http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/218418-isis-foreign-policy-to-blanket-sunday-showsSeptember 20, 2014, 02:42 pm
ISIS to blanket Sunday shows
By Mike Lillis
President Obama's strategy for confronting Islamic militants in the Middle East will be the hot topic on Sunday's news shows.
The president has outlined a plan "to degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as ISIL, by coordinating with allies, launching airstrikes, aiding foreign ground forces and providing humanitarian assistance to those affected by the ongoing violence in the war-torn region.
Congress this week approved another piece of that strategy when both chambers, in a rare show of bipartisan cooperation, passed legislation granting Obama expanded powers to use U.S. forces to train and arm Syrian rebels fighting both ISIS and the dictatorial Assad regime.
But the vote was not without controversy, as many conservative Republicans balked at the notion of providing new authority to a president they don't trust. Many liberal Democrats rejected the measure out of fears it could be a slippery slope into another prolonged engagement in the Middle East. Even some of those lawmakers who supported the measure are wary that the plan won't meet the administration's stated goal of eradicating ISIS.
With that as the backdrop, here's the Sunday shows lineup:
ABC's "This Week": Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will appear on ABC's "This Week" program to try to ease some of those concerns. Her interview comes ahead of next week's U.N. summit in New York City, where Obama will speak to the General Assembly in an effort to rally more nation's behind the ISIS fight.
NBC's "Meet the Press: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will face off on ISIS. Johnson on Thursday voted in favor of a government spending package that included the new training authority for Obama, while Murphy voted against it.
Michael Mullen, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, will also appear on the program.
CBS's "Face the Nation": The program will feature Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who chairs the House Intel panel. Both lawmakers voted in favor of the train-and-equip proposal.
CNN's "State of the Union": No stranger to use-of-force controversies, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will appear on CNN's "State of the Union" program. Blair was the subject of much derision when he backed President George W. Bush's foray into Iraq in 2003 as part of the response to the 911 attacks two years earlier.
"Fox News Sunday": Rounding out the lineup, Reps. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), two members who voted for Syria funding will be featured guests. King heads the House Homeland Security Committee's counterterrorism subpanel, while Schiff is a senior member on the House Intel Committee.
Schiff has also argued that the ISIS fight is tantamount to war and therefore requires explicit use-of-force authorization from Congress.
The California Democrat has introduced a new use-of-force bill tailored specifically for the ISIS fight. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are hoping to take up the issue of broader authorization when Congress returns to Washington after the elections in November.
