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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 55, which requires the President to withdraw our troops deployed in Iraq and Syria before the end of the year unless Congress passes an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to combat ISIL.
I do want to stress that I support many aspects of the military operations the President is currently conducting against ISIL, including the use of American air power against ISIL targets and in support of Iraqi and Kurdish forces, as well as the deployment of limited numbers of American troops to help train and equip those forces. However, it has now been ten months since the President sent troops into Iraq and Syria and four months since the President sent Congress a proposed AUMF to combat ISIL. While I have serious concerns with that proposed draft, we owe it to our troops and the American people to at the very least have a debate in Congress on our military engagement in Iraq and Syria.
My primary concern is that the President continues to rely on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against and Al-Qaeda and associated forces and the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq as justification to take military action against ISIL. While he has repeatedly stated that he will not deploy ground troops in a combat role in either Syria or Iraq, these existing authorities leave that door open. We need to sunset both the 2001 AUMF and 2002 AUMF and pass a narrowly tailored AUMF to combat ISIL that provides the authority necessary to degrade and defeat ISIL without dragging the United States into another unnecessary ground war in the Middle East.
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