Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) supports having an authorization vote on whether to use force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but he sees an advantage for Republicans on avoiding a public vote on the issue.
“A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later,’ ” Kingston said according to The New York Times. “It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.”
Kingston’s comments, published on Monday, ahead of President Barack Obama’s scheduled announced laying out his plan for fighting ISIS. Obama is scheduled to meet with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss his strategy.
Kingston will retire next year from Congress after he failed to secure the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Georgia in a runoff election.