House defeats Libya war resolution

WASHINGTON -- The House last week turned back a call for President Barack Obama to halt U.S. involvement in military action against Libya.

Lawmakers voted 148-265 to kill a resolution that demanded that all U.S. forces be withdrawn from the Mediterranean within 15 days. The U.S. military and those from NATO countries have been conducting airstrikes since March to help rebels battling forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, an anti-war lawmaker who sponsored the resolution, argued Obama was in violation of the War Powers Act. It requires the president to seek permission from Congress within 60 days to keep U.S. forces engaged in hostilities.

Opponents said sudden U.S. pullout would abandon NATO allies who took on more responsibilities after initial U.S. leadership of the operation. Others argued the United States was right to take a side against Gadhafi, who had threatened to kill civilians in a bid to retain power. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Joe Heck, R-Nev., voted against the Kucinich resolution.

The Kucinich amendment was scheduled for a vote earlier in the week but it was set aside temporarily for House Republican leaders to devise an alternative that would allow lawmakers to express their unhappiness with the Libyan operation but short of demanding the United States pull out immediately.

The scaled-back resolution, introduced by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, passed 268-145. It scolds Obama for failing to provide a "compelling rationale" for U.S. involvement, and called on the president to provide details of the mission and its costs within 14 days.

Boehner said the resolution put Obama "on notice." Opponents said it did not go far enough. Heck voted for the Boehner resolution. Berkley voted against it.

Some Democrats voted against both resolutions, arguing neither one would be helpful to U.S. relations with NATO allies.

Homeland security grants debated

In a showdown between the biggest cities and smaller ones, the little guys prevailed when the U.S. House debated homeland security grants.

The House voted 273-150 to scrap part of a homeland security spending bill that would limit a high-profile category of Urban Areas Security Initiative grants to 10 "most threatened" cities that have tended to be the biggest ones such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Lawmakers from smaller cities argued the limit was arbitrary and unfair. They noted that documents captured in the killing of Osama bin Laden indicated al-Qaida believed attacks on medium-sized U.S. communities could be fruitful to its cause.

In defense of shrinking the program, Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said the change was "borne out of the need for reform that puts scarce dollars where they are needed the most."

But Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Milwaukee, said, "We might as well fax al-Qaida the list of cities that will be losing funding."

Berkley and Heck voted against the 10-city limit.

Representatives of smaller cities also sought to boost funding that had been cut from the UASI program. An amendment by Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., would have restored $337 million to the department's 2012 budget bill.

But House leaders objected. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., chairman of the homeland security subcommittee, said the cuts "will not be easy, but they are long overdue and necessary to address our out-of-control federal spending."

Opponents also objected that money for the cities would be offset by cuts in border security programs.

The Cicilline amendment was killed, 154-266. Berkley voted for it. Heck voted against it.

'Clean' debt limit bill defeated

In a test vote, the House decided 97-318 to reject a bill that would have increased the government's borrowing authority by $2.4 trillion.

The vote was engineered by Republican leaders to send a message that any effort to raise the so-called "debt ceiling" will not pass without accompanying spending cuts or changes in tax law to raise revenues.

Congress faces a deadline to increase the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit that the Treasury Department says will be reached sometime this summer. Failure to do so would lead to government defaults.

But Democrats and Republicans so far have been unable to compromise on how a debt bill should be written.

Some Democrats have argued it should be "clean," without spending cuts or other changes.

Republicans said the test vote demonstrated a clean debt limit bill is a nonstarter.

Heck and Berkley voted against raising the debt limit.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.