U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut says Republicans should lead the effort to get President Donald Trump to change his mind about ending U.S. military involvement in northeastern Syria.
Murphy says Congress cannot do much to reverse Trump’s decision to allow Turkey to launch an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. But his Republican colleagues upset about the move can still influence the President.
“As we speak, Republicans are protecting the President from impeachment. They have a lot of leverage over him. They could use some of that leverage to get him to do the right thing in northeastern Syria.”
Murphy predicts the Turkish offensive could lead to as many as 60,000 Kurdish refugees – at a time when the Trump administration has lowered the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. to 18,000 a year.
Murphy says Congress should pass legislation to increase that number to accommodate Kurdish refugees.