Justin Amash: “Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for his…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for his tremendous leadership on this issue. There is a growing bipartisan support for this amendment. It's an amendment that gives us the opportunity to stop this unconstitutional war in Libya. The United States has been at war against Libya for nearly 4 months. We have dropped bombs on Libyan buildings. We have flown sorties over Libyan airspace. It has been reported that we have even targeted Qadhafi himself. We are at war. The Constitution vests Congress with the exclusive power to declare war, the President has not attempted to obtain Congress's authorization for the war, and yet at this moment, as we debate on the House floor, the war continues. Instead of following the Constitution and seeking authorization, the President made strained arguments to justify the continued operation. At first, the operation was supposed to be ``limited,'' as though that undefined term serves as a constitutional escape clause. My constituents certainly would be surprised if Congress established a limited religion, or subjected them to limited cruel and unusual punishment, or quartered soldiers in their houses, but only for a limited time. After that ``limited'' argument ran its course, the President turned to a U.N. Security Council resolution and an invitation from an organization of Arab states to justify our involvement.…”