Wendy Sherman: “This bill defunds Libya unless authorized specifically by law. If it passes, long before it's passed by the Senate, the…”

“This bill defunds Libya unless authorized specifically by law. If it passes, long before it's passed by the Senate, the President will come to us and ask for authorization, and I, for one, would want to grant limited, conditional authorization. Now we just rejected an authorization provision that was, in effect, all authority and no limitation--at least that's certainly how it would be interpreted by the White House legal counsel given how it was drafted. The House should consider real binding limits and conditions because democracy and rule of law for the people of Libya is important, but democracy and rule of law for the people of the United States is more important. There are those who regret that they cannot offer an amendment to this bill--yes, they can. The motion to recommit will be in order just as soon as we end debate. I know that we've had important resolutions from the Arab League, the U.N., and NATO. Those are not substitutes for Congress. The War Powers Act is the law of the land, and if we don't stand up for it now, when will we? And if this President won't obey it, what President will?”