Congress seeks to exert more control over Middle East wars
Lawmakers want more of a say in US military activity in the wake of last weekend’s Syria strikes.
Congress is seeking to rein in President Donald Trump’s war-making powers following last weekend’s military strikes in Syria.
While many lawmakers of both parties agree that the commander in chief has broad authority to engage in such short-term actions, they are under growing pressure to play a more forceful oversight role. One new bill under discussion would supplant a counterterrorism law from 2001 that has been used to justify an ever-expanding number of interventions in the Middle East and beyond, while another could complicate US support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.
Last month, the Senate voted 55-44 to kill legislation to end US support for the war against the Iranian-backed Houthis. Now the Foreign Relations Committee is on the verge of advancing a new bill that would force Riyadh to meet certain criteria in order to qualify for US refueling support that is essential to carrying out Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign.
“I believe that Congress needs to play a more aggressive role in overseeing our military in that mess,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the four original co-sponsors of the bill, told Al-Monitor.
