NEWS

Emmer: Obama speech reinforces need to declare war

Donovan Slack
SCTimes
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., as Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 17, 2015, before a House Financial Services committee hearing on the annual report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Tom Emmer said President Obama’s address to the nation about the threat of terrorism in the wake of the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., reaffirmed the need for Congress to pass a formal declaration of war against the Islamic State militant group.

“Congress has an obligation … to declare war and essentially tell the president this is not a Republican-Democrat thing, this is not a partisan thing at all, this is an American thing,” Emmer said in an interview Monday. “You tell the president, the commander in chief, that he has at his disposal any and every resource available to destroy this enemy.”

Authorities have said there is no evidence yet that the shootings were directed by a terrorist group, but one of the shooters, Tashfeen Malik, posted a message of support for the Islamic State on the internet. Authorities said Monday both Malik and the other shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook, were radicalized, but they stopped short of saying what motivated them to kill 14 people at a county employee holiday event last Wednesday.

Obama, in a rare address to the nation from the Oval Office Sunday night, said the terrorist threat has evolved from complex attacks like 9/11 to less complicated attacks, such as mass shootings. He called on Congress to enact legislation to prevent people on terror-watch no-fly lists from buying guns, limit access to assault weapons, and tighten screening of foreigners entering the United States without visas. He also asked Congress to pass an authorization to use military force.

Such an authorization is less sweeping than a declaration of war, which would automatically give the president a number of powers he doesn’t have in peacetime, including over everything from agricultural exports to railroads, patents and student financial aid.

Emmer introduced a joint resolution to declare war last month, although its prospects for passage are slim. Congress has been reluctant to pass even the more limited authorization to use force, getting hung up on differences over exactly what to authorize, where and for how long. Obama has been drawing his authority so far from an authorization passed after the attacks in 2001, but he has asked for a new one to show the country is united.

Emmer: Declare war on Islamic State

Emmer said his colleagues should stop trying to negotiate with the White House and dictate how Obama wages war.

“Bottom line: The Constitution says this is the way you do it. You have one commander in chief,” he said. “This would solve the entire problem. Just give him the authority. I would say to my colleagues, ‘What are you afraid of? Are you afraid he’s going to be successful?’”

Emmer also backs the president’s call for tougher screening of foreigners coming to the United States without visas and a broader review of all entry policies.

“We have to look at everything,” he said. “It’s enforcement, it’s legislation, it’s whatever it’s going to take. More importantly, we’ve got to have a situation where the executive branch and Congress are working together on this one because, again, the safety of Americans is not a partisan issue.”

But Emmer does not support Obama’s call for more restrictions on guns. He said people on no-fly lists are put there without due process and preventing them from buying firearms would violate their rights.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., seized on another part of the president’s speech – his insistence that Americans not turn against Islam because a fraction of its adherents have become radical terrorists.

“It’s understandable that Americans are alarmed, because it appears that at least one of the attackers had pledged allegiance to ISIS, and both had been radicalized,” Franken said in a statement Monday. “There are still a lot of questions that deserve answers, but right now, I agree with the president that we can’t give in to fear.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she backed several steps Obama asked Congress to take.

“We must increase our efforts to build and lead an international coalition against ISIS ‎that includes our European allies as well as our Arab partners,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “We must also protect our own country in many ways, including strengthening the visa waiver program and intelligence sharing, rooting out terrorist recruiting here at home and funding our first responders and military.”

She has co-sponsored a bill that would require foreigners who have traveled to Syria or Iraq to get visas to enter the United States, which would require they submit to interviews, photographs and fingerprinting.

Contact dslack@usatoday.com. Follow @donovanslack.