[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2431]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE PRESIDENT'S FOREIGN POLICY

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I close, I would like to take a 
minute to talk about the President's foreign policy. The Congress has 
received the President's request for authorization for the use of 
military force in Iraq and Syria, and we will take a hard look at this 
request. But we still haven't seen a comprehensive strategy from the 
President for confronting and defeating ISIS. ISIS represents a barely 
comprehensible level of evil. Wherever its members go they leave a 
trail of blood. Their reign of terror in the Middle East has included 
the systematic persecution and murder of Christians and other 
minorities, rape, torture, burnings, beheadings, as well as reports of 
the crucifixion and burying alive of children.
  Just 2 weeks ago ISIS beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. The 
men's only crime was professing their faith. This morning's news 
included reports of another 90 Assyrian Christians being abducted by 
ISIS from a village in northern Syria.
  My heart sinks each time I hear any report of abductions of this 
nature because we know the fate that is likely in store for these 
people. Evil like this cannot be ignored. It must be confronted. The 
United States should be a leader in the effort to defeat this hellish 
organization and its reign of brutality.
  The President should have articulated a plan for responding to ISIS 
months ago, but, unfortunately, his lack of decision is par for the 
course when it comes to this administration's foreign policy. Time and 
again, the President has been confronted with a foreign policy crisis 
and has simply failed to respond. That needs to end now. With crises 
multiplying around the world, it is time for the President to step up 
and start leading. We cannot afford for him to sit on the sidelines any 
longer.
  I yield the floor.

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