[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 134 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
105th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 134
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should give
high priority to working with partners in the Americas to address
shared foreign policy and security problems in the Western Hemisphere.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 9, 1997
Mr. Graham (for himself and Mr. Lugar) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should give
high priority to working with partners in the Americas to address
shared foreign policy and security problems in the Western Hemisphere.
Whereas the worldwide democratic revolution has spread throughout the Western
Hemisphere to include democratically elected governments in all
countries but Cuba;
Whereas market economic principles have been adopted by most countries in the
Western Hemisphere, resulting in remarkable economic growth and
substantial increases in international trade and investment;
Whereas the end of the Cold War has opened up opportunities to address country-
specific, regional, and Hemisphere-wide concerns relating to economic
development, political reform, security problems, and other social and
environmental issues in the Americas;
Whereas there are numerous foreign policy and security concerns in the Americas,
including the defense of democracy and free markets, illicit narcotics
trafficking, terrorism, organized criminal activities, immigration
flows, arms control and nonproliferation, environment degradation, and
other regional and Hemisphere-wide issues that can best be addressed by
collaborative, multilateral means;
Whereas the President of the United States announced on August 1, 1997, a
revision of the unilateral policy prohibiting the sale or transfer of
advanced weapons systems to countries of South America, Central America,
and the Caribbean, and the restoration of United States military sales
policy based on a case-by-case basis comparable to other regions of the
world;
Whereas the defense ministers of the Hemisphere meet on a regular basis, as
evidenced by the Defense Ministerial of the Americas held in 1995 and
1996, to address problems of mutual security and to deepen the security
dialogue in the Western Hemisphere; and
Whereas it is in the national security interest of the United States to promote
security and stability with our Hemispheric neighbors by engaging with
them as equal partners to address security-related matters of mutual
concern: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the United States should give high priority to working
with United States partners in the Americas to address shared
foreign policy and security problems in the Western Hemisphere;
(2) the United States should encourage efforts to increase
the transparency of defense planning, military acquisitions,
military exercises, and military deployments as well as other
mutual-confidence and security-building measures in the
Hemisphere in order to strengthen the environment of trust,
confidence, and mutual restraint;
(3) the United States should immediately begin discussions
with United States partners in the Hemisphere on steps that
could lead to a voluntary multilateral restraint regime on the
acquisition of advanced weapons systems in the Hemisphere;
(4) the United States, in consultation with other countries
in the Americas, should explore areas for enhancing cooperation
and collaboration, including the strengthening of existing
inter-American organizations and arrangements, in order to
address shared problems relating to subregional and Hemisphere-
wide foreign policy and security-related issues;
(5) the United States should--
(A) encourage countries in the Hemisphere to
implement the Santiago Declaration on Confidence and
Security-Building Measures (CSBM) resolution adopted by
the Organization of American States (OAS) on November
10, 1995; and
(B) take steps to bring about the implementation of
the resolution on Conventional Arms Transparency and
Confidence Building in the Americas relating to
conventional arms acquisitions adopted by the OAS on
June 5, 1997;
(6) the United States should increase the number of
civilian and military personnel in foreign policy and defense-
related training, education, and exchange programs from and to
eligible countries in the Western Hemisphere and encourage
similar programs between countries in the region;
(7) the United States should conduct an in-depth study of
the roles, requirements, missions, and priorities of the United
States Armed Forces in the Western Hemisphere in the post-Cold
War environment, including recommendations for additional steps
that should be taken to improve Hemispheric security and areas
of possible cooperation with the armed forces of other
countries in the region;
(8) the study should be completed within 12 months of the
date of adoption of this resolution, and the appropriate
committees of Congress should be notified of the findings of
the study upon its completion; and
(9) the President should submit a report to Congress every
90 days on progress towards achieving the policy goals stated
in this resolution.
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