Francis Rooney: “We have heard a lot of arguments today, and we've had a great debate--a debate we really should have been having over…”

“We have heard a lot of arguments today, and we've had a great debate--a debate we really should have been having over the last hundred days or so, one that could have been spurred on by the administration for coming here and making the arguments as to why we should authorize or should not authorize money for hostilities in Libya. The President had the opportunity to come and make the case to this body, and he chose not to. The War Powers Act is clear. He has violated that law. Some have said it's unconstitutional, but the courts have never weighed in on it, so it is the law of the land, and it's one we have to abide by. But we can send resolution after resolution to the Senate and say that we don't agree, that we don't authorize. In the end, the power that we have is the power of the purse, as Mr. Terry just said, and we have to exercise that power in this House and say that we aren't going to spend money for hostilities in Libya. We heard the mission ``if you want to take out Qadhafi'' or ``if you want to free the Libyan people and give them the liberty they deserve.'' Number one, it was never the mission to begin with to take out Qadhafi. That has somehow morphed over time. We don't even know who the people are we're supposedly setting free.…”