," Young said. "And, they want to do this to all of us. We're not a war-mongering nation. We strive for peace, but sometimes you've got to fight the enemy to the end to bring about that peace."

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