Anger ramps up in Congress over Obama’s legal defense of Libya operation

Obama, trained as a constitutional lawyer, sided against the inclinations of the Pentagon and the Office of Legal Counsel. One source emphasized this was not an illegal, or even very extraordinary, outcome.

Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said that “there was a full airing of views within the administration and a robust process that led the president to his view.”

Describing his decision making about Libya and the War Powers act further inflamed Obama’s critics on Capitol Hill. Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.) said the report had convinced him that Congress ought to cut off funds for the operation.

“Today, yes, I would” support that, Rooney said. He said he was troubled by the idea that “people inside the Pentagon . . . are saying one thing but then the administration is saying something different.”

But what is Congress prepared to do about it?
reinforces the need for the White House to answer the questions that Congress and the American people have about our involvement in Libya.”

But spokesman Michael Steel was noncommittal about Boehner’s next move. “That’s something we’ll discuss” with GOP legislators, he said.

The two party leaders in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were not available for comment on Libya on Saturday.

One option would be to hold a vote to approve or disapprove of the Libyan campaign, even if Obama has said Congress’s approval isn’t necessary.

Last week, two of Obama’s strongest allies on Libya — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) — said they wanted such a vote. Durbin last week teamed with Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and introduced a resolution that would support the president’s Libyan actions but would set an end date of Dec. 30 and bar the introduction of U.S. ground troops, something Obama has said repeatedly he does not plan to do.

Another would be to seek to cut off funding for the operation. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Saturday that he would introduce such a measure this week, when the House plans to consider a bill to fund the Pentagon.

That has happened before. In 1973, for instance, after a cease-fire had been agreed to in Vietnam, Congress voted to prohibit money being used to reintroduce troops into Southeast Asia.

In many cases, Congress has been leery about withdrawing money for troops already in harm’s way. That might still be true here, even though U.S. forces are not on the ground in Libya and face relatively little danger in the air.