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 As debate intensified in the House of Representatives and Senate
over the campaign against the militant Islamist group in Iraq and
Syria, Democrats launched a plan to attach a formal authorization
for the use of military force as an amendment to a water bill the
panel considered - and passed - on Thursday.
Republicans vehemently objected, accusing Democrats of forcing a
politically motivated vote in order to get on the record as
objecting to sending any U.S. troops - "boots on the ground" - to
battle Islamic State.
During two hours of heated discussion, the committee's Democratic
chairman, Senator Robert Menendez, said members had reached an
agreement to hold hearings with an eye toward voting on an
authorization next week.
He said Secretary of State John Kerry - or another top official from
President Barack Obama's administration - would testify at a hearing
on the issue on Monday.
 Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the committee, said he was
not fully comfortable with what he termed a "halfway" process.
Corker suggested that the committee consider voting on only a 90-day
authorization for the campaign of air strikes against Islamic State
fighters, which began in August.
The Tennessee senator is due to take over as Foreign Relations
chairman in January, when Congress returns from its year-end holiday
recess.
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Many lawmakers, including Republicans and Obama's fellow Democrats,
want to vote on guidelines for the fight against the Islamic State
fighters, who have killed thousands of people while seizing swaths
of territory in Iraq and Syria.
Republicans have made clear they do not want a vote before the new
Congress is seated, although they want the White House to submit a
"robust" plan.
House Speaker John Boehner said Obama should submit an authorization
in the new Congress.
"I've got grave concerns that ... the plan he's put in place is not
going to accomplish the goal of defeating and destroying ISIL," he
told a news conference on Thursday, using another acronym for the
group.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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