Obama renews emergency that first targeted Gadhafi

WASHINGTON — Four years ago this week, President Obama declared a state of national emergency to impose sanctions on the Libyan regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi died six months later. The state of emergency remains.

Obama informed Congress on Monday that he was extending that emergency for a year under the National Emergencies Act. It's one of 30 ongoing states of national emergency declared by presidents beginning with Carter, and it's an example of how the emergencies linger long after the initial crisis fades — often evolving into new crises.

Most often, presidents use their emergency powers as a legal device to impose economic sanctions. Because Congress has allowed the Export Administration Act to lapse, the only way to impose those sanctions is through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — but that requires a declaration of emergency.

The law requires Congress to review those emergencies every six months. Those reviews have never happened, effectively giving the president unchecked power to continue the emergencies.

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President Reagan declared an emergency with respect to Libya's weapons of mass destruction in 1986, but President George W. Bush lifted it in 2004. Days after the Arab Spring protests in Benghazi in February 2011, President Obama declared a new state of national emergency for Libya via Executive Order 13566.

That order declared that "Colonel Muammar Qadhafi, his government, and close associates have taken extreme measures against the people of Libya, including by using weapons of war, mercenaries, and wanton violence against unarmed civilians."

Last year, Obama extended the emergency by a year but hinted it could be the last extension. "We are in the process of winding down the sanctions in response to developments in Libya, including the fall of Qadhafi and his government and the establishment of a democratically elected government," Obama said in a message to Congress.

Monday, Obama said conditions have deteriorated. "The violence that has spread throughout the country, resulting in the evacuation and temporary relocation of U.S. Embassy personnel, demonstrates the continued insecurity and threat to regional stability caused by the ongoing conflict in Libya," Obama said in extending the emergency. "While we work with the international community to identify those individuals who pose a threat to Libya's democratic transition, we must also continue to ensure that the appropriate sanctions remain in place,"

As of Monday, there were 137 names of people and entities — including Gadhafi's — whose assets were blocked by Libya-related sanctions, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

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