The House refuses to vote President Barack Obama the ability for U.S. military operations against Libya on Friday but stopped short of cutting off money for the mission, a mixed message reminiscent of congressional disquiet on Vietnam and more recent wars.
In a repudiation of the commander in chief, the House voted overwhelmingly touching a resolution that would have favored letting the task continue for one year while barring U.S. ground forces, a decision the president said he would welcome.The vote was 295-123, with 70 Democrats abandoning Obama one day behind Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had completed a last-minute plea in a Capitol Hill meeting.
But shortly after that vote, the House turned back a Republican-led effort to cut off currency for military hostilities in the Libyan war. The vote was 238-180. The funding compute would have barred drone attack and airstrikes but allowed the United States to carry on actions in support of NATO.
