WASHINGTON -- Like most members of Congress, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) isn't sure the U.S. strategy against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has been effective.
"I have serious questions and reservations about our policy of just bombing everybody," McGovern told "So That Happened," the HuffPost Politics podcast. "One of the reasons we have a refugee crisis is because we're bombing, [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's bombing, Russia's bombing -- everybody's bombing!"
Unlike most members of Congress, however, McGovern thinks lawmakers should have more say in the bombing. But instead of taking up Authorization for Use of Military Force legislation that would shape the Obama administration's approach to the conflict, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Thursday to restrict U.S. resettlement of refugees from Iraq and Syria.
McGovern led Democrats during floor debate over the bill, which many in his party wound up supporting. The White House has said President Barack Obama will veto the measure, though it's unlikely to make it to his desk since the Senate probably won't pass it. The House took up the bill in the wake of an ISIS terrorist attack that killed 129 people in Paris last week.
"I think this is cowardice, I think it's moral cowardice," McGovern said. "The idea that we would turn our backs on these people goes against the very best traditions and values of this country."
During the floor debate, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it would be contrary to America's values to "give terrorists the opening they are looking for" via the refugee program.
"In the debate we are having on the refugee crisis, we should not lose sight of the root of the problem," McCarthy said. "The real problem is ISIL and our lack of strategy to destroy them. It astounds me that the president refuses to face reality and admit that his strategy is failing."
The administration's strategy has been a mix of airstrikes and assistance to local forces. The White House has said its constitutional powers, along with war authorizations against Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2002, give it permission to attack ISIS -- though the administration has also sought congressional approval.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said earlier this week that he thinks those earlier authorizations are sufficient. Since last year, a handful of Republicans and Democrats have introduced new authorization bills that haven't gone anywhere.
"We ought to all agree that Congress has a constitutional role here," McGovern said. "We ought to debate these wars and we ought to vote on them."
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