Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding and for working so hard with the Armed Services Committee through Chairman McKeon to bring forth this amendment that ultimately lets the President start a process that he laid out in his speech last week.

Mr. Speaker, the threat of ISIS is real and growing. It is not just limited to the Middle East, though. Americans know this is ultimately something that we will have to confront if we don't address it now with swift action.

If you look at the legislation that has been brought forward, there were some important protections that were put in place over the course of the last few days in negotiations with the White House that, I think, are very significant and lay out clear benchmarks for President Obama over these next 3 months that this authorization would last.

The first thing the President has got to do under this authorization is to go and build that coalition. This is not a go-it-alone strategy. That is not going to be the kind of strategy that is going to work. The President has got to go and put those countries together to carry this out. He has got to get firm commitments, not only on amounts of resources that will be put in place, but also the number of troops that those countries would put in place.

In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, any transfers of funds that would be needed to carry this out would have to first come back to Congress before they can move forward. Any plan for vetting Syrians who we would train, which is going to be an incredibly important process, has to come back to Congress, and those plans have to be laid out.

I think that is so important that those protections are in place because, ultimately, Mr. Speaker, the President is the Commander in Chief. He has asked for this authorization. But there has got to be a give and take and, ultimately, a role that Congress plays where the President is letting us know each step of the way that he is carrying out the mission as he laid it out, he is building that coalition that he said he would put together. And over these next 3 months, Mr. Speaker, it is going to be important that he does those tasks.

And ultimately, as we come back here to deal with this again, it is going to be important that the President lay out the broader strategy, because so many of our Members know this is not the final step that is going to eliminate the threat of Islamic terrorism. This is the very beginning. I think not only Members here in this body--Republican and Democrat alike--but I think people all across the country want to, ultimately, see that broader strategy by the President for how he is going to take on this challenge and eliminate these terrorists from the face of the Earth.

I rise in support and urge my colleagues to vote "yes.''

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