House sends mixed message on Libya

WASHINGTON – The House voted Thursday to bar military aid to Libyan rebels battling Moammar Gadhafi but stopped short of prohibiting funds for U.S. involvement in a NATO-led mission now in its fourth month.

Sending a muddled message in the constitutional challenge to President Barack Obama, House Republicans and Democrats signaled their frustration with American participation in a stalemated civil war but also showed their unwillingness to end the operation.

“Congress has allowed the president to overreach in Libya,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “We should not be engaged in military action of this level unless it is authorized and funded by Congress.”

The House voted 225-201 for an amendment sponsored by Cole to bar the Pentagon from providing “military equipment, training or advice or other support for military activities,” to an outside group, such as rebel forces, for military action in or against Libya.

Forty-eight Democrats backed the Republican-sponsored measure.

The intent of the measure is to prohibit aid to the rebels such as weapons and assistance to their Transitional National Council, including operational planning. The broad effort also would target contractors in Libya.

In fact, Obama has authorized $25 million in nonlethal assistance to the rebels, including thousands of meals ready to eat from Pentagon stocks. The U.S. has also supplied some $53 million in humanitarian aid. Neither would be affected by the bill.

Moments after the vote, the House rejected a measure that would have prohibited funds for the U.S. military to continue its limited role. The vote was 229-199, with 67 Democrats breaking with the administration to support the amendment.

“This is our moment to reclaim the Constitution of the United States,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who co-sponsored the amendment with freshman Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. “We have the power to determine when to go to war, not some rebel power in Benghazi.”

Lawmakers argue that Obama violated the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires a president to seek congressional approval within 60 days of the first military strikes, a move the commander in chief did not make. Instead, Obama informed Congress last month that such assent was unnecessary because the limited U.S. role does not rise to full-blown hostilities.

The votes Thursday ratcheted up the pressure on the administration as Libya remained a stalemate between Gadhafi and rebel forces, and war-weary NATO allies signaled their patience was wearing thin. Italy announced that it was reducing its participation in NATO’s campaign by removing an aircraft carrier from the region and pulling thousands of troops home.

Opponents of the amendments, such as Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., argued that the United States should be allowed to continue the mission along with its NATO allies. He reminded Republicans that President Ronald Reagan had challenged Gadhafi, and the U.S. should finish the job.

The Senate has delayed consideration of a resolution authorizing the U.S. mission in Libya.