John Kerry: “I would say to the Senator from California, first of all, I am very appreciative for her generous comments at the…”

“I would say to the Senator from California, first of all, I am very appreciative for her generous comments at the beginning of this colloquy. I thank her. I thank her for her support and involvement on the committee, which is critical. Secondly, I fully understand and am very sympathetic with the concerns of a lot of Senators, given our engagement in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East, Yemen, Africa, and elsewhere. People are deeply concerned about the question of where we are heading. So I would answer her question very directly with respect to the authorization. Unequivocally, this resolution does not authorize ground troops with respect to Libya operations. There is no affirmative language in this resolution authorizing the use of U.S. ground forces.”