Congress could resist additional aid to Libya

By Theo Emery, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – After protests erupted in Libya early this year, euphoric hopes for peaceful transition faded as Moammar Khadafy vowed to stay in power, even as his grip on the country steadily slipped over six months of civil war, NATO bombing, and missile strikes from US drones.

The advance of rebel forces into Tripoli and the crumbling of the Khadafy regime have set the stage for the next chapter for the United States and its allies: how to help a country scarred by war and four decades of totalitarian rule set up a government.

Foreign policy experts say the immediate aftermath of an uprising is a crucial moment when support – whether technical or financial -- needs to be extended to the government as it is formed. But such support for Libya could face hurdles in Congress, where many House members have been hostile to US involvement.

Senator John F. Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a supporter of efforts to topple Khadafy, said that technical assistance and training, and not money, will probably be Libya’s greatest need after a new government is in place.

“The immediate aftermath of a revolution is always a very critical time, because revolutions have often been stolen,” Kerry said. “The best way to avoid that is to be supportive of the democratic process and structure that tries to assert itself in the immediate aftermath.”

The Libyan conflict has showed that Congress, and particularly the House of Representatives, has little appetite for new foreign entanglements in addition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The House, where deep partisan divisions have occasionally realigned in unexpected alliances between left and right over foreign policy issues, rejected two authorizations for US involvement in the conflict, including one Kerry authored with John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

The skepticism over foreign assistance has been compounded by the nation’s debt problem, which resulted in a bruising weeks-long battle over spending that brushed up against an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the cap on how much the Treasury could borrow.

Among House members who believe the United States should not expend resources on nation building in Libya is Barney Frank, a Newton Democrat. He said the United States should not bear the burden of nation-building, particularly given Libya’s vast energy resources and frozen overseas assets.

“I don’t see any significant role for America, nor is it our responsibility to make sure it’s a functioning society from the outside, and we come to it with more baggage than anybody else – plus we can’t afford it,” Frank said.

The crux of debate over Libya up until now has been the War Powers Resolution, and whether the Obama administration needed to seek permission from Congress before engaging in Libya and supporting the NATO mission. The ferocity of that constitutional fight, though, could spill over into future debate over aid.

This year’s federal budget includes a $160 million “regional response fund” for aiding nascent democracies in the Middle East and North Africa. The money has already been appropriated, and the administration would likely have to notify Congress if it wanted to use some of those funds for Libya, according to Cole Bockenfeld, the director of advocacy for the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington organization that advocates for democratic reform in that region.

Members of Congress opposed to aid could hinder that process, Bockenfeld said, by seeking delays in committee or putting holds on Senate votes. Such opposition is most likely to come from isolationist members of Congress. Blocking aid, he said, would send a mixed message to the nascent government in Libya.

“It’s a very important piece of the Arab Spring that the United States back up its rhetoric,” he said. “A lot of people are looking to the US to see if they come through and deliver on the promises.”

In addition to Kerry, numerous members of Congress have called for assistance to the new government, McCain, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut among them.

Kerry said he doubts that Congress will be called upon to spend much on Libya, given the country’s wealth and resources, and any financial expenditures will be minimal, he said. ‘“We’re not being called on to fund it,” he said.

If new funding is needed, though, Frank would almost certainly not be alone among Massachusetts Democrats in opposing it. Michael E. Capuano, a Somerville Democrat, said “there’s a significant limit to what we can and should be doing.”

“Is it our responsibility now -- for reasons that I cannot fathom -- to stand up a new government?” he asked. “Be supportive – yes, but how many new nations are we going to build in any one time?”