S.Amdt. 1883

SA 1883. Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. Flake) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to
the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

[[Page S3938]]

At the end of subtitle B of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1230. USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE OF
IRAQ AND THE LEVANT.

Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States has been engaged in military
operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant
(ISIL) since August 8, 2014.
(2) Thousands of members of the United States Armed Forces
have been deployed to support military operations against
ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
(3) The United States has conducted over 3,400 airstrikes
against ISIL as of June 2015.
(4) The United States has spent more than $2,600,000,000
American taxpayer dollars on this war as of June 2015--a
number that continues to rise by approximately $9,000,000 per
day.
(5) Tragically, members of the Armed Forces have been
killed in Operation Inherent Resolve, and United States
hostages have been killed by ISIL in barbaric ways.
(6) The most solemn duty and responsibility Congress has is
the authority, under article 1, section 8 of the
Constitution, to ``declare war''.
(7) While Congress has authorized appropriations for
Operation Inherent Resolve, and authorized the training of
anti-ISIL forces in Syria, Congress has taken no formal
action to approve Operation Inherent Resolve.
(8) In testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations
of the Senate, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of
Defense, and the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global
Coalition to Counter ISIL agreed that congressional
authorization of Operation Inherent Resolve is important for
reinforcing the leadership of the United States with our
coalition partners.
(9) President Barack Obama submitted an authorization for
use of military force against ISIL in February 2015.
(10) Congress has a duty to debate and determine whether or
not to authorize the use of military force against ISIL and
to engage in a debate about whether it is in the nation's
best interest to order United States troops to risk their
lives in this mission.
(11) The American public deserves a congressional debate to
educate them about the national security interests at stake
and the advisability of this war.
(12) Authorizing Operation Inherent Resolve would send a
strong message to our coalition partners and to our
adversaries that the United States is united in the fight
against ISIL and speaks with one voice in confronting ISIL.
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