Rep. Buck McKeon said Monday that while he is undecided and “still open” to voting to authorize military action in Syria, he thinks the president should have included Congress before he ever made comments about Syrian chemical weapon use being a “red line.” McKeon: Troops need Obama's care

Rep. Buck McKeon said Monday that President Barack Obama’s support of military intervention in Syria is a chance to show U.S. troops that the administration cares as much about them as the Syrian people.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said on CNN’s “New Day” the president has surged troops in Afghanistan, flown Libya missions, and increased focus on the Pacific - all while cutting military budgets. With more than $1 trillion cut from budgets over the past few years, McKeon said, military officials have not had enough certainty to plan for the future.


“This sequestration, the president needs to fix,” McKeon said. “This would be a great time to fix that to show the military that while we’re asking them to continue on with mission after mission after mission, instead of cutting back, like he told them the day before he announced this decision that they weren’t going to receive the pay next year that they had been planning on. Instead of doing that kind of thing to our military, we ought to look out for them just as we’re looking out for those people in Syria.”

( PHOTOS: Syria: Where politicians stand)

Meanwhile, the California Republican said while he is undecided and “still open” to voting to authorize military action in Syria, he thinks the president should have included Congress before he ever made comments about Syrian chemical weapon use being a “red line.”

“That’s why we’re in this position now. It’s because of his statement. And, frankly, I think that this secure scurrying around trying to reach Congress now is a little bit late,” McKeon said.