[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                 HAITI

  Mr. GRAMM. Finally, Mr. President, I want to talk about one 
additional issue.
  I read in the polls that 78 percent of the American people oppose 
invading Haiti.
  During the recess, I was all over my State and I was all over the 
country. In that process, I listened to a lot of people tell me what 
they thought of our work in Washington, DC.
  It was not an A and B report card. A lot of people told me what they 
thought about Haiti, asked me what I thought was going to happen, asked 
me if I could give any justification for invading Haiti. I was able to 
give them a short answer: No.
  I did not run into a single person in the State of Texas or a single 
person in a half dozen other States that I was in during the recess 
that thought that we ought to invade Haiti.
  I remind my colleagues that we have invaded Haiti in the past, and we 
have never found it to be a fulfilling experience. We have never had 
trouble getting into Haiti. We have always had trouble getting out of 
Haiti. The last time we invaded Haiti, we were there for 19 years. I do 
not understand why the President seems determined to invade Haiti. He 
does not have my support in that decision. We have demonstrated 
numerous times that he does not have the support of the U.S. Senate 
but, more importantly, he does not have the support of the American 
people.
  It is always very serious when a President puts Americans in harm's 
way--but it is especially dangerous when he does it knowing that the 
American people do not share his willingness to undertake a mission 
with such high potential cost.
  I know the hour is late on this subject. I know the President has 
made many statements concerning his position. I hope, Mr. President, 
that he will reconsider. Backing down on a possible invasion is a lot 
better than getting Americans killed when our vital national interests 
are not at stake.
  I thank the Chair for his tolerance.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THURMOND. How much time does the Senator want? I yield an 
additional 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina has yielded 5 
minutes to the Senator from Texas.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I want to thank our dear colleague, the 
Senator from South Carolina, for not just his yielding but his 
leadership on this defense bill. I know it represents his best effort. 
I know there is nobody in Congress who is a stronger supporter of 
defense than the distinguished Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. President, I was hurriedly trying to conclude my remarks because 
I saw your gavel about to come down. Let me go back and restate the 
point I want to make.
  For several months the President has been threatening to invade 
Haiti, and in the last few weeks, I think the saber rattling has become 
very loud. We have now gotten down to the moment of truth. I know the 
President has to be considering what he is going to do next since it 
seems clear at this point that what he has demanded the Haitians do, 
they are not going to do.
  I hope that the President, in making his final decision, will look 
not just at the political cost of making a lot of blustery statements 
and rattling the saber without using it. I hope he will weigh that cost 
against the potential loss of American life.
  One of the important things about the gulf war is that we had a 
President who told the American people what national interests were at 
stake. He took the time to explain to the American people what we were 
going to do in the Persian Gulf and why we ought to do it. And then--
ever though he did not have to do it--President Bush came to the 
Congress and had us vote on whether we supported using American troops 
in the Persian Gulf. It was a historic debate, a historic moment, and 
the Congress endorsed the President's policy. We sent troops to the 
Persian Gulf and we liberated Kuwait, and I think all Americans were 
proud.
  My point is, Mr. President, that was the right way to do it. I think 
the way the President is proceeding on Haiti is the wrong way to do it. 
I hope the President will go on television and tell the American people 
what our policy is and what we are going to achieve by putting 
Americans at risk.
  I have to admit that having read everything that I could on the 
subject, I do not know the answer to that question, and my guess is 
most Americans do not.
  I hope the President will come to Congress and ask for our support 
before he makes this decision. I am concerned that if the President 
acts unilaterally, not having the support of the Congress, not having 
the support of the American people, that if things go badly--and I hope 
they do not--that we are going to be right back in the kind of position 
that we have been in the past where the American people do not support 
what the President is undertaking.
  This is very serious business, and I am hopeful that there can yet be 
a solution. There is no doubt that if the President commits American 
troops, that I am going to support any action in Congress to be 
supportive of those troops. But I do believe that this is a mistake. I 
think it is a mistake because we do not have a vital national interest 
at stake in Haiti. I think it is a mistake because the American people 
do not support it. I think it is a mistake because Members of Congress 
of both parties do not support it.
  One of the problems with going around threatening people that you are 
going to do things before you have public support to do them, is you 
end up in the kind of box the President is in today. I hope--I am 
prayerfully hopeful--that  Americans are not going to lose their lives 
as a result of the situation that the President finds himself in and, 
therefore, the Congress finds itself in.

  I thank our distinguished ranking member of the Armed Services 
Committee for yielding me time, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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