House defeats both the Libya war authorization and the funding cutoff, failing to enforce the War Powers Resolution

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 123-295 to reject H.J.Res.68, which would have authorized limited U.S. military operations supporting the NATO mission in Libya. The same day, the House also defeated H.R.2278, which would have cut off funding for offensive operations, by a vote of 180-238. The twin defeats marked the first time since the War Powers Resolution that the House formally voted on an ongoing unauthorized military operation — and failed to use either the authorization or the purse-string mechanism to assert control.