Senators Disagree About Legality of Syrian Airstrikes

Tri-state senators say the U.S. should respond to Syrian chemical weapon attacks, but disagreed on whether President Donald Trump had the authority to order Thursday's missile strikes against a Syrian airbase.

"Making sure [Syrian President Bashar] Assad knows when he commits such dispicable atrocities he will pay a price is the right thing to do," Schumer said on the Senate floor Friday.

But Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said the missile strike was "certainly not a lawful act." Trump needs to present a plan and get Congressional approval to attack the Syrian government.

Thursday's strikes are a test of whether Congress will check Trump.

"If the president gets away with taking this action against the Syrian regime without a Congressional vote," Murphy said, "there is no end to the executive power over military affairs."

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker agreed with Murphy.

"There’s a very bad actor in Syria that has triggered a crisis in that region, a crisis on at least three continents and something needs to be done," Booker said, shortly after voting against Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. "The president cannot act unilaterally in a military fashion like he did. I am greatly concerned about the expansion of presidential power against the intentions of the Constitution."

But Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey's other senator and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was OK with the Syrian strike if it were limited.

"As a one-off and as a message against the use of chemical weapons? Yes," Menendez said. "But anything more sustained, they need to come to Congress."

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said a single strike would not change much in Syria.

"The single strike will have little meaning or practical effect — or legal force — unless it’s part of a comprehensive strategy that has to be brought to Congress," Blumenthal said.

Some Republicans argued the strikes were allowed under military resolutions Congress approved in 2001 and 2002. Those resolutions approved military action against terrorist groups and against Iraq. The Obama administration has used those resolutions as its basis for attacking ISIS in Syria. But Murphy argued Thursday's strikes were against the Syrian government and required new Congressional approval.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Friday he would consider a vote on authorizing military force in Syria if Trump asked for it.