Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) Credit: Patrick McDermott/Getty

By Ed O'Keefe, Sept. 23, 2014, Washingtonpost.com

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) intensified his calls for Congress to debate the authorization of expanded U.S. military operations in the Middle East Tuesday: failing to take up the issue later this fall, he said, would essentially be an endorsement of the Cheney Doctrine of preemptive war they'd once rejected.

"If we’re going to engage this mission we got to do it right or not do it. And if we don’t get Congress on board with it, we aren’t doing it right," Kaine said during a speech at the Center for American Progress Tuesday afternoon.

In office less than two years, Kaine has made the issue of congressional authority to declare war and authorize military operations a key focus. His persistence places him at odds with the White House and top Hill Democrats who have not fully endorsed the idea of a robust congressional debate over authorizing military force.

It's also notable because Kaine was one of the first prominent Democrats to endorse President Obama's first presidential campaign, and has taken an active role with the movement to urge Hillary Clinton to enter the 2016 race.

His position may not be popular in the West Wing -- but over on Capitol Hill, members of both parties have praised Kaine for continuing to press the issue.

During a roughly 30-minute address Tuesday, Kaine took the audience through a detailed analysis of the constitutional powers reserved for a president and for Congress on matters of military action.

Kaine called the rise of the Islamic State terror group "a significant threat" and "a growing threat" to the United States, but he criticized the Obama administration for suggesting that current military action in Syria can be legally justified by a military force authorization passed by Congress in 2001.

Doing so is "an extremely creative stretch by extremely creative lawyers...that just really doesn't add up," Kaine said.