Growing demand in Congress for vote on Syria attack The law states that the president must notify Congress within two days of beginning operations and secure a vote of approval if fighting continues for more than 60 days. Mr Obama ignored the law during the 2011 Libya intervention and administration lawyers argued that the bombing campaign against Muammar Gaddafi was so limited it did not require a Congressional vote. A senior Democrat aide said they did not expect a vote before military action but that administration officials including John Kerry, the secretary of state, and Samantha Power, the UN ambassador, have been making calls to Congressional leaders. "There's this dual-track approach of reaching out to world leaders and simultaneously reaching out to Congressional stakeholders," the aide said. I doubt that will satisfy all corners of the Congress but it will probably satisfy a critical majority. While a 74 of Mr Riggell's co-signers are Republicans they have been joined by a 17 Democrats. It is the latest in a series of ad-hoc Left-Right coalitions that have formed to try to limit the power of the executive branch. In July, a proposal by Representative Justin Amash, a libertarian Republican, to restrict the powers of the National Security Agency received significant Democrat support and was only narrowly defeated after significant lobbying by the White House. Both Mr Obama and Joe Biden, his vice president, supported the idea that Congressional approval was needed for military action while they were senators during the Bush administration. When asked about the prospect of bombing Iran in 2007, Mr Obama told the Boston Globe: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." Mr Biden said in the same year that he would move to impeach George W Bush if he attempted to attack Iran saying the "the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran." While many in Congress are deeply sceptical about any US intervention, a minority have argued that a brief flurry of airstrikes will not be enough. Senator John McCain, a long-time advocate of intervention, said the attacks should be aimed at causing the "eventual overthrow" of Bashar al-Assad instead of just punishing the use of chemical weapons. David Cameron's decision to recall Parliament has added to the pressure on Mr Obama to make a similar move by recalling Congress. When asked about Mr Cameron's decision, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said Britain "is a different country with a different form of government."