House speaker tells Obama to 'get serious' about defeating Islamic State

[April 24, 2015]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday said President Barack Obama must "get serious" about a strategy to defeat Islamic State militants before Congress would consider approving a new military force authorization.

Boehner also said he thought Obama's recent request would confer less authority than under previous authorizations and that was not a good strategy.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Writing by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Lisa Lambert)

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