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.