A defiant US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Friday to deny President Barack Obama the authority to wage war against Libya.
US Speaker of the House John Boehner criticises the Obama administration's policy towards Libya, saying that the President lacked Congressional approval Photo: EPA
12:52AM BST 25 Jun 2011
But Republicans fell short in an effort to actually cut off funds for the operation in a constitutional showdown reflecting both political differences and unease over American involvement.
In a repudiation of their commander in chief, House members rejected a measure to authorise the Libya mission for a year while prohibiting U.S. ground forces in the North African nation, a resolution Obama had said he would welcome.
The vote was 295-123 with 70 Democrats abandoning the president just one day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had made an unusual appeal to rank-and-file members. A Senate committee is to consider the same resolution next Tuesday and is expected to support it, raising the prospect of conflicting messages from Congress.
Friday's votes showed lawmakers' concerns about an open-ended U.S. commitment to a civil war between Col Moammar Gaddafi and rebel forces looking to oust him – as well as growing weariness among Americans with drawn-out conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition, the resounding number rejecting the authority resolution was a clear sign of anger toward the president for failing to seek congressional consent for the operation within 60 days, as stated in the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Republicans and Democrats argued that Obama had run roughshod over the Constitution, ignoring the authority of the legislative branch that the founding fathers had insisted has the power to declare war.
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While Republican as well as Democratic presidents have often ignored the War Powers Resolution, a frustrated House voted earlier this month to rebuke Obama for failing to provide a "compelling rationale" for the Libyan mission and for launching U.S. military forces without congressional approval.
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