UN issues Libya no-fly zone (War Powers vote FAILS)

[Dr Mordrid]

alJazzera is reporting that Gaddafi's wife and daughter have crossed the border into Tunisia.

English story is on RIA NOVOSTI (Russia)....

[Dr Mordrid]

Congressional rebuke....

Bipartisan Congress rebuffs Obama on Libya mission

Crossing party lines to deliver a stunning rebuke to the commander in chief, the vast majority of the House voted Friday for resolutions telling President Obama he has broken the constitutional chain of authority by committing U.S. troops to the international military mission in Libya.

In two votes — on competing resolutions that amounted to legislative lectures of Mr. Obama — Congress escalated the brewing constitutional clash over whether he ignored the founding document’s grant of war powers by sending U.S. troops to aid in enforcing a no-fly zone and naval blockade of Libya.

The resolutions were non-binding, and only one of them passed, but taken together, roughly three-quarters of the House voted to put Mr. Obama on notice that he must explain himself or else face future consequences, possibly including having funds for the war cut off.

“He has a chance to get this right. If he doesn’t, Congress will exercise its constitutional authority and make it right,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner, the Ohio Republican who wrote the resolution that passed, 268-145, and sets a two-week deadline for the president to deliver the information the House is seeking.

Minutes after approving Mr. Boehner’s measure, the House defeated an even more strongly-worded resolution offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, that would have insisted the president begin a withdrawal of troops.

Most lawmakers said that was too rash at this point, and said they wanted to give Mr. Obama time to comply. Some also said immediate withdrawal would leave U.S. allies in the lurch.

The Kucinich resolution failed 148-265. In a telling signal, 87 Republicans voted for Mr. Kucinich’s resolution — more than the 61 Democrats that did.

Still, taken together, 324 members of Congress voted for one resolution or both resolutions, including 91 Democrats, or nearly half the caucus. The size of the votes signals overwhelming discontent with Mr. Obama’s handling of the constitutional issues surrounding the Libya fight.
>
>

[UtwigMU]

Under which president was the authority to commit troops transferred from congress to president? Wilson?

[Dr Mordrid]

George Washington.

From day-one the US Constitution has given the power to declare war to Congress, while recognizing that in an emergency the President may have to act sooner or when Congress is not in session. Presidents often took advantage of this by engaging the US in long engagements under their authority as Commander In Chief of US forces. Perfect example is the escalation in VietNam under Pres. Lyndon Johnson (D-Texas).

After VietNam Congress passed the War Powers Act to limit this presidential discretion. President Richard Nixon (R-California) vetoed WPA, but Congress held firm and overrode the veto by a wide bipartisan margin. Under WPA the President can still use US forces in an emergency, but he must immediately notify the Congressional leadershis, keep them in the loop, and after 60 days either remove our forces or get a War Powers Resolution from Congress.

Obama did the initial notification, has been very spotty about keeping Congress informed during the 60 days and kept troops in theater past the 60 day deadline without a declaration. Because of this when a request for a declaration finally arrived it was strongly denied and these votes were taken.

While not law these votes provide a strong "Sense Of The Congress", a shot across the Presidents bow that they are very close to cutting off funds and ordering our resources totally out of the conflict. This is how VietNam was eventually ended.

If he were to continue hostilities after the Congressional cutoff it would be grounds for impeachment.

[cjolley]

OTOH, Every President in office since the passage of WPA has maintained that it is unconstitutional.
It's just never gone to court.
I'm not even sure how it could go to court. Impeachment does not go through the courts.

There is little likelihood that a republican House would cut off funds to troops in the field.
And, there is no chance at all that there will be an impeachment over the Libya thing.

[Dr Mordrid]

I agree impeachment is unlikely, but I'm not so sure about a withdrawl resolution. Congessmen on both sides are getting very concerned about Obama skirting oversight by using policy czars and using regulators to do things that would normally go through Congresd. One that's got a lot of them fried is this deal where he's trying to stop Boeing from building a factory in non-union South Carolina by force. That could well go to SCOTUS and get slapped down.

[cjolley]

... a withdrawl resolution...

That and $3.75 will get you a Starbucks

[Dr Mordrid]

Speaker of the House John Boehner just notified Obama that he has until Friday to comply with the War Powers Act. Given the huge bi-partisan votes the last 2 weeks against the administrations lack of compliance this could cause a constitutional confrontation between two of the three branches of government.

IMO Speaker Boehner wouldn't make this move unless he had a big margin of bi-partisan votes.

Washington Times....

Stepping up a simmering constitutional conflict, House Speaker John A. Boehner warned President Obama on Tuesday that unless he gets authorization from Congress for his military deployment in Libya, he will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution.

In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Boehner, the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession, said Mr. Obama must provide a clear justification for committing troops to Libya by Friday. Sunday marks the 90th day since the president notified Congress that U.S. troops had been committed to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, which is designed to protect the rebels fighting Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s government.

In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Boehner, the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession, said Mr. Obama must provide a clear justification for committing troops to Libya by Friday, which marks the 90th day since the president committed U.S. troops, and the clock started ticking under the War Powers Resolution.

“The Constitution requires the president to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ and one of those laws is the War Powers Resolution, which requires an approving action by Congress or withdrawal within 90 days from the notification of a military operation,” Mr. Boehner said in the letter.

The White House has repeatedly said it has complied with the law by alerting Congress to the initial deployment, and by providing follow-up briefings about the pace and extent of U.S. troops’ commitment.

But the administration has never sought approval from Congress.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but makes the president commander-in-chief — and those dueling roles have caused tension throughout the nation’s history.

Two weeks ago the House passed a non-binding resolution that urged Mr. Obama to provide detailed information on the deployment. Mr. Boehner at the time signaled that Congress might cut off funding for the deployment in Libya if the administration didn’t comply.

[Dr Mordrid]

A bipartisan group of congressmen have sued the Obama administration in federal court challenging its authority to continue "illegal Libya operations."

ABC News....

Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Walter Jones (R-North Carolina), Howard Coble (R-North Carolina), John Duncan (R-Tennessee), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), John Conyers (D-Michigan) Ron Paul (R-Texas), Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts), Tim Johnson (R-Illinois) and Dan Burton (R-Indiana)

[dZeus]

A bipartisan group of congressmen have sued the Obama administration in federal court challenging its authority to continue "illegal Libya operations."

ABC News....

Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Walter Jones (R-North Carolina), Howard Coble (R-North Carolina), John Duncan (R-Tennessee), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), John Conyers (D-Michigan) Ron Paul (R-Texas), Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts), Tim Johnson (R-Illinois) and Dan Burton (R-Indiana)

... the only 10 congressmen with their balls intact?

btw I'm starting to consider that the only way for military to not be abused (as much) by politicians is conscription. When the average Joe/Jane is sent on a mission, it better be for damn good reasons.

[UtwigMU]

Today there was a vote in our parliament on preferential vote (you vote for a party, where you can give certain candidate a preferential vote, so the candidates with most preferential votes go to parliament). Only 21 out of 90 voted for it. We're about to go down the Greek/Iceland scenario and government has less than 20% support of the public. Still members of parliament don't want to vote for elections because they got 4-year loans on their fancy salaries when they got elected. Recently few when questioned by newspaper wanted to admit how much debt they have.

If person doesn't have the balls to put interests of state before his/her financial benefits and if his/her only ability to earn money is state job or elected office then such person should never stand for an office.

[cjolley]

A bipartisan group of congressmen have sued the Obama administration in federal court challenging its authority to continue "illegal Libya operations."

Which will go absolutely nowhere.
We've been down this exact road before.

See Campbell v Clinton

Here is the text of an appellate decision. Interesting read on the subject.

[Dr Mordrid]

The NY Times is reporting that Obama got advice from top Justice Dept. and Pentagon lawyers the he didn't have the authoeity to do Libya without Congressional WPA action and ignored it. Bad move Barry - this'll really add fuel to the fire.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html?hp

[cjolley]

Doesn't matter. They won't make it past the question of standing.
Your arguments can be perfect, but if you can't sue, you can't win a suite.

[Dr Mordrid]

The suit was 10 Reps showing displeasure. The House pulling funding unless he offers up a request is another matter. As it is the major pollsters are only showing <30 percent support for the op without a WPA declaration, including about half of Democrats. Reps and Indies are running nearly 2:1 against, or more. CBS, Rasmussen, whatever.

Time for Barry to get the message that bypassing congressional oversight for >2 years has degraded his authority in both parties. He's also writing the 2012 oppositions campaign ads on a daily basis with real groaners.