Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine is glad the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to authorize the war against the Islamic State but says now the full Senate needs to act.
The US military has dropped more than one thousand bombs or missiles in its campaign against ISIS, but Congress has yet to weigh in. Kaine's been pushing the administration to come to Congress for permission to conduct its air campaign and last week he helped the Foreign Relations Committee pass a military authorization. He says now the full Senate needs to act.
“We need to do this to do our duty constitutionally and we need to do it to support our troops. We send them a message if we stand up and say this mission is worth it, but if we don’t stand up and say this mission is in the national interest, we send them a message too. And I think the message they get by Congressional inaction on this is a powerful one - and a debilitating one. We need to stand against ISIL as a committee and as a Senate.”
It's unclear if or when the new Republican controlled Senate will take up a similar measure.