{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://kinzinger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399041", "Kinzinger supports legislation to combat ISIS in Syria", "2014-09-17", "2014", "2014-09", "Republican", "House", "IL", "Adam Kinzinger", "K000378", "kinzinger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "- Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) issued the following statement after the House passed legislation that would grant President Obama authority to provide certain weapons and training to the Free Syrian Army, moderate Syrian rebels who have recently been battling ISIS. \r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Washington, DC- Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) issued the following statement after the House passed legislation that would grant President Obama authority to provide certain weapons and training to the Free Syrian Army, moderate Syrian rebels who have recently been battling ISIS: While I recognize this plan is not perfect, nor will it ultimately be enough to crush ISIS, we must give our Commander in Chief the tools he has requested to confront this evil, said Congressman Kinzinger. This is only a first step in a long fight to ensure we are safe from brutal extremists who would gladly take innocent American lives if given the chance. Kinzinger is a U.S. Air Force Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and currently serves as a major in the Air National Guard (ANG). He has been calling for air support in Iraq since January, and last year he criticized President Obama's inaction in Syria against the Assad regime. In addition to training and equipping elements of the Syrian opposition to fight ISIS, the legislation, H.J. Res. 124, funds the federal government at current levels through December 11th, 2014, avoiding the possibility of a shutdown. It also reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank until June 30th, 2015. The bill passed the House with a vote of 319 to 108. Earlier in the day, Kinzinger took the House floor to support of the legislation. Click here or the picture below to watch his speech.    TRANSCRIPT: Congressman Kinzinger: Today I joined many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in support of giving the president initial authority needed to confront ISIS in Syria. I'm actually surprised and disheartened by the opposition that some here in this chamber have towards the amendment. To be clear, I've been as vocal of a critic of this Administration's lack of strategy in Syria as any other person, but that doesn't excuse us from what I believe is the right thing to do, which is to give the commander in chief the tools necessary to confront this evil. I don't remember many of my colleagues from this body stepping forward a year ago or even a month ago urging the President to do more in Syria. In fact, at the beginning of this year I called for bombing ISIS targets as they moved into Falloujah in Iraq, and by many I was called a warmonger or somebody eager to start another war in Iraq. It's easy to come up with any excuse not to support an amendment. Some say it doesn't go far enough. I've heard from a lot of people here who say it doesn't go far enough. Some people say it goes too far. It's too much. It doesn't include an authorization of military force. It doesn't include an overarching strategy in ISIS or Syria. I reject those calls for a perfect strategy from a perfect president for a perfect outcome in Syria. That's simply not possible given the circumstances we now face due to our previous inaction. Mr. Speaker, to those who believe that the Assad regime is a partner in the fight against ISIS, I would remind them that this regime has slaughtered nearly 200,000 of its own people. In fact, in Iraq, when we were fighting Al Qaeda, the Assad regime gave Al Qaeda safe haven in Syria to fight American forces. Look no further than Hezbollah, one of the greatest enemies of the West and one of the greatest enemies of Israel, which is strongly supported and enabled by the Assad regime. The Assad regime created the ISIS problem. It gave them safe passage through regime-controlled territory and ultimately attacked only Free Syrian Army targets until the West looked over and now they look like the savior of the West by attacking only ISIS. Let's not get sucked into that argument. I support this amendment not because it's part of a larger strategy in Syria that we'd like to see from this administration but because it's a first step in addressing ISIS in Syria. I ask my colleagues to support this first step that many have been calling for to train the FSA before it's too late. What would our enemies and allies think if we rejected the President's authority to do this? I urge support of this amendment, and I yield back. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://kinzinger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399041"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4691890683025122, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}