WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement Wednesday, in response to reports that President Obama is considering military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

“If President Obama and his advisors want to increase the involvement of the United States in Syria in any manner - including attacks against the Assad regime - they have a constitutional responsibility to ask for a declaration of war from Congress,” Sen. Lee said. "What the administration is considering represents a major departure from our current strategy, and carries potentially cataclysmic consequences which the American people have never debated in Congress. Should President Obama move ahead without authorization, then Congress must be called back into session to fulfill its obligation to debate and determine whether our nation should once again go to war.”