Today’s top opinion: Anticipation

Sen. Tim Kaine must have sensed something. Long before Congress began debating intervention in Syria, the Virginia Democrat raised questions regarding war powers. He focused on the congressional role in authorizing military operations.

On May 16, he said, “I think it is highly important that we stress to this administration that commencing hostilities that put American troops or materiel in harm’s way in Syria without fresh discussion and approval … would be enormously controversial.” He also asserted congressional prerogatives.

In July, Kaine and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain announced a bipartisan drive to reform the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Their effort drew on the good work of a study of the War Powers Resolution sponsored by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. The call proved prescient.

And the red line was crossed.

Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people prompted the Obama administration into action. It said a price had to be paid and that it would go to Congress to seek approval for the reckoning. Kaine has appeared on national broadcasts to explain the process. A strike against Syria would qualify as a war of choice, and Congress must participate in the choosing.

The resolution of the Syrian challenge will not close the broader debate. Indeed, the immediate situation makes the Kaine-McCain war powers initiative an essential endeavor. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kaine cast a vote Wednesday in favor of limited force against Syria. We applaud him.

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