By JM Rieger and Sarah Chacko and Steven T. Dennis and John M Donnelly

As the House finalizes funding for anti-Islamic State operations, Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Angus King, I-Maine, hammered the administration on the Senate floor Wednesday for failing to seek a new war authorization, while calling on Congress to debate an authorization before recessing for the holidays. Kaine, who has previously criticized President Barack Obama’s unilateral action against the group also known as ISIS or ISIL, said failing to debate a measure would be “disrespectful of the troops,” while King said it would be “one more giving away — of our constitutional authority to the executive.” “Giving this president — giving any president — a green light to wage unilateral war for five or six months without any meaningful debate or authorization would be deeply destructive of the legitimacy of the legislative branch of our government, it would be deeply disrespectful of our citizens and it would be especially disrespectful of the troops,” Kaine said.