--- title: Obama Asks Congress for Permission to Keep Fighting ISIS description: President Obama asked Congress for authorization to continue fighting Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. canonical: https://time.com/3704903/obama-aumf-isis-syria/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-11T15:46:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:42.769Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Asks Congress for Permission to Keep Fighting ISIS og:description: Lawmakers are already skeptical. og:url: https://time.com/3704903/obama-aumf-isis-syria/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e4146a95f10d7d7/69877eb0f887dc5a3ce8a0b9/obama-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama speaks on budget og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Asks Congress for Permission to Keep Fighting ISIS twitter:description: Lawmakers are already skeptical. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e4146a95f10d7d7/69877eb0f887dc5a3ce8a0b9/obama-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Asks Congress for Permission to Keep Fighting ISIS > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Feb 11, 2015 3:46 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference at the Department of Homeland Security about his newly revealed budget and Republicans threat to not approve funding for the agency in Washington D.C. on Feb. 2, 2015. President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference at the Department of Homeland Security about his newly revealed budget and Republicans threat to not approve funding for the agency in Washington D.C. on Feb. 2, 2015. Samuel Corum—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Feb 11, 2015 3:46 PM UTC President Obama asked Congress Wednesday for authorization to continue fighting Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria, though lawmakers are already raising questions about the details of the plan. In his request, Obama says ISIS is responsible for the death of four Americans and poses “a grave threat” to Middle East stability and to the national security interests of the U.S. and allies. The Administration has been fighting ISIS under congressional authority the Bush Administration received in 2001 and 2002 to attack Iraq and the perpetrators of 9/11\. Obama has called ISIS a “different type of enemy” that requires a new legal authority to defeat. Obama made clear that the authority he is asking for—known as an Authorization for Use of Military Force or an AUMF—would not ensnare a weary nation into the type of war he campaigned against in 2008\. “My Administration’s [draft AUMF](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/aumf%5F02112015.pdf) would not authorize long‑term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our Nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he wrote. “Local forces, rather than U.S. military forces, should be deployed to conduct such operations.” The authorization, which is under three pages, will end in three years and does not allow “enduring offensive ground combat operations.” It defines the enemy as “organizations fighting for, on behalf of, or alongside \[ISIS\] or any closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” It would repeal the 2002 authorization, but would not limit the fight to Iraq and Syria as some had hoped. The AUMF will face opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. House Speaker John Boehner cautioned that the draft was an “important step forward” but only the “beginning of a legislative process” that would include hearings and mark-ups of the resolution. He also said that he hasn’t seen a strategy put forward by the Administration that accomplishes its goal to “degrade and defeat” ISIS. “We have an awful lot of work to do,” he said. Senate Democrats, who were briefed by Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and legal counsel Neil Eggleston on Tuesday, have already [begun to question](http://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-statement-on-president-obamas-proposed-authorization-for-use-of-military-force-against-isil) what exactly the Administration means by “enduring offensive ground combat operations.” “What’s enduring? What’s offensive?” Illnois Sen. Dick Durbin told [_National Journal_](http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/here-s-the-white-house-request-for-the-use-force-against-the-islamic-state-20150211). ### See the U.S. Military's Last Days of Combat in Afghanistan  A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment waits for a CH-47 Chinook helicopter after an advising mission at the Afghan National Army headquarters for the 203rd Corps in the Paktia province of Afghanistan on Dec. 21, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from 3rd Cavalry Regiment flag a car to stop to be screened for explosives near forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A crew member climbs into a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter before it takes off following a mission to take Brigadier General Christopher Bentley to inspect an Afghan National police installation in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 16, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment is watched as he fires a squad automatic weapon during a training mission near forward operating base Gamberi, in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 15, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers in Dragon Company of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment watch rounds explode downrange during a mortar exercise near forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 26, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment uses the optic on his rifle to observe Afghans in the distance, near forward operating base Gamberi, in the Laghman province of Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment interact with men selected to be biometrically screened near forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Humvees for the Afghan National Army are lined up waiting for repair parts at the Afghan National Army headquarters for the 203rd Corps in the Paktia province of Afghanistan on Dec. 21, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Brigadier General Christopher Bentley (2nd R) and U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment take part in a Christmas Eve celebration on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 24, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment relaxes in his quarters after taking part in a mortar exercise on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 24, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers play volleyball at forward operating base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 21, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment wait in line to get food during a Christmas day lunch at forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 25, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment greet their Afghan police counterparts during an advising mission near Jalalabad in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 20, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment fire a 120mm mortar during an exercise on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 24, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment listen to a translation of an advising meeting at an Afghan National Army base near forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 13, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from Grim Company of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment sits in an MRAP vehicle as he prepares for an early morning mission at Forward Operating Base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A mortar flies out of a tube during a mortar exercise for U.S. soldiers in Dragon Company of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment near forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 26, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Lieutenant Charles McDonald prepares a platoon of U.S. soldiers from Grim Company of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment before an early morning mission at Forward Operating Base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment watch "Die Hard" projected onto an outdoor wall as part of Christmas Day celebrations on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 25, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment take part in an artillery exercise on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 24, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from Grim Company of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment walk down the street near an Afghan police checkpoint during a mission near Forward Operating Base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment walks through an Afghan police station near Jalalabad in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 20, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment prepare for a mission at Forward Operating Base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 20, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment load into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for an advising mission to an Afghan National Army base at forward operating base Fenty in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Dec. 21, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A U.S. soldier from D Troop of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment carries a backpack to a shipping container during preparations for leaving Afghanistan at forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan on Dec. 28, 2014. 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