Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. 68, Authorizing Limited Use of Armed Forces in Libya; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2278, Limiting Use of Funds for Armed Forces in Libya

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding time.

I rise today in support of this rule and of H.R. 2278, a bill to prohibit funds for continued U.S. military involvement in Libya except for operations involving search and rescue, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling, and operational planning.

In 2007, then the junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, confidently proclaimed to the Boston Globe this comment: ``The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the Nation.'' However, now that he is not attacking political opponents, that stance has proven inconvenient, prompting one of his many, many flip-flops, such as his vote opposing to raise the debt limit.

Regardless of one's position on the constitutional powers of the President as Commander in Chief or Congress' authority to declare war, the legislative branch unquestionably yields the power of the purse. This bill represents a proper exercise of that power, pure and simple. The bill does not leave our military personnel in dangerous circumstances without the funds or supplies they need. It does not require a precipitous withdrawal since, without a ground presence, there is nowhere from which to withdraw. The bill simply denies U.S. taxpayer funding for what the President calls a ``kinetic activity,'' but what the world recognizes as an ongoing bombing campaign in Libya.

It is for these reasons and many more that I urge my colleagues to support the rule and to support H.R. 2278.

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