The Congress Must Vote to Authorize the Wars

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my great
frustration and anger that this Congress--the 113th Congress--continues
to ignore its constitutional responsibilities to debate and vote on
whether to authorize the U.S. war against Islamic State forces in Iraq
and Syria.

On July 25, this House voted 370-40 that, if the United States
engages in sustained combat operations in Iraq, then the House would
need to authorize such actions. Let me read exactly what this House
approved by such an overwhelming, bipartisan majority:

The President shall not deploy or maintain United States
Armed Forces in a sustained combat role in Iraq without
specific statutory authorization for such use enacted after
the date of the adoption of this concurrent resolution.

That vote, supported by 180 Republicans and 190 Democrats, was taken
nearly 4.5 months ago.

What has happened since then? On August 8, just 2 weeks after the
House vote, the U.S. began bombing Islamic State forces in Iraq. We are
now bombing Iraq to protect infrastructure, as part of coordinated
military operations with Kurdish and Iraqi military forces, and to take
back or to hold cities, towns, and other territory. We are flying
dozens of bombing sorties nearly every day in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, we have also escalated the number of U.S. troops in
Iraq, ostensibly as trainers and advisers. On November 7, the President
announced yet another escalation in the number of U.S. troops deployed
to Iraq, sending roughly an additional 1,500 troops to the region for a
``comprehensive training effort'' for Iraq's army.

When they arrive, this will put the number of American troops in Iraq
at around 3,000. The U.S. Central Command is also working on setting up
new ``expeditionary advise-and-assist operation centers'' far outside
the cities of Baghdad and Erbil.

What else has happened since July? We expanded the war to Syria. On
September 17, this House voted to include in the short-term continuing
resolution authority to arm and train certain Syrian rebel forces,
ostensibly to provide ground troops inside Syria to fight Islamic State
forces.

Five days later, the U.S. began bombing inside Syria. We have flown
scores of bombing missions inside Syrian territory against the Islamic
State and--and this should come as no surprise--other radical groups
like the Khorasan Group.

This week, we are in military negotiations with Turkey to establish a
safe zone--a no-fly zone--along the northern border of Syria that will
cover territory inside of Syria and inside Turkey.

The President has asked for an additional $5.6 billion from Congress
to augment the Pentagon's overseas contingency operations account, the
OCO. About $3.4 billion of that would go to the operations against the
Islamic State, and another $1.6 billion would directly support the
Iraqi training and equipping mission. I have no doubt that all or most
of those funds will be included in the omnibus appropriations bill next
week.

Mr. Speaker, if this doesn't add up to our forces being engaged in
sustained military combat operations, then what in the world does? Many
Members keep talking about prohibiting U.S. troops from having boots on
the ground.

Mr. Speaker, we already have nearly 3,000 pairs of boots on the
ground in Iraq, and I don't know how many people we have supporting and
carrying out bombing missions because the Pentagon and the White House
haven't told us.

Enough is enough. This House needs to draft, debate, and vote on
whether to authorize this vast array of military operations known as
Operation Inherent Resolve before we adjourn this year.

This war began under this Congress, the 113th Congress. It has
escalated under the 113th Congress. It has expanded from Iraq to Syria
and now to Turkey under the 113th Congress. It is the responsibility of
the 113th Congress to authorize it or not. We need to take care of our
business--real, serious, life-and-death business--before we walk out
the door next week. We need to do our jobs.

No more excuses, no more whining about how the White House should
send Congress a request. It is the institutional and constitutional
duty of the Congress of the United States to decide matters of war and
peace. It is time for the leadership of this House to step up to the
plate and bring an authorization to the floor to be debated and voted
on before we adjourn.

If not, then shame on this House and shame on the leadership for
failing to carry out our most sacred duty to our uniformed men and
women, their families, and the American people.

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