[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.
                                 <all>