A sign of progress in Va. Sen Kaine's AUMF effort?

Sen. Tim Kaine has been trying for more than two years to get Congress to consider a formal authorization for the use of military force in the struggle against the Islamic State -- and it looks now as if his effort is about to become a Senate Armed Services Committee priority.

Yesterday, after again making his point that the Constitution requires Congress to approve the dispatch of American military men and women into harms way, Kaine sparked this response from committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz.:

"Senator Kaine, I very much appreciate your advocacy on this whole issue. That you have been sometimes a voice in the wilderness in this, but you’ve also been absolutely correct ... certainly Congress has not exercised its responsibility in conflicts that are going on throughout the globe. So I thank you for raising that issue, I thank you for your continued tenacity, and I want to commit to us making this a priority for this committee in the coming year."