Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged Democrats to "park their hatred of Donald Trump" while the threats by North Korea loom.
Graham's remarks came Thursday during an interview on "The Hugh Hewitt Show."
"There's nothing in the Constitution limiting the ability to use force to protect America," Graham said. "Having said that, it would be very smart if the Congress could come together and tell the president you have our authorization to use military force to stop the threat to the homeland as a last resort.
"That would send a signal to North Korea and China that would probably do more good to avoid war than anything I can think of. And to accomplish that task, our Democratic friends would have to park their hatred of [President] Donald Trump and put the country first."
Graham said the situation with North Korea is growing "increasingly dangerous."
So, what I'm trying to do is reinforce a message I think should be delivered forcefully, that is we will not allow North Korea to have an ICBM with a weapon on top to hit the American homeland. We're not going to contain the threat. We're going to deny that capability, and our policy has changed dramatically, and we're trying to make sure that our allies and our enemies know that.
And Graham defended the president's strategy in dealing with the North Korea threat.
"I think he's made a decision long ago, quite frankly, to try to negotiate the threat with North Korea, to try to find a way through negotiations to end the threat to the American homeland," he said. "But if negotiations fail, he is willing to abandon strategic patience and use preemption."
Trump has warned North Korea it faced "fire and fury" over its threats, CNN noted.