The Senate passed a stop gap funding measure tonight, which includes authorization
for President Obama's plan to train and arm Syrian moderates in the fight against ISIS.
The Senate voted 78-22 on the continuing resolution, which will fund the government and authorizes Title X until December 11.
Many Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the continuing resolution, making this a
rare bipartisan showing in the Senate.
In a brief statement from the White House Thursday night, President Obama said ISIS
"did the impossible" -- generate 78 votes for passage of the plan in the U.S. Senate.
The president added that today's vote "shows the world Americans are united."
"I want to thank leaders in Congress for the speed and seriousness" with which they acted
on his plan, the president said.
“It’s a long overdue support for the brave Syrians who are fighting on the front lines against theterrorist enemy,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said.
“There is no guarantee of success. ... There is none but there is a guarantee of failure if we
do not even try and try we must,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said of arming and training
Syrian fighters against ISIS. “Despite my concerns about the underlying bill…I will support
resolution because I think it’s in the best interest of our national security.”
But several of the president’s biggest allies, including some with tough re-election fights this November, voted against the measure.
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, whose Republican opponent in the Alaska Senate race said
he would support the president’s plan to arm the Syrian rebels, voted against the continuing resolution due to their opposition to training and arming the Syrian rebels.
“I disagree with my president,” Begich said. “The rebels of today may not be the rebels of tomorrow.”
Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate did not hold a stand-alone vote on the bill,
many argued due to concerns of how it would play in the midterm elections this November.
The House had approved authorization to train and arm the Syrian rebels with a vote of 273
to 156 on Wednesday.
The authorization for training and arming the Syrian rebels will run out on December 11th, at which point Congress will have to decide whether it will reauthorize the plan. Sen Dick Durbin,
D-Ill., indicated that the Senate will consider a new authorization for the use of military force in November when Congress returns for the lame duck session.
“We are going to take up the construction of a new authorization for the use of military force,” Durbin said. “It’s long overdue. We are living on borrowed time and we’re traveling on vapors. AUMFs passed in 2001 and 2002 are hard to wrap around today’s challenge.”
The continuing resolution now heads to the White House for President Obama’s signature
and gives the president the green light to move forward with his plan to train and arm the Syrian rebels.
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