"I hope President Trump will follow the American Constitution," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo Kaine: Trump not a 'king,' can't go to war without Congress

Sen. Tim Kaine said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s order to launch airstrikes against Syria without congressional approval is "illegal" and "reckless" absent a broader strategy.

"I hope President Trump will follow the American Constitution," the Democratic senator from Virginia said on CBS' "Face the Nation.” "It’s very, very clear Congress has the power to declare war — and only Congress."


Trump "is not a king, he’s a president," Kaine added.

The president's order Friday to strike three chemical weapons facilities in Syria has renewed calls from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike for the administration to seek a new legal framework to wage war on terrorists around the globe.

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Kaine sits, is expected to take up in the next few weeks a bipartisan measure for the authorization of the use of military force that would replace those passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and ahead of the 2003 Iraq invasion.