CUOMO: Welcome back, as you're getting ready to start your new day, you have to focus on tonight. This is a big one -- President Obama is going to pitch you his strategy for destroying ISIS. Now surprisingly, he wants your approval. But he doesn't think he needs approval from Congress. Even more surprising, many in Congress seem to agree with that. Even if the president decides to bomb inside Syria. So what do we think the plan will be? What will it mean for the United States? Let's bring in Senator Angus King, an independent senator from Maine who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Committee on Armed Services and he was briefed by White House officials on the ISIS situation. Senator, thank you for joining us. What can you tell us, because originally you had said I like that the president was being cautious, if you would have asked me a year ago should we get involved again militarily in Iraq, I would have said no. After what you heard, how do you feel now? Is it time to act or do you want to wait?</s>SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: I think it's time to act, but the question is what is the action, two of the things the president has to give us tonight is one what is our vital national interest? What is the national interest of the United States in getting engaged in this conflict in one way or the other? Secondly, what's the mission? And that goes to the question of congressional authority. Is the mission limited air strikes in Iraq? Or is it air strikes in Syria? And if you're talking about that, I think you're talking about a broader kind of conflict where congressional involvement is important. That you know, that pesky Constitution says Congress has the power to declare war. And I'm uncomfortable with expansion of presidential authority to basically take military action anywhere in the world if the President decides that's what important.
Interview with Sen. Angus King