Rep. Lee’s bipartisan effort to open debate over war against ISIS

WASHINGTON — With hundreds of U.S. forces now operating on the ground in Syria and Iraq, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland led a bipartisan effort Thursday to insist that Congress debate escalating U.S. ground combat overseas against the Islamic State.

President Obama sent 200 additional ground troops to Iraq and 250 special operations forces to Syria last month, using the war resolution Congress passed in 15 years ago to approve the invasion of Afghanistan.

On Thursday, three House Republicans and five House Democrats stood outside the Capitol to demand that Speaker Paul Ryan allow debate on a new war resolution, arguing Congress has a clear constitutional obligation to approve wars, but that GOP leaders are shirking that responsibility for political reasons.

The group said it intends to offer amendments asking for a war authorization on a pending defense bill, but have had no assurance from Ryan or other House GOP leaders that the amendments will be permitted.

Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said opinions on what a new war authorization should include vary widely, but that is all the more reason to have a public debate over the purpose, scale and timeline of the war against the Islamic State.