Congress has taken its first step toward labeling Islamic State (IS) atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities a genocide in an effort to convince President Barack Obama to follow suit.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on the measure March 2, two weeks before the administration is supposed to render its ruling on the issue under the terms of December's omnibus spending bill. Obama appears ready to apply the label for Yazidis, Yahoo News reported in November, but not Christians and other groups who also face persecution but may not meet the legal threshold.

"We have recognized genocide in numerous other situations, including in Rwanda, including in the former Yugoslavia," Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in his opening remarks. "It is time that we do so again, to speak the truth about the atrocities of [IS] and hope that the administration and the world will do the same before it is too late."

Concurrently, the panel adopted a resolution from Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that calls for the creation of a Syrian war crimes tribunal to prosecute Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other alleged criminals.