WASHINGTON — A senior White House official says the Trump administration has adequate legal authority to combat terrorist groups and doesn’t support a push in Congress to craft a new law permitting military action against the Islamic State and other militants.
That’s the word from White House legislative director Marc Short, who spoke to reporters at a breakfast Tuesday. His comments came as a Senate Republican ramped up pressure on his colleagues to reclaim their power to decide whether to send American troops into harm’s way.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wants to force a vote on an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would let war authorizations granted a decade and a half ago lapse after six months.
Paul says Congress would use the time to pass a new authority.