Friday: Debate and vote on two Libya resolutions

The House Rules Committee on Thursday night approved a rule governing how House members on Friday will debate two resolutions related to Libya.

Under the rule, Republicans and Democrats will have one hour to debate a resolution introduced by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), which criticizes the Obama administration for failing to seek congressional authorization for continued operations in Libya.

Forty minutes of this hour will be controlled by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The remaining 20 minutes will be controlled by Reps. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.

Boehner's resolution would require the administration to report to Congress on all the communications it had with members before the decision to help enforce a no-fly zone in Libya in mid-March. The administration would have to produce a detailed report for Congress outlining the goals, expected duration, estimated costs and other information related to the U.S. military presence in Libya.

The rule also calls for one hour of debate on a resolution from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) that would require U.S. troops to withdraw from Libya within 15 days.

Half of that hour will be controlled by Ros-Lehtinen or her designee, and the other half will be controlled by Kucinich.

The House will have to approve the rule for the two resolutions, and after that will move to the resolutions themselves. Boehner's resolution, H.Res. 292, is likely to pass on Friday and might give members cover to vote against the more consequential Kucinich resolution, H.Con.Res. 51.

The House meets at 9 a.m. Friday and is expected to vote on the rule shortly after 10 a.m. Final votes are expected by 3 p.m.