WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined CNN's New Day to discuss the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) hearing with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
“Later today, Secretary Mattis and Secretary Tillerson, the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, will appear in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to debate why we need an Authorization for the Use of Military Force. I feel strongly that 16 years after the Congress authorized the 2001 so-called AUMF, our declaration of war, against those based in Afghanistan, who attacked New York and the United States on 9/11, that we have gone far afield from the scope of that initial authorization. Most of the members of Congress today weren't even in Congress in 2001. And I don't think it was easy to imagine that we would some day lose American soldiers in the battle field against ISIS in a country called Mali in West Africa based on an attack that was launched in 2001 from Afghanistan thousands of miles away. I do think this is an urgent job on behalf of the United States Senate. I'm looking forward to these hearings today. As you know, I have been very active in African policy. I have been to Mali, I’ve been to Nigeria, I’ve been to Chad. I led a Congressional Delegation to go visit Northern Nigeria in August. Most of my colleagues I think should be paying more attention to the roughly 20 countries in Africa where we have some U.S. troops; some in very small groups and some in large groups deployed to fight terrorism across that continent,” said Senator Coons.
Full audio and video available here.
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