“The Senate added its conflicted stamp of approval to President Barack Obama’s request to arm and train Syrian rebels against the Islamic State, voting to fund what amounts to the start of a new war without an actual war vote.

The measure — attached to a must-pass bill to fund the government until Dec. 11 — spends $500 million to start training and arming Syrian rebels and to expand on the campaign launched in August against the extremist advance in Iraq.

The bill passed 78 to 22, and heads to the White House, where President Barack Obama, who ran as an anti-war president, is likely to sign it. It allows Obama in effect to begin hostilities against an enemy in Syria, relying on the war declarations passed with the authorizations to use military force in 2001 and 2002 that targeted al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.”

Read more from Jennifer Bendery at Huffington Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/congress-isis-senate_n_5846112.html

John Iadarola (http://www.twitter.com/jiadarola) and Michael Shure (http://www.twitter.com/michaelshure) of The Young Turks discuss the vote. Do you think the coming election impacted the vote? John and Michael go on to discuss Rand Paul’s speech on the Senate floor about this vote. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.