Sen. Tim Kaine has established himself as the Democrat pressing his party on Congress’ authority to declare war. On that he found common cause with Republican Sen. Rand Paul, and their unlikely partnership of more than a decade is now front and center with another conflict in the Middle East.
Senators struck down a resolution introduced by Kaine and Paul on Wednesday to limit military strikes on Iran. Though the vote came just days after the Trump administration launched a series of military operations in Iran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials over the weekend, the pair had been working on the motion for months. Kaine told NOTUS their work to push Congress to reassert its constitutional power to declare war began years ago.
The pair first bonded over the issue while serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee together in the 2010s, Kaine added.