Kaine Statement On Speaker Boehner’s AUMF Comments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, released the following statement today after Speaker Boehner called on President Obama to “start over” and send a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL to Congress:

“After ten months of the House avoiding the responsibility to even have any meaningful debate on the current war on ISIL, the Speaker's plea for the President to submit a new authorization is clearly an admission that the House cannot initiate discussion of an issue of this magnitude. This increases the urgency for the Senate – beginning with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – to take up authorizing language and show that we support our troops who are risking their lives every day. It is my hope that bipartisan Senate action may inspire prompt House approval as it did when we acted decisively on the Iran Nuclear Review Act.”

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