WASHINGTON (AP) – Wary House lawmakers are on track to give President Barack Obama authority to order U.S. military training and arms for moderate rebels confronting the growing danger of Islamic State militants.
Obama was likely to get his wish in a vote Wednesday despite worries from hawks in both parties that his response was insufficient to battle terrorists who have overrun wide swaths of Iraq and Syria.
“If we want to open a front against (Islamic State forces) in Syria, we have to open a front. And I don’t see any other way to do it than try to build an alternative force,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “No one’s excited about it but, you know, it’s the best from a series of bad options.”
Republican leaders have swung behind Obama’s request, though they’re not pressuring the GOP rank and file to follow suit. Top Democrats promised the measure would pass.
“I think there’s a lot more that we need to be doing, but there’s no reason for us not to do what the president asked us to do,” Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California also supports the mission, as does Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The measure would send U.S. military trainers to Saudi Arabia to arm and train Syrian opponents of Islamic State militants, who have routed U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces repeatedly and threaten the viability of the government in Baghdad.