[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 182 (Tuesday, December 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9309-H9310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago when Secretary of Defense Ash 
Carter testified before the House Armed Services Committee, I asked him 
if Congress' debating and voting on an Authorization for Use of 
Military Force,
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GREGG HARPER, Chairman.

[[Page H9310]]

an AUMF, would help in the cause of defeating ISIL. Secretary Carter 
said it would be helpful because we would need to show the troops that 
Congress supports them.
  Two weeks ago, the Obama administration announced that it would be 
sending an expeditionary force into Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS. In 
his column last week entitled ``Obama's Quiet Shift in War on ISIS,'' 
syndicated columnist Doyle McManus wrote: ``If the first expeditionary 
forces succeed, as their record suggests they will, they will almost 
surely be followed by more.'' I completely agree with Mr. McManus.
  Mr. Speaker, on November 6, my colleague Jim McGovern and I, along 
with 33 of our colleagues, wrote a letter to Speaker Ryan urging him to 
allow debate on an AUMF on the House floor. We never received a 
response. Last week, Jim and I wrote Speaker Ryan another letter urging 
him to allow a debate on the AUMF on the House floor as one of the 
first actions Congress takes when we come back in January 2016.
  Mr. Speaker, President Obama continues to escalate our involvement 
against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Our fight with ISIS isn't going away 
any time soon, which is why it is high time Congress fulfills its 
constitutional duty and debates our role in the Middle East. As James 
Madison said: ``The power to declare war, including the power of 
judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the 
legislature.'' The most important vote by a Member of Congress is to 
commit a young man or woman to fight and die for this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I have two letters that I include in the Record.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                 Washington, DC, November 6, 2015.
     Hon. Paul Ryan,
     Speaker, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Ryan: Among the issues that require urgent 
     attention by the U.S. House of Representatives is the 
     question of the extent of involvement by the U.S. military in 
     the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Given 
     the recent announcement by President Obama of a deepening 
     entanglement in Syria and Iraq, it is critical that the House 
     schedule and debate an Authorization for the Use of Military 
     Force (AUMF) as quickly as possible.
       Last week, the president announced initiatives that 
     escalate U.S. engagement in combat operations in Syria and 
     Iraq. Specifically, the U.S. will deploy a U.S. Special 
     Operations contingent into northern Syria to be embedded with 
     and to advise opposition militant forces in that region; and 
     U.S. military advisors and special operations forces already 
     in Iraq will be embedded with Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the 
     front lines of combat. Secretary of Defense Carter also 
     stated that U.S. air operations in both Syria and Iraq will 
     increase their bombing campaigns. Taken all together, these 
     represent a significant escalation in U.S. military 
     operations in the region and place U.S. military personnel on 
     the front lines of combat operations.
       We do not share the same policy prescriptions for U.S. 
     military engagement in the region, but we do share the belief 
     that it is past time for the Congress to fulfill its 
     obligations under the Constitution and vote on an AUMF that 
     clearly delineates the authority and limits, if any, on U.S. 
     military engagement in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding 
     region. U.S. bombing campaigns have been going on for more 
     than a year, and U.S. troops on the ground have been 
     increasingly close to or drawn into combat operations, 
     including the recent death in combat of a special operations 
     soldier in Iraq.
       Consistent with your pledge to return to regular order, we 
     urge you to direct the committees of jurisdiction to draft 
     and report out an AUMF as soon as possible. We do not believe 
     in the illusion of a consensus authorization, something that 
     only happens rarely. We do believe the Congress can no longer 
     ask our brave service men and women to continue to serve in 
     harm's way while we fail in carrying out our constitutional 
     responsibility in the area of war and peace.
       As long as the House fails to assert its constitutional 
     prerogatives and authority, the Administration may continue 
     to expand the mission and level of engagement of U.S. Armed 
     Forces throughout the region. We strongly urge you, Mr. 
     Speaker, to bring an AUMF to the floor of the House as 
     quickly as possible.
           Sincerely,
         James P. McGovern; Tom Cole; Barbara Lee; Walter B. 
           Jones; Peter Welch; John Lewis; Bill Posey; John Abney 
           Culberson; Ryan K. Zinke; Richard L. Hanna; Thomas 
           Massie; Ted S. Yoho; Ed Whitfield; Dana Rohrabacher; 
           Justin Amash; Mark Sanford; Paul A. Gosar; Mick 
           Mulvaney; John J. Duncan, Jr.; Matt Salmon; Raul R. 
           Labrador; Janice D. Schakowsky; Peter A. DeFazio; 
           Charles B. Rangel; Louise M. Slaughter; Janice Hahn; 
           Joseph P. Kennedy; Michael C. Burgess; Chellie Pingree; 
           John Garamendi; Joseph Crowley; David N. Cicilline; 
           John Conyers, Jr.; Beto O'Rourke; Daniel T. Kildee.
                                  ____



                                Congress of the United States,

                                Washington, DC, December 10, 2015.
     Hon. Paul Ryan,
     Speaker of the House, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Ryan: We write to you again to strongly urge 
     you to bring before the U.S. House of Representatives an 
     Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) related to 
     U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere 
     against the Islamic State. We ask that you schedule the 
     debate and vote on an AUMF resolution in January when the 
     114th Congress reconvenes in 2016.
       As you are aware, U.S. involvement in Iraq and Syria 
     continues to escalate. In both countries, U.S. special 
     operations forces are engaged in front-line operations. Last 
     month a bipartisan group of 35 Members of the House, 
     representing a broad ideological spectrum, called on you to 
     schedule such a debate as soon as possible. As that letter 
     stated: ``We do believe the Congress can no longer ask our 
     brave service men and women to continue to serve in harm's 
     way while we fail in carrying out our constitutional 
     responsibility in the area of war and peace.'' We are 
     attaching a copy of that letter for your convenience and 
     review. In subsequent media reports, we were deeply 
     disappointed to read that you do not believe that the 114th 
     Congress needs to act on a new AUMF to wage war against the 
     Islamic State, but rather that the 14-year-old and 13-year-
     old AUMFs approved by the 107th Congress under starkly 
     different circumstances provide the president with all the 
     authority he requires.
       We firmly believe that among the most important duties of 
     Congress is that of debating and voting on whether to send 
     U.S. armed forces into battle. On this matter, the 
     Constitution is crystal clear: it is the duty of Congress to 
     authorize such engagement. We believe that it violates our 
     oath of office to continue to ignore this urgent and serious 
     matter.
       Ten months ago, the president sent a draft AUMF to Congress 
     for consideration and last Sunday he called, once again, on 
     Congress to approve a new AUMF. It is now the role of the 
     Speaker to direct the committee of jurisdiction to approve 
     the Administration's draft, or to amend it, or to draft a new 
     version of the AUMF and to schedule that resolution for 
     consideration and a vote by the full House as expeditiously 
     as possible.
       Once again, we strongly urge you to bring an AUMF before 
     the House in January 2016 so that the House may debate and 
     vote on authorizing U.S. military operations in Iraq, Syria 
     and elsewhere against the Islamic State. We look forward to 
     receiving your response.
           Sincerely,
     James P. McGovern,
       Member of Congress.
     Walter B. Jones,
       Member of Congress.

  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, if we do not meet our responsibility, we will 
become complicit in the loss of life among our troops. How many young 
children will have a loved one that doesn't come home from fighting for 
this country?
  The picture here, Mr. Speaker, is the first one that I brought after 
we went into an unnecessary war known as Iraq. His daddy, Phillip 
Jordan, was a gunnery sergeant who was killed in 2003. The little boy's 
name is Tyler Jordan. This is actually 12 years ago, and now he is 18 
years of age. How many more children will have to go without a father 
or a mother or a brother or sister who lost their life in war?
  We need to meet our constitutional responsibility. It is embarrassing 
that we in Congress--I don't even think we have a right to criticize 
the President, quite frankly. Let's do our job based on the 
Constitution. Let's do our job and debate a new AUMF or a declaration 
of war. Let's meet our responsibility for the good of our men and women 
in uniform and their families.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please bless our Nation, bless our men and 
women in uniform, and, please, God, continue to bless America.

                          ____________________