US Senators intend to introduce amendments to the draft resolution submitted by the White House which authorises military action against the Syrian regime, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told journalists.The Politico newspaper quotes Leahy saying that the document is planned to be brushed up in the Senate. Leahy says that many lawmakers believe that the Administration’s project lacks precision.
The Senator believes that the resolution should have more exact wording to be adopted.
The United States has proof sarin gas was used in a Damascus attack, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday, as he urged Congress to vote for military action against the Syrian regime.
Hair and blood samples provided to the United States from first responders on the scene of last month’s attack in the Syrian capital “have tested positive for signatures of sarin,” Kerry told NBC and CNN television.
John Kerry also voices confidence that Congress “will do the right thing” on Obama’s request for approval of US military strike against Syria
Many members of the US Congress welcomed President Barack Obama’s decision to let them vote on military intervention in Syria, but it was unclear whether he would be able to gather enough support, the New York Times said Sunday.
Officials from the Republican Party, which dominates the House of Representatives, said that if a vote were taken immediately, the measure would fail, the paper said. He also faces an uphill battle in the Senate, even though his Democratic Party has a majority.
“Obama hasn’t got a chance to win this vote if he can’t win the majority of his own party, and I doubt he can,” the paper quoted leading Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma as saying.
Lawmakers gave different reasons for their opposition. “We are not the world’s policeman,” Democrat Alan Grayson of Florida said on Twitter.
Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Obama’s plans did not go far enough.
“We cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in Syria that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield,” they said in a statement. – Eurasia Review
