FIGHT OVER WAR AUTHORIZATION INTENSIFIES: The White House rips “idle chatter” from Congress on war powers.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest chastised lawmakers for failing to act on President Obama’s use of force request, even as ISIS militants make gains in Iraq and Syria.
“Their job requires basically only fulfilling the bare minimum,” Earnest told reporters. “When it comes to our national security, something they say is so important to our country, it’s time for them to not just pay lip service but to actually follow through with some action.”
Lip service on national security? Pot, meet kettle. I don’t recall any other situation in which Congress wanted the President to be more aggressive in his use of military force to protect American interests, except for the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction, who imposed, through the Reconstruction Acts, military control over former Confederate States, overriding President Andrew Johnson’s veto.