Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the White House had violated the Constitution by engaging the United States in a “third war” and called President Obama a “hypocritical version” of candidate Obama.

In a floor speech Wednesday, Paul introduced a motion to the Senate that would condemn Obama’s decision to attack military installations controlled by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi without authorization from the Congress.

Members of the House on Wednesday night briefly debated legislation aimed at reversing a court decision that said pesticide use is regulated by the Clean Water Act in addition to a federal pesticide law. But a vote on the measure is postponed until Thursday.

The bill, H.R. 872, would ensure that certain pesticides could be used without having to seek a Clean Water Act permit, as the court required.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday spoke out against an amendment to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. She said that Republicans and “friends of the polluters” want to “stop the EPA in its tracks.”

“This is essentially a repeal of the Clean Air Act as it pertains to one particularly pollutant — carbon — that is a danger to the American people and dangerous to the health of our families,” said Boxer.

“Guess what?” asked Boxer. “The friends of these polluters have decided they are going to stop the EPA in its tracks.”

Boxer accused senators who opposed the EPA’s regulation of carbon emissions of putting on “white coats” and playing scientist.

Boxer also displayed two placards of children using assisted breathing devices and asked Republicans if they wanted to make the problem worse.

“Look at this picture, she is gasping for air,” said Boxer. “I urge my Republican colleagues to look at this.”

An Republican amendment to the small business bill would ban the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that a breakthrough had been reached on that and other amendments that had been holding up the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said there has been a major breakthrough on controversial amendments that are holding up the small-business bill. Up to 10 votes on amendments could be scheduled for Thursday afternoon, Reid said on Wednesday.

Known for choking up, the House Speaker called the school-choice program, cut in 2009, part of "the American way."

President Obama's decision to intervene in Libya was based on a "multilateralist fantasy" rather than on any humanitarian impulse, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said Wednesday on the Senate floor.

“The president’s address made it clear to me that our military action in Libya is less about humanitarianism and more about realizing a multilateralist fantasy,” Ensign said.

Multilateralism is a term applied in international relations to describe missions undertaken by multiple nations.

Ensign said Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton mislead the American people by suggesting the Senate had approved President Obama’s decision to attack forces controlled by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

“The United States Senate called for a no-fly zone in a resolution that it passed, I think, on March the 1st, and that mission is on the brink of having been accomplished,” said Clinton on March 27 on ABC’s This Week. “There was a lot of congressional support to do something.”

Clinton was referring to Senate Resolution 85 “strongly condemning the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Libya.” Ensign, however, said Clinton exaggerated the significance of that resolution.

“While secretary Clinton has continued to refer to Senate Resolution 85 as a Senate endorsement of the president’s establishment of a no-fly zone, I would like point out to the American people that her talking point is very misleading,” Ensign said.

“This issue was hot-lined and there was no debate allowed on the issue,” continued Ensign. “Senate Resolution 85 describe a no-fly zone as a possible action for the United Nations’s Security Counsel to consider, but it did not instruct he U.S. ambassador to the U.N. to take action or let alone authorize military operations.”

Ensign pointed out that the resolution had passed the Senate by the same procedure used to name a post office building.

House Democrats on Wednesday sought to downplay a Republican bill to reinstate a school choice voucher program in Washington, D.C., and instead pushed to take up a bill that would address what they call China's unfair currency manipulation, in order to boost US job creation.

The House began debate on the rule for the voucher bill, H.R. 471, shortly after noon. The bill, from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is controversial because its support for charter schools is not supported by teachers unions, and thus many Democrats.

In opposing the bill, Democrats on Wednesday said time in the House would be better spent shoring up U.S. jobs and said they would try to change the rule so a China currency bill, H.R. 639, would be made the next order of business.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on Thursday will address what he called the Obama administration's "Libyan war" in a one-hour presentation on the House floor.

"We are in the midst of a foreign policy and constitutional crisis," Kucinich said Wednesday. "The administration has committed our nation to a war against Libya in violation of the Constitution of the United States."

He also noted a New York Times story that said the Libyan opposition may have ties to Al Qaeda, and that the US is considering arming these forces.

Kucinich said his Thursday "response" to the military action would be "in the form of facts and questions," and said the administration has "subverted Congress and the United States Constitution."

"Congress must challenge violations of our constitutional principles related to war and peace," he said. "The critical issue today is not the defense of Libyan democracy, but the defense of American democracy."

Rep. Marcy Kaptur accused President Obama of waiting for Congress to go into recess to deploy U.S. forces in Libya.