BEIRUT: With the Senate expected to vote on the issue of airstrikes as early as Wednesday, and the House of Representatives later this week or early next, will President Barack Obama win the necessary support?

 

Despite public backing from leaders of both political parties to strikes, almost half of the 433 current members in the House of Representatives and a third of the 100-member Senate remain undecided, an Associated Press survey found Monday. According to a tally by the Washington Post Monday, only about a quarter of the Senate’s 100 members and fewer than 25 members of the 435-seat House have been willing to go on record in support of Obama’s request. Seventeen senators and 111 House members are on record against.

 

In the House of Representatives, 218 votes are needed for a majority. The Post predicts 230 members are against military action, with a further 178 undecided. In the Senate, where 51 votes are needed for a majority, the paper has recorded 27 individuals who are against military action, with 23 in support of strikes. Another 50 members are undecided, it adds.