Video: McCain: Congress vote on Syria strike 'problematic' Republican Senator John McCain, who has long been pushing for military intervention in Syria warned that the failure of Congress to endorse military action would send the wrong signal to the world. He told CBS: "When the President of the United States said that it was a red line he didn't say "it's a red line and by the way I'm going to have to seek the approval of Congress." He said it was a red line and the United States of America would act, and that is a big difference, and that's one of the reasons why this is so problematic. Despite a divided Congress, some senior lawmakers said President Obama should be able to cobble together a strong enough coalition of moderate and hawkish members of both parties to defeat anti-war Democrats and tea party-backed Republicans opposed to intervention. "I believe, when that case is made, and it's not only made to Congress but to the American public, I believe that we will rally behind the principle that use of chemical weapons is wrong and it can't go unpunished," said Democratic Senator Tim Kane. Polls show significant opposition among Americans to involvement after a decade of war in the Muslim world, and several officials have cited the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that led up to the Iraq war as justification of the need for lengthy debate before US military action.