Members of Congress in the last few days have introduced several bills related to Libya and the War Powers Resolution, as the House is expected to vote Friday on resolutions to authorize and defund the Libya operation.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and several others introduced their authorization resolution Wednesday, and the House on Friday is expected to vote on an identical measure. However, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted on Wednesday that the House would not support that language.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Thursday morning said he is not qualified to assess whether it makes tactical sense to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, and implied that others in Congress are equally unqualified due to the lack of information from the Obama administration.

"I don't yet know what's going on tactically on the ground," King said in a C-SPAN interview Thursday morning.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and then at noon to continue legislative work, which includes work on H.R. 1246, the America Invents Act.

Members on Thursday debated one of 15 amendments to the bill, which would substantially reform U.S. patent law. The remaining 14 are expected to be debated and voted on today.

Key House Democrats late Wednesday night said they have serious reservations about a patent reform bill

House members on Wednesday night engaged in a rare debate over the constitutionality of proposed legislation, one that split the usual party alliances and revealed a surprising array of differences over how to interpret the Constitution.

Members began debate on H.R. 1249, a bill that would mark the first major overhaul of U.S. patent laws in several decades. Because of numerous concerns over the constitutionality of the main piece of the bill, members agreed to hold a separate debate on this issue before starting general debate on the bill.

The Senate on Thursday will resume consideration of S. 679, a bill to streamline the presidential appointment process, and is expected to vote around noon on amendments offered by Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Jim DeMint (R-SC).

The House on Wednesday night approved H.R. 2021, which would make it easier to obtain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drilling permits by requiring permitting decisions to be made within six months and easing certain environmental standards.

The bill was approved in a 253-166 vote in which 23 Democrats joined all but two Republicans.

The House Wednesday evening rejected all 10 Democratic amendments that were offered to legislation aimed at easing the offshore oil and gas drilling permitting process at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The bill, H.R. 2021, speeds up the timeframe for making decisions on permit applications and makes several changes that ease the environmental standards associated with offshore drilling. Democrats tried to attack most of the main elements of the bill, but each failed:

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) offered an amendment to S. 679 Wednesday preserving Senate confirmation for federal chief financial officers.

Portman, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, called it "unwise" and a "big mistake" to eliminate the chamber's advise-and-consent role with respect to major departmental CFO positions during a time of fiscal hardship.