Rep. Amash predicts House GOP won't allow vote on military action in Libya

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Friday predicted that House Republican leaders would not allow a vote to be held on whether the U.S. military should be allowed to continue operations in Libya.

In an editorial in the The Detroit News, Amash noted that he has introduced a bill requiring the Obama administration to get congressional approval, but gave his bill little chance of passing.

"[I]t's unlikely that congressional leadership will permit a vote on it," he wrote. "The status quo provides cover for Congress, by allowing the people's representatives to complain about the president's actions without committing to a position for or against the war."

Amash noted that the War Powers Act (WPA) lets the president commit troops for up to 60 days without permission from Congress, and said the administration would be in violation of the WPA if congressional authorization is not granted after Friday. But he also argued that the WPA only allows troop commitments for reasons related to self-defense, which he said means the WPA was never a legal justification for the U.S. military's participation in Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya.

"In fact, the administration has been violating the WPR from the moment the first bomb dropped on Libya," he wrote.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday that will allow various members of Congress to offer their views on whether Congress needs to accept, reject or condition further military involvement in Libya.