WASHINGTON – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican believes the panel is "rushing" into a measure that would legally approve US strikes in Iraq and Syria.

The panel on Friday announced a Monday afternoon hearing that will be the first of a three-part impromptu sprint toward a committee vote on a new authorization for the use of military force (AUMF).

"I know we're rushing it. I don't feel we are," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the panel's ranking member, told CongressWatch.

The panel is set to have a classified briefing on Tuesday before marking up an AUMF being crafted by outgoing panel Chairman Robert Menendez.

It was the New Jersey Democrat who made the decision on Thursday to craft an AUMF just a day before the 113th Congress is set to adjourn after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., squared off over the latter's attempt at a committee hearing to bring to a vote a measure declaring war on the Islamic State as an amendment to an unrelated bill.

In a statement after Thursday's session, Kaine applauded the chairman's decision.

"We will now have the opportunity to engage in a meaningful, transparent debate on the US military mission against [Islamic State], as I've been calling for since military action began nearly four months ago," Kaine said.

"We owe it to our service members and the American people to have this debate and take this vote before adjourning for the year, and I'm pleased we're on track to do so in the right way, " he added.

But Corker believes the coming process is anything but. He would rather wait until the next Congress is seated in January to begin work toward passing a force-authorization measure "in the first quarter" of 2015.

"I understand there are a number of members on the other side who want to go on the record as opposing boots on the ground. They have shared that privately with me," Corker said. "But this is a non-standard way of dealing with this."

Corker said he sees little chance, should the panel approve the Menendez measure, hit the Senate floor before the chamber adjourns late next week.

Because Congress has yet to formally authorize strikes against the Islamic State, Corker said the White house "may be acting unlawfully."

"What some members, they say they may be acting unlawfully so let's make it lawful," Corker said. "That doesn't make any sense to me."

Lawmakers from both parties have been calling for a force-authorization measure for several months. President Obama acquiesced to those demands, at least rhetorically, on Nov. 5, saying he wanted lawmakers to debate and vote on a new measure.

Republican lawmakers countered by saying Obama should craft and submit a draft to Congress. From there, negotiations among lawmakers and with the White House would begin.

So far, the administration has yet to send up any measure.

"Although the president has the authority to address the threat from [the Islamic State], he has said that we are strongest as a nation when the executive branch and Congress work together on matters involving the use of US military force," spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. Bernadette Meehan told CongressWatch on Nov. 21. "The administration is therefore engaging with the Congress on a new AUMF."

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