CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
July 5, 2011 – 9:12 p.m.
Next for Libya Debate: House Spending Bill
By John M. Donnelly and Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
The congressional debate on the U.S. role in Libya is moving back to the House after Senate Republicans effectively blocked action in that chamber to make a point about the budget standoff.
The measure (
Members of both parties have drafted amendments to the fiscal 2012 Defense spending bill (
The bill contains no funds for the action in Libya, but the administration would be able to redirect some of the money.
The House debated the U.S. role in Libya two weeks ago, defeating on a 180-238 vote a measure (
Senate Sets Libya Aside
Senate Democratic leaders pulled the plug on this week’s planned debate on Libya, even though the resolution authorizing intervention appeared to have majority support. Majority Leader
Some Republican senators — notably
“We need to be talking about the debt limit,” said
Democrats expressed doubts about the Republican argument that the urgency of the debt limit debate means that it should trump consideration of the Libya measure this week. “Look, I think the talks on the debt limit go on behind the scenes until there’s some agreement anyway. So I don’t really buy that,” said Intelligence Chairwoman
Next for Libya Debate: House Spending Bill
But as a fallback for this week, Reid set the stage for a test vote on a nonbinding measure (
Next Week’s Agenda
Both Democratic and Republican aides said they expect the Libya resolution to reach the Senate floor sometime next week.
“It’s not a big deal. If we talk about the budget, that’s fine by me,” Kerry said. “I feel it will come back pretty quickly.”
Even opponents of the Libya resolution conceded that it likely has enough support to eventually win Senate passage.
“I can sort of read the tea leaves as to the way things are going,” Corker said last week. It is likely, he said, that the resolution has “been watered down enough that it gets passed.”
Corker was one of five Republicans who opposed the resolution when it was approved, 14-5, by the Foreign Relations Committee last week. Four other committee Republicans backed the measure.
Indeed, with a bipartisan roster of senior senators cosponsoring the resolution — including Feinstein and Minority Whip
That has not deterred some critics of the White House policy on Libya, who continue to weigh their options for amending the resolution when it hits the floor.
Corker said last week that he was considering offering additional amendments on the floor, after successfully pushing several in committee. But he expressed doubt that it would be worth the effort.
“There’s nothing that the United States Senate is going to do next week or the week after that’s going to affect what’s happening in Libya in any way whatsoever,” he said.
Next for Libya Debate: House Spending Bill
Alan K. Ota, Joanna Anderson, Melissa Attias and Jonathan Broder contributed to this story.