On the recordJune 24, 2011
I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I stand today in support of this resolution. The world is watching our actions today. The world is asking: What are we going to do? We talk all the time about allowing Europe to take the lead in certain areas, about allowing NATO to take the lead in foreign policy, and they have done that. Now will we today pull the rug out from under them simply because we have a dispute between the legislative and the executive branches? I think the President should have come to this Chamber, too, but he didn't. Yet the wrong thing to do is to pull funding, and the right thing to do is to give him the authorization to go into Libya. A slaughter almost occurred, and we were able to stop it by our presence there. The vote we take in the House today will have implications far beyond our shores and far into the future. Finally, I am reminded of a quote by George Washington, in which he states, ``Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.'' I support this resolution and would urge all my colleagues to do the same. In doing so, we will be supporting the planting of freedom and liberty in the Middle East.
