The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant directly threatens the U.S. homeland, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday, and hundreds of members of the terrorist group with U.S. and European passports could use them to try to carry out attacks on America. 
 
 "It's about time now to assume the worst about these guys rather than underestimating them — they're not the JV team anymore," the South Carolina Republican said on CNN's "State of the Union." "They're the most prominent terrorist organization in the world, but they're not the only one. They're in competition with the other jihadist groups, and the gold medal will be awarded to the group that can hit America." 
 
 The well-funded terror group responsible for the death of journalist James Foley in Iraq last week — characterized by the White House as a terrorist attack on America — has ambitions to strike the United States, Graham added. 
 
 (VIDEO: Sunday shows in 90 seconds) 
 
 "I hope the new mission is to defeat and destroy ISIL as a threat to the homeland," he said. 
 
 But Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, wasn't as quick to characterize ISIL as an immediate threat to the U.S. 
 
 “We have to begin with the presumption that they could be such a threat. … But to jump from what they’ve done, which is horrific, the murder of Mr. Foley, to the assumption that they’re going to be an immediate and, within days, threat to us here in our homeland, I think you don’t jump to that assumption, but you don’t dismiss it," he said. "You carefully look at what they’re doing, what they want to do.” 
 
 Read more about: Lindsey Graham, Terrorism, ISIL ||||| The United States needs to act decisively to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Rep. Paul Ryan said Sunday, joining the chorus of Republican voices calling for President Barack Obama to move more forcefully to combat the terror group in Iraq and Syria. 
 
 U.S. generals should develop a plan militarily to combat the group, the Wisconsin congressman added, after Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said last week that movements in Syria will have to be part of any plan to defeat ISIL, which is also referred to as ISIS. 
 
 "I don't want to hear from the president how he's reacting to events like the Mosul Dam," the former GOP vice presidential nominee and possible 2016 presidential candidate said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "What I want to hear from our commander in chief is that he has a strategy to finish ISIS off, to defeat ISIS. Let's not forget that there are reportedly thousands of terrorists with foreign passports. If we don't deal with this threat now thoroughly and convincingly, it's going to come home to roost. So no, I don't think the president has given us the kind of strategy we need." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Terrorism, Paul Ryan, ISIL ||||| Sen. John McCain and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul on Sunday both cited the death of American journalist James Foley as the reason for increased rhetoric against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, calling the death a “catalyst” and “turning point." 
 
 “I think the terrible beheading was sort of the catalyst on what was already brewing out there,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.” 
 
 “I do think they present the greatest threat we’ve seen since 9/11," McCaul said on ABC's "This Week." "This has been festering for the last year, and now it’s culminating with the killing and beheading of an American journalist, which I think is a turning point. The American people — it has sort of opened their eyes to what ISIS really is. The true character of ISIS, how savage they really are and their intent to harm Americans.” 
 
 A video showing the beheading of Foley, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, was posted last week by men claiming to be part of the terrorist group. 
 
 Emphasizing the growing threat of the group, McCaul (R-Texas) said ISIL is very intent on extending operations abroad. 
 
 “They would love more than nothing else to hit the Unites States of America,” McCaul said. 
 
 He added later, “They are intent on hitting the West. And there are external operations, I believe, on the way.” 
 
 McCaul also said that U.S. allies in the region and abroad can also help to bring pressure on ISIL, which is also known by the acronym ISIS. 
 
 “I don’t think you’re going to win this with a containment policy alone,” McCaul said. “We need to expand these airstrikes so that we can ultimately defeat and eliminate ISIS, because I would far prefer to eliminate them over [there] than have to deal with them in the United States.” 
 
 Read more about: John McCain, Iraq, Mike McCaul, ISIL, James Foley ||||| House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers on Sunday underscored the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, saying the terrorist group is "one plane ticket away from U.S. shores." 
 
 “It’s a very real threat,” the Michigan Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “One of the problems is it’s gone unabated for nearly two years, and that draws people from Britain, to across Europe, even the United States to go and join the fight.” 
 
 “They are one plane ticket away from U.S. shores, and that’s why we’re so concerned about it,” he added. 
 
 Rogers said the U.S. is safer since 9/11, but more is needed both domestically and abroad. 
 
 “We have a better system, but we’re just not configured … to continue a tempo that allows disruption,” he said, adding that nothing was deterring ISIL for years. “Yeah, we might be OK if we continue the posture that we’re in from a defensive posture, but remember, they get new recruits every single day.” 
 
 Rogers said the U.S. also needs to engage Arab League partners “in a more robust campaign” and that intelligence agencies and the Defense Department need to be “more disruptive.” 
 
 “There’s no mulligans in foreign policy,” Roger said. “We need to regroup.” 
 
 "This is an opportunity for the president to take a step back, change his presidential guidance on how we disrupt terrorism around the world, including Al Qaeda that has been slowing,' Rogers said. "We have missed dozens and dozens of opportunities to take really bad people off the battlefield." 
 
 Read more about: Iraq, Mike Rogers, ISIL ||||| The spread of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant poses a threat that requires more than containment from the United States, Sen. Kelly Ayotte says. 
 
 "In New Hampshire, the brutal murder of James Foley really brought home this week this threat that [the group] presents to us and our country," the New Hampshire Republican said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "And what I think is that a containment strategy is not going to cut it. We need a strategy to defeat ISIS," she said. 
 
 The United States needs a strategy that expands the airstrikes in Iraq, further supports the Kurds and goes after ISIL (also referred to as ISIS) in Syria, said Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 
 
 "What I want from [President Barack Obama] is a strategy to defeat ISIS," Ayotte said. "That's what I think we need to work together on, and he needs to lead this, because the containment aspect of it is not going to defeat them. And we're going to have to defeat them because of the threat that they ... present to us." 
 
 Read more about: Terrorism, Kelly Ayotte, ISIL, James Foley ||||| President Barack Obama’s address detailing the White House’s plan to combat the terrorist threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant received mixed reviews on Capitol Hill on Wednesday evening as lawmakers prepare to potentially give the president new authorities to strike against the militant group in Syria. 
 
 The speech was immediately criticized by some of Obama’s fiercest foreign policy opponents. Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dubbed the speech “fundamentally unserious” on Fox News. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), using another acronym for ISIL, said on CNN that “the president really doesn’t have a grasp for how serious the threat from ISIS is.” 
 
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 “The president’s plan will likely be insufficient to destroy ISIS, which is the world’s largest, richest terrorist army,” McCain said in a subsequent statement with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). 
 
 (Full text, video of Obama's speech) 
 
 Senate Democrats praised the speech as a good approach to tackling the growing strength of ISIL in Iraq. 
 
 Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Obama’s plan was a “forceful strategy.” 
 
 “The president tonight laid out a forceful strategy to safeguard our security and that of our allies by rolling back and eventually destroying a brutal extremist group,” the Michigan Democrat said. “The president’s strategy calls for a broad coalition to support Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and religious minorities as they come together to fight a common enemy.” 
 
 House and Senate leaders will reconvene Thursday to chart a path forward for legislation giving Obama authority under the Authorization for Use of Military Force. House Republicans are weighing attaching the measure to a continuing resolution to fund the government. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is waiting for the House to move before deciding on the Senate’s path forward. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Obama: U.S. chasing ISIL 'wherever they exist') 
 
 Reid said Wednesday evening that hearings on the proposal will commence next week. 
 
 “The one element of the strategy outlined by the president tonight that requires immediate congressional action is granting his administration the authority to equip and train Syrian troops to fight ISIS,” he said. “I believe that Republicans and Democrats in Congress will come together in the week ahead in a strong show of support to grant the president this critical authority.” 
 
 Obama detailed a four-part strategy to weaken and eventually “degrade, and ultimately destroy” ISIL, which has been terrorizing Iraqi citizens and has beheaded two American journalists. The effort, Obama said, will include training Iraqi security forces and moderate Syrian rebels — a move the administration has avoided since the outbreak of the civil conflict in Syria two years ago. 
 
 “Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy,” Obama said during the prime-time address. 
 
 “We must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once and for all.” 
 
 Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said his panel will move to draft a resolution giving Obama the congressional authority to wage a “prolonged military campaign.” 
 
 “President Obama showed important leadership in laying out an initial plan to confront the threat from ISIL before this barbaric group has the ability to execute a large-scale attack against U.S. interests at home or abroad,” he said. 
 
 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), an outspoken anti-war advocate, said Obama’s polices need to be swiftly put to a congressional vote for authorization. 
 
 “The Constitution requires Congress to vote on the use of military force. This is not about this president. This is about any president and any Congress,” she said. 
 
 Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said he supports a vote to institute a limited authority for U.S. action in the region and called Obama’s speech “strong.” 
 
 “He did what he had to do,” King said. 
 
 Across the Capitol, House Republicans were generally supportive of Obama’s strategy but broadly called for more specific details on the extent of U.S. involvement in the volatile region. Speaker John Boehner said he supports the plan to train Iraqi forces and Syrian rebels but is concerned that process could take years to implement. 
 
 “A speech is not the same thing as a strategy, however. While the president presented a compelling case for action, many questions remain about the way in which the president intends to act,” the Ohio Republican said. 
 
 Boehner has been part of a cadre of senior lawmakers who met with Obama and received classified briefings from the administration this week on the White House’s strategy to combat the Sunni militant group. 
 
 House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Republicans still “require a level of commitment to this fight against terrorism not yet seen by this president.” 
 
 “We must recognize ISIL is but a symptom of a broader terrorist threat that has been ignored for too long by this administration,” the California Republican said. “Preventing the next 9/11 requires us to confront the reality that Al Qaeda has metastasized, and that radical terrorists operating out of sanctuaries in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere pose a growing threat to the United States must be destroyed.” 
 
 House Republicans will hold an early morning conference meeting Thursday. 
 
 The chamber’s top Democrat, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, praised Obama for establishing a coalition to combat ISIL. 
 
 “I commend the president for his persistent, strong leadership in establishing a government of reconciliation in Iraq, and in his diplomatic efforts to have coordination among of our NATO allies and regional powers,” the Californian said. “Working with a broad coalition of partners and without using U.S. combat forces on the ground, we will lead a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy to dismantle the threat ISIS poses to the region and the United States.” 
 
 Obama’s proposals were panned by two Senate Democrats in tough reelection races who are eager to put distance between themselves and Obama. 
 
 “I will not give this president — or any other president — a blank check to begin another land war in Iraq,” said Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “As we have seen in the past, American boots on the ground cannot stamp out an extreme ideology, and the Iraqis must take responsibility for defending their own people.” 
 
 Alaska Sen. Mark Begich said he opposes Obama’s plan to arm Syrian rebels, saying, “The U.S. can’t continue to foot the bill of Middle East conflicts.”
– Mike Rogers dropped a dire prediction this morning, contending that the Islamic State militants currently rampaging through Iraq "are one plane ticket away from US shores" and that an attack "is a very real threat." Continued the House Intelligence Committee chair: "There’s no mulligans in foreign policy. We need to regroup." John McCain also chimed in, hours after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake rolled through Napa County, trotting out its inevitability as a contrast for the Islamic State: "The president has to understand that America must lead and, when America hasn’t, a lot of bad things happen," said McCain, as per Politico. "This is not like the earthquake in San Francisco. All of this could have been avoided, like leaving a residual behind force in Iraq, and obviously the challenge is now much greater than it would have been." They led a bevy of politicians discussing the militants on the Sunday talk shows: Lindsey Graham: "It's time now to assume the worst about these guys rather than underestimating them—they're not the JV team anymore. They're the most prominent terrorist organization in the world, but they're not the only one. They're in competition with the other jihadist groups, and the gold medal will be awarded to the group that can hit America." Paul Ryan: What I want to hear from our commander in chief is that he has a strategy to finish ISIS off, to defeat ISIS. Let's not forget that there are reportedly thousands of terrorists with foreign passports. If we don't deal with this threat now thoroughly and convincingly, it's going to come home to roost. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul: The Islamic State "would love more than nothing else to hit the United States of America. They are intent on hitting the West. And there are external operations, I believe, on the way." Kelly Ayotte (senator from James Foley's native New Hampshire): "What I want from [President Barack Obama] is a strategy to defeat ISIS. That's what I think we need to work together on, and he needs to lead this, because the containment aspect of it is not going to defeat them. And we're going to have to defeat them because of the threat that they ... present to us."