On a 10-7 vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a measure Wednesday that would grant the president up to 90 days to wage war on Syria without the use of ground troops.

The full Senate will have to approve the resolution before it means anything, but the political divisions on the committee foreshadow a bumpy road for passage. Democrats and Republicans voted for and against the authorization, with Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., installing language that would make it “the policy of the United States to change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria.” Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts liberal who took over Secretary of State John Kerry’s seat, voted present.

With military action, even the use of missile strikes, strongly opposed by the polled public, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether Congress ultimately approves military action.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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