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A day after a highly publicized hearing, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday passed an amended resolution to authorize the Obama administration to use military force in Syria by a vote of 10 to 7.

Senator John McCain successfully amended the draft resolution to include that the goal of military action should be “a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government in Syria.”

The bill, as it now stands, limits any conflict to 60 days, with a possible 30 day extension, explicitly excludes ground troops, and confines actions to Syrian territory. The bill heads to the Senate next week for a full vote.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, offered testimony for a second day in a row yesterday, this time, in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In addition to repeating most of the claims and logic as he did at the Senate committee hearing, Kerry went further yesterday, comparing Bashar Al Assad to Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler in his alleged use of chemical weapons.

But the panel faced greater opposition in the House committee than the Senate with Representatives from both major parties vocalizing their skepticism of authorizing force.

GUEST: John Nichols, Associate Editor of the Capitol Times in Madison, Wisconsin, and a correspondent for the Nation Magazine, contributing writer for The Progressive, Co-Founder of Free Press, author of many books including Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America