Approves aid to opposition
Congress votes 78-22 to approve training and arming the Syrian opposition. The new authorization to train the moderate Free Syrian Army expires Dec. 11. The bill does not decide on whether Congress will extend the training authorization or take up a broader authorization of military force against ISIS. Some senators are also pressing to add a passage that resembles a declaration of war to an annual defense policy bill pending in the Senate. House leaders oppose the addition, and the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could begin drafting their own authorization of force as soon as next week. Obama:
We are strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together … These terrorists thought they could frighten us or intimidate us. Americans, we do not give in to fear.