Congress rejects US military action in Libya
Lawmakers voted 123-295 to defeat the measure and moved to take up a companion resolution.
WASHINGTON:
In a symbolic but scathing rebuke to President Barack Obama, the US House of Representatives on Friday rejected a resolution authorizing US military action in Libya on Friday.
Lawmakers voted 123-295 to defeat the measure and moved to take up a companion resolution aimed at sharply reducing the US role in NATO-led, UN-mandated operations against Libyan strongman Moamer Qaddafi’s forces.
About 70 of the White House's Democratic allies broke with Obama to defeat the measure after a bitter debate shaped by the US public's deep war-weariness after a decade of overseas conflicts, notably in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just eight Republicans backed the resolution, as members of both parties angrily denounced Obama's decision not to seek congressional permission for the US role in the conflict as required under the 1973 War Powers Act.
In a symbolic but scathing rebuke to President Barack Obama, the US House of Representatives on Friday rejected a resolution authorizing US military action in Libya on Friday.
Lawmakers voted 123-295 to defeat the measure and moved to take up a companion resolution aimed at sharply reducing the US role in NATO-led, UN-mandated operations against Libyan strongman Moamer Qaddafi’s forces.
About 70 of the White House's Democratic allies broke with Obama to defeat the measure after a bitter debate shaped by the US public's deep war-weariness after a decade of overseas conflicts, notably in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just eight Republicans backed the resolution, as members of both parties angrily denounced Obama's decision not to seek congressional permission for the US role in the conflict as required under the 1973 War Powers Act.