[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 64 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 64

 Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning continued use of the 
   United States Navy training range on the island of Vieques in the 
                      Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 29, 1999

Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Sessions, Mr. 
Hutchinson, and Mr. Kyl) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning continued use of the 
   United States Navy training range on the island of Vieques in the 
                      Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Whereas the success or failure of the Nation's Armed Forces when sent into 
        combat and the risk of loss of life, both to United States military 
        personnel and to civilians, are a direct function of the degree of 
        training received by members of the Armed Forces before combat;
Whereas from World War II through the most recent crisis in Kosovo the Nation's 
        military has been able to meet the call to arms due to training such as 
        that afforded at the United States Navy training range on the island of 
        Vieques in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
Whereas in April 1999, following an accident at that training range that 
        resulted in the death of a Navy civilian employee, training activities 
        at that range were suspended by direction of the Secretary of the Navy 
        pending a safety review;
Whereas officials of the Department of Defense have testified before 
        congressional committees that the Vieques training range is the only 
        range along the Atlantic seaboard that allows critical combined arms 
        live fire training that includes the coordinated use of naval surface 
        fire support training, Navy/Marine amphibious combined arms training, 
        Carrier Battle Group strike training and high altitude tactics, and 
        subsurface training;
Whereas officials of the Department of Defense have testified before 
        congressional committees that the safe conduct of operations on the 
        island of Vieques has been and will remain the primary concern of the 
        Department of the Navy and that the recent death of the civilian Navy 
        employee on the range was the first civilian death on the range since 
        its purchase in 1941;
Whereas the John F. Kennedy carrier battle group, which was unable to continue 
        training at Vieques after the April accident, deployed in September 1999 
        in degraded readiness condition and the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier 
        battle group, which is scheduled to deploy in the spring of 2000, will 
        be forced to deploy in a significantly degraded readiness condition if 
        not allowed to conduct training activities at the Vieques training range 
        before departing on that deployment;
Whereas the suspension of training activities at the Vieques training range has 
        resulted in a loss of critical combat training that is essential to the 
        Nation's Navy and Marine forces; and
Whereas, given that recently deploying Navy and Marine Corps battle groups have 
        been sent directly into combat operations in Kosovo and Iraq, thereby 
        placing service personnel immediately in harm's way, it would be 
        unthinkable to knowingly deploy members of the Armed Forces in the 
        future without this essential training, since to do so would place 
        American lives, including the lives of members of the Armed Forces from 
        Puerto Rico, at high risk: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) calls upon the Secretary of the Navy and the Attorney 
        General of the United States to promptly ensure that the 
        Federal property located at the Vieques training range in the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is safe and secure and, once the 
        range is safe and secure, for the Secretary of the Navy to 
        resume critical live fire training at that range;
            (2) calls upon the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to 
        ensure that United States forces deploy with 100 percent of the 
        combat qualifications needed to meet national security 
        requirements;
            (3) strongly urges the Department of Defense and the 
        Government of Puerto Rico to reestablish a mutually supportive 
        relationship, to resolve the issues between the Department of 
        the Navy and the people of Puerto Rico, and to implement a 
        program that addresses the economic and social needs and safety 
        concerns of the residents of Vieques and the citizens of Puerto 
        Rico; and
            (4) recognizes the significant contribution by the 
        residents of Vieques and the citizens of Puerto Rico to the 
        Nation's defense.
                                 <all>