Senate Committee Votes Yes On Syria Resolution To Bomb Assad

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WASHINGTON -- Overcoming reservations from the left, the right and the American public, a Senate committee Wednesday passed a resolution to bomb Syria in retaliation for President Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons.

In a delayed markup of a resolution to authorize the use of military force, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10 to 7, with one present, to let President Barack Obama mount a bombing campaign aimed at the Syrian regime's weapons of mass destruction for up to 90 days, albeit within a more limited scope than Obama had requested. Specifically, the committee included language that would prohibit the use of U.S. troops on the ground "for the purpose of combat operations."

Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) voted for the resolution.

Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) voted against the authorization, while Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) voted present.

The committee also voted 14-5 to table an amendment from Paul that would clarify the president's constitutional authority to use military force in the event that Congress voted against intervention in Syria.

Paul's amendment would include language in the resolution to specify that if the authorization failed to pass Congress, the president "would be in violation of the Constitution" if he ordered a military strike against the Syrian government anyway.

In arguing for his amendment, Paul said that his fellow lawmakers should dispense with the Obama administration's claim that such a action would be short of war. "This will indeed be a war," he said.
Rubio, Flake, McCain and Barrasso all voted to table Paul's amendment.