WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday considered a contentious amendment that would repeal the 14-year-old war powers President Obama is using to battle Islamic State extremists and force Congress to approve new authorization.
The measure, authored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is likely to be opposed by many Republicans who don't want to give Obama new war powers when the Democrat is so close to leaving office. To fight the Islamic State, Obama has relied on congressional authorizations given to President George W. Bush for the war on al-Qaida and the invasion of Iraq.
"We have sent our uniformed men and women into harm's way in Syria and Iraq for nearly two years now," said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass. "And still, Congress refuses to do its duty and authorize their deployment."
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a $602 billion defense policy bill that seeks to halt an erosion of the U.S. military's combat readiness by purchasing more weapons and forbidding further cuts in troop levels.
The bill must be reconciled with a version the Senate is expected to consider by month's end.
The House legislation proposes greater oversight of the White House's National Security Council, prohibits prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility from being moved to the U.S., and gives U.S. service members a higher pay raise than the Pentagon recommended.
In a 17-page statement on the policy bill, the White House detailed its objections to numerous provisions and said Obama would veto the legislation if it reached his desk.
Among the measures the Obama administration opposes is a Republican plan to shift $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for additional ships, jet fighters, helicopters and more that the Pentagon didn't request.
To make up for the shortfall in the wartime account, Obama's successor would submit a supplemental budget to Congress in early 2017, according to Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the plan's architect and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He and other proponents of the spending increase say it is essential to halt a decline in the military's ability to respond to global threats that has worsened on Obama's watch.
But Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called the plan a "road to nowhere" that actually degrades combat readiness by retaining troops and buying equipment that can't be sustained, effectively creating a hollowed out force. In a speech Tuesday, Carter said that the proposal "risks stability and gambles with war funding, jeopardizes readiness, and rejects key judgments of the (Defense) Department."
The House bill would block reductions in the number of active-duty troops by prohibiting the Army from falling below 480,000 active-duty soldiers and adding 7,000 service members to the Air Force and Marine Corps. The legislation also approves a 2.1 percent pay raise for the troops — a half-percentage point higher than the Pentagon asked for in its budget submission.
Republicans sidestepped a thorny debate over whether women should be required to sign up for a potential draft after the House Rules Committee stripped from the bill a provision to erase Selective Service gender restrictions. In its place was a measure to study whether the Selective Service is even needed at a time when the armed forces get plenty of qualified volunteers, making the possibility of a draft remote.
The U.S. has not had a military draft since 1973, in the waning years of the Vietnam War era.
A growing number of lawmakers have suggested abolishing the Selective Service, which costs $23 million a year to operate.
"It's like rethinking dinosaurs," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "They're not coming back. The draft is not coming back."
Republicans approved an amendment authored by Thornberry to curb what they say is micromanagement of military operations by National Security Council staff. Thornberry said he has personally heard from troops in combat who have received intimidating calls from junior White House staffers even though their role is to coordinate policy and advise the president.
To increase oversight and accountability, Senate confirmation of the president's national security adviser would be required if the size of the National Security Council staff exceeds 100 employees, according to the amendment.
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