President Obama is winning some Republican support for military action against Syria. But judging by response from Connecticut's congressional delegation, he won't have an easy time with members of his own party.
"The authorization document that the President has submitted to Congress is insufficiently limited in defining our objectives and strategy," Senator Richard Blumenthal told WNPR's Where We Live. He said the authorization the President is asking congress for is far too broad in its scope, and he wants more information on the long-term objectives.
"Our national security has to be one of the predominant factors that we consider," he said.
"And one of the questions that I'm going to be asking is 'how is our national security affected here?'"
Congressman John Larson spent Labor Day at a community forum in West Hartford. He heard from constituents with a range of opinions on whether Congress should authorize President Barack Obama to launch a military strike on Syria.
Larson says there should be a response to the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, but the United States shouldn't act unilaterally.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Senator Chris Murphy agreed with President Obama's decision to seek Congressional authorization. "Ultimately, my worry--and what's going to be my guiding principle over the next week as I enter into these deliberations--is will a U.S. attack make the situation better for the Syrian people, or worse?"
At a Hartford press conference Tuesday, Murphy still sounded skeptical, and worried openly about the long-term ramifications. "I think that this conflict could spiral out of control and drag the United States into something that is much beyond just one targeted missile strike," he said.
Murphy sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, which heard from Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Tuesday.
