After passing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a 10-8 vote along party lines, the White House has publicly repudiated the authorization for the use of military force against ISIS as “too limiting.”
Press secretary Josh Earnest said the bill was “limiting the flexibility of the commander in chief,” in particular by banning the use of ground troops, even though he insisted the president still does not envision using ground troops.
He further objected to the three-year time limit for the war, saying the president would only accept such a limit if it were possible to extend it without further votes in the future.
The complaints and the bill are irrelevant anyhow, as the bill is not going to get to the Senate floor, nor is there a version in the House that will get a vote by year’s end. The assumption is that the new Senate will have a new, more hawkish war bill in January, and one more suited to Obama’s ambitions.
