Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Said on Friday she was concerned about the White House’s ‘legal rationale’ of launching airstrikes in Syria the day before without congressional approval.
“We in Congress are overseeing the Congress to wage war and we have not been informed yet and we have not approved the war in Syria,” Omar told CNN.
Omar tweeted a new 2017 post from current White House press secretary Jen Psaki questioning the Trump administration’s ‘legitimate authority’ for the then airstrikes on the ‘sovereign’ country.
US aviation in Syria under bid and 2017 TOMAHAWK REGIONS ORDER ON TRUMP: THE DIFFERENCE
“Good question,” Omar responded to the four-year-old tweet in light of the Biden government’s military action announced on Thursday.
“Her question was important when it was another government and the question still remains with this government,” Omar told John King, CNN. “Our ability to engage in constitutional action does not diminish when the party is in our power.”
BIDENE SIRIA AIRSTRIKE EARNS APPLAUSE OF PROMINENT REPUBLICANS
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized the strike, including Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C .; Jim Banks, India; Rand Paul, R-Ky .; and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo .; and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, D-California; and Sens Chris Murphy, D-Conn .; and Tim Kaine, D-Va.
“While the president has the responsibility to defend the people of the United States, our Constitution is clear that it is Congress, not the president, who has the power to declare war,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said in a statement Friday and added in a tweet he was “very concerned about last night’s strike by US forces in Syria.”
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The first known military action of the Biden government was intended as a defensive “shot over the bow” against an Iranian-backed civilian stronghold in Syria, a senior official said they had to restrain Iran and its militia from firing rockets at US forces in the region.