House Opens New Challenge to Obama Over Libya Mission

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are moving to address head on the escalating tensions over President Obama’s authority to continue the military mission in Libya, unveiling two proposals about the conflict late Tuesday that the chamber may vote on as soon as Thursday.

One of the proposals is a resolution that would approve continued American military participation in the NATO-led air strikes, while barring the introduction of ground forces. It echoes a proposal this week by two senators: John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. The alternative proposal is a resolution that would direct Mr. Obama to stop missile strikes by American drones and piloted aircraft, but allow the United States military to continue supporting the NATO campaign in other ways — like search and rescue, aerial refueling, operational planning, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The second resolution, by implicitly authorizing the United States to continue participating in the NATO mission in ways that do not involve direct strikes, appears to be aimed at the Obama administration’s controversial argument that the military’s activities in Libya do not constitute “hostilities” and so are not bound by the War Powers Resolution.

Under that law, presidents must terminate deployments into hostilities 60 days after notifying Congress that they have begun, unless lawmakers authorize the mission to continue. That deadline appeared to pass on May 20 for the Libya mission. Last week, the White House raised its “hostilities” argument, a legal theory that the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, and many others rejected.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/us/politics/23powers.html