White House asks Congress for authorization to arm Syrian rebels

The White House is asking Congress to quickly authorize arming Syrian rebels to bolster President Obama’s offensive against Islamic State militants, a request that could be voted on as soon as this week in a must-pass spending bill.

As Obama prepares to address the nation Wednesday night, administration officials were meeting behind closed doors on Capitol Hill to press the issue with key lawmakers, many of whom panned the idea when Obama first raised it this year.

Although the request would earmark $500 million to help Syrian rebels, it is not the money that is in question but the policy of the U.S. arming foreign fighters, particularly rebel factions whose allegiances are not always clear.

‎Congress was previously expected to consider Obama’s request later this year when it voted on a larger defense-spending bill, but the president wants to accelerate the process to give him greater authority to train Syrian rebels to help confront the militant group.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he backed the administration’s request, but House Republicans were less committal and said they would meet Thursday to discuss the president’s speech.

“It’s clear to me that we need to train and equip Syrian rebels and other groups in the Middle East that need some help,” Reid said Wednesday morning in the Senate. “The president has tried to get that from us, and we should give it to him.”

However, attaching a substantial policy provision to the routine spending bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR, is fraught with political risks. In 2013, when Republicans attached an anti-Obamacare provision to a previous CR, the subsequent standoff led to last fall’s government shutdown.

“It is too big of an issue to be thrown on the CR,” said a GOP aide who was not authorized to discuss the situation.

Obama asked for the authorization to be tacked onto the spending bill during his meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday.

Although the president asserted in the meeting that he already has authority to conduct airstrikes against the militant group, also known as ISIS, he would need new authority from Congress under Title X of the Armed Services code to equip foreign fighters.

Congress is scheduled to vote on a spending bill by next week. It must take action to avoid another shutdown and keep the government running past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Another option would be to pass the spending bill without the authorization and introduce a standalone Syria measure separately in the days ahead.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that he is confident Title X authorization will pass either way. He noted that the provision was included in the defense authorization bill his committee passed this year. That bill is likely to come to a vote in the fall.

But other top congressional committee chairmen had previously questioned the White House request to arm Syrian fighters and requested more detailed information.

Congress has been hesitant to vote on authorizing the administration’s broader strategy to use force against Islamic State, which the president is expected to outline later Wednesday. But polls show Americans, while war weary, support a military response, particularly after the brutal videotaped killings of two American journalists.

For some lawmakers, adding a provision to the spending bill to equip foreign troops could be viewed as a safer political risk, compared with voting on a broader War Powers authorization, particularly as they prepare for reelection this fall.

“There’s a lot of differences of opinion,” said Rep. Eliot L. Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, emerging from a closed briefing. “It’s the easiest and quickest way and I think the best way of doing it. There are others who feel ... it’s too quick.”

“It’s not an authorization of force,” Levin said. “I think people can differentiate between a Title X authority to train and equip opposition forces in Syria from other means of supporting the president. It’s not hard to differentiate between the two.”

Times staff writer Michael A. Memoli contributed to this report.

For the latest from Congress follow @LisaMascaroinDC