The Biden government has still not directly informed senators about the airstrike last week on a facility in Syria allegedly used by an Iran-affiliated militia group, as Democratic lawmakers continue to express anger over the move.
Administrative officials on Tuesday rather hosted a briefing for Senate associates, which Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Told Politico he attended to get some justification for striking Biden’s team.
The Connecticut senator, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was not impressed with what he learned.
“I must still be convinced that any president has the authority to retaliate, especially outside Iraq,” Murphy said, noting that although outdated authority still allows the use of force in Iraq.
“I have not heard anything today that convinces me that there is a justification for me to apply to any administration,” he continued.
Assistants who attended the briefing rejected what information they had obtained in a separate lecture, writing that the administration officials provided ‘unsatisfactory’ answers and that ‘there is not a whole lot of substance’.
A source familiar with the matter at the National Security Council, which is responsible for such briefings, told The Post that briefings were offered to lawmakers, but that the leadership at Capitol Hill had instead called for staff member presentations to be made only .
NSC spokeswoman Emily Horne said for comment by The Post: “We are pleased to inform this matter at both the member and staff level as requested.”
Concerns about transparency do not only come from Murphy.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) Said this week that he would decide to reinstate his military force resolution, which was passed in the last Congress but vetoed by President Donald Trump.
The resolution limits the commander – in – chief’s ability to declare war or take military action without congressional approval.
Kaine, who has long supported Congress having more say in limiting the president’s ability to wage war, expressed anger after Biden approved the air strike last week without notifying Congress or asking for approval.
“The American people deserve to hear the reasoning of the Administration for these strikes and the legal justification for acting without coming to Congress,” he said in a statement at the time.
Offensive military action without the approval of Congress is not a constitutionally absent extraordinary circumstance. “Congress needs to be informed quickly about this matter,” he added.
The Vice President, who was asked in 2016 about the feedback of his resolution, reiterated that ‘I just strongly believe – and this goes back to the drafting of the Constitution and the earliest understanding of it – is that as a president against a continuous attack defend or a looming attack, the president does have unilateral power and that is good.
“But the idea of offending groups is traditionally where you have to go to Congress.”
Kaine added that he was “not notified at all” of the Syrian strike, and that “many of the people” should not have been in Congress either.
It appears that Kaine’s resolution may have some Democratic support in the House of Representatives, where anger is also palpable among lawmakers.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) accused the strike Tuesday during an interview with The Hill, saying it “clearly” violated U.S. and international law.
“I’m sure there would have been more outrage because that’s not a definite issue,” Khanna said when asked if the response to the strike would have been worse if it had been ordered by Trump.
“My view is – and many people in the Democratic Party have said it – that we need to get out of these endless wars and this conflict,” he said. “I do not see how striking in Syria Iranian targets achieve the goal.”