After penning a Washington Post op-ed arguing against the White House's position that no congressional authorization is needed for U.S. military action in Iraq, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine urged president Obama to keep his promise to update the Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed in '01 and '02 under then president George W. Bush:
"In a speech in May of 2013 to the National Defense University, president Obama recognized that the administration and congress have to work together to examine and update the 2001 AUMF [Authorization for Use of Military Force] in order to narrow its scope, clarify what it allows, and make it suitable for the new challenges before us. I heard many of my colleagues say exactly the same thing. But, madam president, there has been no progress on this necessary update. The administration has made no proposal. There is no AUMF revision under active consideration in either house. Strangely, while all acknowledge that the authorization needs an update, we drift from crisis to crisis— Syria, Iraq, POW exchanges — without grappling with the underlying document that initiated our entrance into war 13 years ago. We cannot afford further delays."