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The Senate will not be voting on a resolution authorizing U.S. military action in Libya, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Tuesday spiked a resolution giving President Obama authority to conduct operations there. The decision comes as an increasing number of Republican senators want the Senate to focus on addressing the nation's debt problems instead.
The Senate was scheduled to vote at 5 p.m. on a procedural motion to take up a resolution authorizing U.S. military operations in Libya for up to a year or sooner if the NATO-led mission ends earlier. But Republican senators, fresh off visiting their constituents, staged a legislative mutiny against it. One GOP aide said as many as 37 Republican senators vowed to vote against the motion.
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"We came back from recess to talk about the debt and the government and those are the most pressing issues right now," the aide said.
Politically, shelving a debate on Libya is advantageous to Republicans. There are divisions within Republicans ranks over Libya that would be exposed if the Senate took up a resolution.