--- title: Congress Won't Debate War on ISIS Until Next Year description: Congress' lame duck period is not the appropriate time to debate authorization for war against ISIS, House Speaker John Boehner said. canonical: https://time.com/3429797/boehner-congress-authority-isis/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-25T13:11:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:24:38.759Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congress Won't Debate War on ISIS Until Next Year og:description: Congress' lame duck period is not the appropriate time to debate authorization for war against ISIS, House Speaker John Boehner said. og:url: https://time.com/3429797/boehner-congress-authority-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d71b22374313058/6986a55f1eebf769ab372da8/speaker-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Boehner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congress Won't Debate War on ISIS Until Next Year twitter:description: Congress' lame duck period is not the appropriate time to debate authorization for war against ISIS, House Speaker John Boehner said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d71b22374313058/6986a55f1eebf769ab372da8/speaker-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congress Won't Debate War on ISIS Until Next Year ## Video: Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS [Watch (HLS stream): Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xvTQSd5R.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2014-09-05. A growing number of foreigners is joining the Islamic militant group - but why?_ by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Sep 25, 2014 1:11 PM CUT  House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 11, 2014. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 11, 2014.J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Sep 25, 2014 1:11 PM CUT Congress’ lame duck period is not the appropriate time to debate authorization for war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview published Thursday. Boehner’s announcement pushes the contentious issue of explicitly authorizing the Administration’s plan to fight Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq until after November’s midterm elections and into January. “I would suggest to you that early next year, assuming that we continue in this effort, there may be that discussion and there may be that request from the president,” Boehner told [The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/09/25/ "undefined"). “Doing this with a whole group of members who are on their way out the door, I don’t think that is the right way to handle this.” President Barack Obama believes he already has the legal authority to strike ISIS, under a 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against al-Qaeda and associated forces. Many Congressmen, wary of approving Obama’s multiyear plan to take on ISIS, disagree with that assessment, particularly given that ISIS officially split from al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria earlier this year. Congress did, however, vote last week to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels fighting ISIS as well as Bashar Assad’s government. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3429797/boehner-congress-authority-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3429797/boehner-congress-authority-isis/"},"headline":"Congress Won't Debate War on ISIS Until Next Year","datePublished":"2014-09-25T13:11:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:24:38.759Z","description":"Congress' lame duck period is not the appropriate time to debate authorization for war against ISIS, House Speaker John Boehner said.","url":"https://time.com/3429797/boehner-congress-authority-isis/","keywords":["Congress","Syria","Iraq"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d71b22374313058/6986a55f1eebf769ab372da8/speaker-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d71b22374313058/6986a55f1eebf769ab372da8/speaker-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Boehner","caption":"House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 11, 2014.","creditText":"J. 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