Congress Must Vote on Libya, June 18 2011

Kase Wickman
Raw Story
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) said that congressional approval would be needed to authorize continued U.S. military intervention in Libya.

“The War Powers Act should be enforced,” Franken told Talking Points Memo after giving a speech at Netroots Nation in his home state of Minnesota. “We’re going to have to vote.”

Friday, it was reported that President Barack Obama had overruled two of his senior lawyers, who said that he would need congressional approval under the War Powers Act to take action in Libya.

Last week, a bipartisan group of House members filed a lawsuit against Obama for what they saw as a violation of the act.

Franken said that though U.S. involvement is limited, it’s still enough that it should have been voted on by Congress.

“I disagree with his take on it,” he said. “I understand what his take is, which is that we don’t have any troops on the ground, we are — you know, whatever it is, I don’t agree with it.”