Limiting Use of Funds for Armed Forces in Libya

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, what we have here are two essential arguments; one is more of an intramural argument between Congress and the White House, but it is a misplaced argument because there is no President that has come to this Congress for a declaration of war since World War II--and granted, we've been in seven or eight major conflicts. So this is much greater than this conflict between the White House and this Congress.

Unfortunately, I believe that this measure is just an attempt to, rather in a strong way, get the attention of the President. It may be to chastise the President a bit. I think if you look at the Record there were communications here, but there is a larger profound message here. It's not a message that this is to send to the President. This is a bad-timed piece of legislation because it sends the wrong message to the world.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, we are the leaders of the free world. America is a great country, and our standing is at stake. And this move, this bill will pull the rug out from under NATO at precisely the time when we need to be sending a strong message of encouragement. The United States is in a support role here. So it is very important that we defeat this amendment and make sure that we send the right message to our allies, that we will not pull the rug out from under them.

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