"I'm expecting that there will be an authorization for the use of
military force sent up here in the coming days. And we're going to
go through a rigorous set of hearings and continue to discuss it,"
Boehner, the top House Republican, told reporters.
"It is also going to be incumbent upon the president to go out there
and make the case to the American people," as well as help push
Congress to pass the authorization, he added.
Congressional aides said lawmakers had been told they would receive
the White House request next week.
Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that
lawmakers had been talking to the White House about an authorization
that would last three years. She said there had not yet been
decisions about the geographic scope of an authorization or what
limits would be placed on combat troops - "boots on the ground" -
for the fight against Islamic State militants.
The United States is leading an international coalition against
Islamic State, and Obama launched an air campaign in August against
IS fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The administration has said the campaign was legal, based on
authorization passed under President George W. Bush for the Iraq War
and fighting al Qaeda and associated groups.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday Obama wanted a
new resolution authorizing force not because it was a "legal
necessity" but to show that U.S. political leaders had united around
one plan.
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"It is a matter, however, of the president's desire to send a very
clear signal to the people of this country, to our allies, and to
our enemies that the United States of America and our political
system is united behind the strategy," Earnest told reporters.
Earlier this week, Islamic State militants drew international
condemnation after they posted a video of a captured Jordanian pilot
being burnt alive.
"Jordan is one of our staunchest allies in the region," Boehner
said. "There's an awful lot of things already in the pipeline but
speeding that process up through the bureaucracy would certainly
help the Jordanians in a time of significant need. And I think,
frankly, all of Congress would support it."
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Additional reporting by Emily
Stephenson; and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Susan Heavey,
Christian Plumb, Richard Chang and Andrew Hay)
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