The Obama administration urged members of Congress Monday to stop criticizing Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State and instead funnel their frustration into passing an Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF).
“For more than a year, Congress has been AWOL on their responsibility to pass an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which would demonstrate to our allies and to our enemies that the U.S. is united in its efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said according to a report in the Hill.
Obama asked Congress in February to authorize military force against ISIL not because he was worried he did not have authorization, but because, according to his letter to Congress, he had “repeatedly expressed my commitment to working with the Congress to pass a bipartisan authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIL.”
“It will take more than three weeks to pass an AUMF, but Congress, in each of these cases, must stop using the fact that these issues are difficult as an excuse for doing nothing,” Earnest said. according to the Hill report.