Congress Denies Authorization, Maintains Funding for Libya

Statement

President Obama committed American forces to intervene in Libya without congressional authorization on March 19, and the operations in Libya remain unauthorized today. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution clearly states that "The Congress shall have power to declare war" and "to raise and support armies." The legislative branch has finally moved to exercise both its war-making authority and its exclusive power of the purse to weigh in on the Libyan war -- but with limited impact.

On June 24, the House belatedly considered and defeated a resolution to authorize the continued involvement of the U.S. military in the Libyan conflict. I voted against authorization because the U.S. does not have a compelling national interest at stake in Libya. No one denies that Gadhafi is a bad actor. However, Libya has not attacked our country, our interests, or any of our NATO allies. With our military already strained from two legally authorized wars, and no national security benefit to be gained in Libya, our involvement there is unwise and unnecessary, in addition to being unconstitutional.

Revoking funding is the second constitutionally mandated method by which Congress can exercise its authority. After voting against authorizing Libya operations, the House defeated a second resolution that, at first glance, would seem to eliminate funding for American participation. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned bill was so narrowly targeted that it would not even come close to ending U.S. involvement. The resolution would essentially only eliminate funding for predator strikes in Libya. Other aspects of our involvement -- including intelligence, surveillance, search-and-rescue, and other "non-hostile" activities -- would still be funded. Furthermore, the specificity of the legislation amounts to inappropriate micromanaging, with Congress dictating exact military activities when our only role should be to approve or disapprove broad objectives.

The House was right to deny both the explicit authorization of Libyan operations and the tacit approval it would have conferred by passing a bill to maintain partial funding. Yet the illegal and unauthorized war continues because we have failed to take the next step and fully eliminate financial support. By allowing operations in Libya to go on, we are in danger of eroding the constitutional war- making authority of Congress and enabling an overreaching executive branch. Congress should reassert its constitutional authority by either authorizing the use of military force or decisively ending it by cutting off funds.

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