McConnell says he'll only approve a completely limitless authorization for war on ISIS
Speaking on ABC News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said his problem with President Obama's proposal for an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIS is that it is too limited.
"What the president submitted for authorization to use military force restricted what he could do," McConnell argued. "I can't imagine that I would be voting for an authorization to use military force that Barack Obama would sign because the one he submitted for us to take a look at restricted his activities, what he could do based upon conditions on the ground." McConnell went on to say that he would not support any limitations in an ISIS AUMF because they would "tie the hands of the next president."
The fight against ISIS is currently being waged under the 2001 AUMF passed shortly after 9/11, when ISIS did not exist. And despite McConnell's critique, the president's proposal was actually very light on limitations, stipulating with what the White House called "intentionally" vague language only that the AUMF be renewed after three years and avoid "enduring offensive ground combat operations."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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