{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://jones.house.gov/press-release/jones-demands-answers-obama%E2%80%99s-strategy-against-isil", "JONES DEMANDS ANSWERS ON OBAMAS STRATEGY AGAINST ISIL", "2014-11-14", "2014", "2014-11", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Walter Jones", "J000255", "jones.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Yesterday, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) spoke at the House Armed Services Committee hearing with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on the Obama Administration\u2019s strategy for combating ISIL.\u00a0 The Obama Administration is asking Congress to authorize $5.6 billion to expand the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Syria, including $1.6 billion to train Iraqi military personnel. Last week it was announced that the Obama Administration plans to send 1,500 more U.S. military personnel to Iraq. In September, Congressman Jones voted against authorizing President Barack Obama to use U.S. tax payer dollars to arm and train so-called \u201cmoderate\u201d Muslim rebels in Syria. Congress passed the authorization which expires next month.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u201cIt is the moral and constitutional duty of Congress to determine when there is a cause for war and to declare war,\u201d said Congressman Jones. \u201cIt is not the duty of the executive branch to declare war and put our troops in mortal danger. Every true strategy has an end point, and so far no one in the Obama Administration has been able to describe an end point in the strategy fighting ISIL. I asked Secretary of Defense Hagel to submit his opinions for the record on how this new war will end. He admitted in September that our military presence in Iraq and Syria will not be brief, and I continue to believe that this endeavor will be a total failure.\u201d See the video by clicking here. See the transcript below:\u00a0\nCongressman Jones: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. It\u2019s kind of ironic; the last time that I heard before today a secretary of defense talk about military involvement in Iraq was Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That got us into a war that was unnecessary. I know ISIL is evil. There\u2019s no question about it. They need to be taken out. But I look to some of your statements from 2002 when you were a senator and how you felt about the obligation of a member of Congress to make a decision to send a young man or woman to die.\nI also looked at your statements in 2007 when, like myself, you came out against the surge in Iraq. Now we are possibly going to be asked by the president of the United States, like we were by George Bush, to authorize an AUMF. This is nothing but an abdication of our constitutional responsibility to give any president an AUMF. We tried this past year in June when we had the NDAA bill\u2014Adam Schiff tried to sunset out the AUMF that we gave to President Bush, which has been used by President Obama. And I do not understand how we in Congress can continue to abdicate what the constitution says is our responsibility.\nBefore I get to a brief question, James Madison once said: \u201cThe power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.\u201d\u00a0 And I do not believe sincerely, because when\u2014this happens to be President Obama\u2014he wants to have another AUMF, an extension of what we have. I hope that the Congress, both parties, will look seriously at what is our responsibility, because it\u2019s not going to be but so long you have sent more and more troops to Iraq to train, many of these former Saddam Hussein loyalists, and now they\u2019re fighting with ISIL and then some are still now fighting with the other side. It\u2019s very complex. I understand that. And I agree with that. But for goodness\u2019 sake, why in the world should we make such a commitment? And we don\u2019t even have an end point to it.\nI would like for you or General Dempsey\u2014I have great respect for both of you\u2014to submit for the record two things very quickly: How does this new war end in your opinion? And I realize it\u2019s just your opinion, but it\u2019s very important because of who you are. What is the end state of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish? The American people\u2014over 50% of the American people do not want our personnel in Syria or in Iraq.\nAnd I will be honest with you: I don\u2019t know how we can convince the American people that a nation that\u2019s financially broke\u2014you sat right here, General Dempsey, and you\u2019re exactly right\u2014sequestration coming your way and yet you\u2019re asking for $5 billion or $6 billion more to drop more armaments in Iraq and Syria? Where is it coming from? Please explain to the American people and to this Congress how this war is going to end someday, whether we are advisors or we\u2019re fighting.\u00a0 I hope to God we are not fighting and I hope we do not give the president a new AUMF. So if you get those into the committee for written form, then you won\u2019t have to answer the questions. But this, again, it looks like we\u2019re going down the same road that Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told us we had to do\u2014we had to do\u2014and yet we had no end point to that as well. So, thank you very much.\nSecretary Hagel: Congressman Jones, if I might respond very briefly. You very accurately described my position when I was in the United States Senate. But it\u2019s basic, as you have noted, to the responsibilities of Congress. And an AUMF comes out of Congress. The authority of the military force for a president\u2014that authority comes from the Congress of the United States. And I, too, hope that Congress will engage in this. And I have great confidence that Congress will. They need to. They must. It is a responsibility of the Congress. So I\u2019m right with you on that point, and I\u2019ll give you my best thoughts on your other question as well. Thank you.", 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": ["http://jones.house.gov/press-release/jones-demands-answers-obama%E2%80%99s-strategy-against-isil"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9944310877472162, "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"}