Kucinich and Amash Work to End Libyan War

Vote on Bipartisan Amendment Expected Thursday Morning

Washington D.C. (July 6, 2011) – A bipartisan amendment to end the war in Libya, cosponsored by Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Justin Amash (R-MI), Tim Johnson (R-IL), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Richard Nugent (R-FL), is expected to be debated tonight or tomorrow. The vote is likely to happen Thursday. The amendment is expected to come up towards the end of consideration of amendments to the FY 2012 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 2219.

Congressman Kucinich today took to the House floor to encourage his colleagues to vote to end cut off funds and end the war in Libya. See the video here. The full text of his remarks follows:

“Within the next 24 hours the House will have the opportunity to end U.S. military involvement in Libya, and we should do so for the following reasons:

“First, the war is illegal under the United States Constitution and our War Powers Act because only the U.S. Congress has the authority to declare war and the President has been unable to show that the U.S. faced an imminent threat from Libya. The President even ignored his top legal advisors at the Pentagon and the Department of Justice who insisted that he needed Congressional approval before bombing Libya.

“Second, the war has reached a stalemate and is unwinnable without the deployment of NATO ground troops, effectively an invasion of Libya. The whole operation was terribly ill-considered from the beginning. While NATO supports the Benghazi-based opposition, situated in the oil-rich Northeast, there is little evidence that the opposition has the support of the majority of Libyans. The leading opposition group, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (which had reportedly been backed by the CIA in the 1980s) should never have launched an armed civil war against the government if they had no chance absent a massive NATO air campaign and the introduction of NATO troops.

“It's time to put an end to this war. Vote to cut off funds.”

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