House GOP wants more oversight of Obama’s request to arm Syrians

Facing skepticism in Congress over a White House request to arm Syrian rebels in the fight against Islamic State militants, House Republican leaders Monday unveiled a revised proposal that beefs up congressional oversight in hopes of winning bipartisan support.

The resolution, which could be put to a vote on Wednesday, requires the Pentagon submit a plan outlining not only how the Syrian factions will be vetted to exclude radicals, but also what kind of training and equipment will be provided. It requires 15-day advance notice to Congress, as well as 90-day updates.

“Many of the changes and stuff in this were driven by members’ concerns,” said a senior House Armed Services Committee aide, unauthorized to publicly discuss the measure.

The intent is to ease anxiety among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers wary of military action against Islamic State, which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq, but also to underscore that this week’s vote is limited to helping Syrian rebels and not authorizing President Obama’s broader military strategy.

The resolution explicitly says it does not authorize using U.S. armed forces under the War Powers Act, a vote an increasing number of lawmakers from both parties now say they would like to take once they return from the campaign season in November.

“There is growing momentum behind the idea that Congress ought to have a vote,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who introduced a use-of-force authorization Monday. “I find it ironic that the administration views it as imperative that we vote on one piece of its proposal, but not on the use of force itself.”

Even as Congress rushes to approve the resolution before departing this week for the election campaign trail, the first Syrian rebel groups are not expected to be ready for battle for another six months. “It takes time to build that force,” the aide said.

Congress expects the Pentagon to detail how its military advisors will vet the Syrian rebel factions, who often have shown shifting allegiances amid the country’s multipronged civil war against President Bashar Assad. It also expects an accounting of the arms being sent to the region.

The goal is enabling the Syrian forces to fight effectively, “but not equipping them to be a long-term threat to the United States or its allies,” the aide said. “So they’re not going to get Abrams tanks. They’re not going to get antiaircraft batteries. They’re not going to get shoulder-launched surface-to-air type missile kinds of things. They’re going to get small arms.”

The proposal from Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is bound to win over some skeptics in his party. But it also may attract some antiwar Democrats wary of intervening.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he was “unlikely to support a request to arm and train Syrian rebels, but anything that makes it clearer about how you keep our support away from Sunni extremist groups would get me closer to yes.”

The resolution does not include a request for funding, but is likely to be an amendment to a bill to keep the government funded past Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to avoid a shutdown.

While the spending bill expires Dec. 15, the authority for the military operation would continue until Congress passes its annual defense bill, which is historically done before the end of the year.

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Michael A. Memoli in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.