House Republicans are throwing cold water on the idea that President Obama might use his last State of the Union address to claim foreign policy successes, and are calling on him to outline a real plan for defeating the Islamic State, and resolving isuses in North Korea and Iran.
“If there is one thing we want to hear fro the president, it’s a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday after meeting privately with GOP lawmakers in the Capitol basement. “Americans are so anxious right now about their security, about what is going on around the world.”
Before the House adjourns for the speech, lawmakers will vote on a bipartisan measure to sanction North Korea over recent nuclear tests, which Republicans say are the result of the Obama administration ignoring the growing threat of the country’s nuclear weapons program.
A GOP leadership aide said the president is expected to sign the legislation. But he’s signaled he’ll veto a second bill that would sanction Iran over recent missile testing, which the House is expected to approve on Thursday.
Republicans are also weighing their own proposal to authorize the president to use military force to defeat the Islamic State.
Obama is operating under a 2002 resolution granting the president to use military force in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ryan said he’s called on lawmakers to hold listening sessions on a possible House measure that would update the authorization to address the current war against Islamic State.
“They made it clear they are going to come to Western countries and they are not slowing down,” House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Tuesday. “If [Obama] wanted to reach across the aisle, he’d find a lot of bipartisan support to come up with a new plan to defeat Islamic State. I’d like to see him do that tonight. To take a different approach.”
It’s not clear how or if Obama will spend much time on foreign policy in his address.
Obama gave a preview, posted on YouTube, in which he promised to discuss “not just the remarkable progress we’ve made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead, but what we all need to do together in the years to come: The big things that will guarantee an even stronger, better, more prosperous America for our kids. That’s what’s on my mind.”
