(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The House voted Tuesday against a resolution from Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that would have ordered the Biden administration to withdraw its remaining troops from Syria within 180 days.
Leading up to Tuesday’s vote, Gaetz touted his resolution as an “America first” policy that would finish what former President Donald Trump started. Trump ordered troops to withdraw from Syria in 2018, but his own military officials disobeyed—former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned over the matter, and other officials lied to Trump about how many troops remained in Syria and convinced him to change his mind.
Gaetz spoke to Donald Trump Jr. about the matter on a podcast Tuesday, where Trump Jr. remarked that most Americans probably don’t even know that there are still American troops in Syria.
Obama got us into a civil war in Syria. President Trump did everything to get us out of Syria. The Deep State is doing everything to keep us in Syria.
My War Powers Resolution puts AMERICA FIRST and brings our troops home!
🎙️: @DonaldJTrumpJr pic.twitter.com/B2eht8m3Gi
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 7, 2023
Gaetz rallied a fair amount of support for his resolution, including from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, Rs-Ariz., and Matt Rosendale, R-Mt.
“No one in my district ever demands: ‘Marjorie, we must go to war in Syria. I never hear that request,’” Greene said in a statement of support.
No one in my district is asking for our military to fight another country’s war in Syria.
I’m grateful to @RepMattGaetz for introducing H. Con. Res. 21 to remove our troops from Syria and I’m proud to support it. pic.twitter.com/9qfceHfTja
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 8, 2023
“As a matter of fact, the veterans in my district say they’re sick and tired of foreign wars. We are fed up with it. Too many of our American military have died in foreign lands,” she said.
Gaetz even received co-sponsors from progressive Democrats including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
But at the end of Wednesday, the resolution failed in a vote of 103-321, with 56 Democrats and 47 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. Click here for the roll call to see how each representative voted.
Gaetz released a statement after the resolution was defeated, promising that his “fight to end forever wars and bring our troops home has only just begun.”
“There is no role for the United States of America in Syria. We are not a Middle Eastern power. We have tried to build a democracy out of sand, blood and Arab militias. Time and again, the work we do does not reduce chaos,” he said.
“Oftentimes, it causes chaos – the very chaos that then subsequently leads to terrorism. While today’s vote may have failed, my fight to end forever wars and bring our troops home has only just begun.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
