It has been almost twelve years since Muammar Qadhafi, the deposed leader of Libya was killed, but an emergency declaration from 2011 citing him as a threat has remained on the books.
This week, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar introduced legislation terminating the national emergency related to Libya declared by President Obama on February 25, 2011, in Executive Order 13566.
The National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA) provides the President of the United States the authority to declare a national emergency. Under this law, the President can utilize 148 temporary tyrannical powers only meant for times of actual emergency.
Section 202 of the NEA (50 USC 1622) mandates that Congress must consider a joint resolution to terminate a national emergency no later than six months after it’s declared, and within every six months after that. Under the NEA, resolutions terminating national emergencies are subject to expedited procedures.
Gosar says that in addition to required Congressional review, President Joe Biden has failed to provide Congress with periodic national emergency expenditure reports as required by 50 USC 1641(c).
“There are currently 41 extended national emergencies that are subject to periodic Congressional review and periodic presidential reporting requirements including the declaration related to Libya that is more than a decade old,” said Gosar.
“The National Emergencies Act mandates Congress consider joint resolutions terminating national emergencies every six months, yet Congress has never, not even once, reviewed the legitimacy of the national emergency related to Libya since its declaration by President Obama in 2011,” explained Gosar. “Almost hilariously, the extended national emergency related to Libya continues to cite Muammar Qadhafi as the reason for the declaration, even though Qadhafi has been dead for almost 12 years. You can’t make this stuff up.”
Gosar argues that not since 2011 “has Libya posed a military or economic threat to the United States. The people of Libya deserve to live in a manner of their choosing without the prospect of U.S. bombings, attacks or color revolutions thrust upon them by corrupt and misguided American agencies – none of whom are acting with Congressional approval.”
The emergency declaration claims, “The situation in Libya continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and measures are needed to protect against the diversion of assets or other abuses by members of Qadhafi’s family, their associates, and other persons hindering Libyan national reconciliation.”
Gosar believes that statement has no basis in fact, and the “true situation is that no group or person in Libya currently poses a threat to our national security. Furthermore, even if there was some hostility, none of it rises to the level of an “unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy.”
“My legislation terminates this national emergency declaration related to Libya, restores dignity and due process to the people of Libya, and restores the required congressional role over the power of the purse, sanctions, and termination of never-ending national emergency declarations,” concluded Congressman Gosar.