[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13934-H13935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESIDENT SHOULD SEEK SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES 
             BEFORE SENDING UNITED STATES TROOPS TO BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Funderburk] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FUNDERBURK. Mr. Speaker, as thousands of American soldiers 
prepare to depart for a cold winter in Bosnia, two things are lacking 
in the White House's preparation for its plunge into the Balkan 
nightmare; an appreciation for the Constitution of the United States 
and the unique relationship which exists between constitutional 
government and the American military.
  Mr. Speaker, the Founders did not haphazardly assign responsibility 
for placing American soldiers in the line of fire. Most of these men 
were veterans of either the French and Indian War or the Revolution or 
both. They are determined never to commit the Army and Navy without the 
full backing and faith of the American people. As Alexander Hamilton 
implied in the Federalist Papers, the military of the new United States 
was to be an instrument of the people and not of the Government.
  The Founders understood that before Americans are committed to 
battle, the Commander in Chief must have the backing of the people, the 
people's representatives, and the military itself.
  A few years ago, former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger laid 
out a six point plan designed to thwart the ambitions of any President 
who might attempt to reserve for himself military powers which the 
Constitution places clearly with the people and the people's 
representatives. The fifth of Weinberger's six points was that: ``* * * 
before the United States commits combat forces abroad, there must be 
some reasonable assurance that we will have the support of the American 
people and their elected Representatives in the Congress.''
  The distinguished military historian Col. Harry Summers notes that 
Weinberger's theory was not new. It is clearly found in the writings of 
James Madison. Madison, as Summers notes, clearly believed that there 
was a moral imperative that those Americans whose sons' lives are put 
in danger ``must clearly have a say in their deployment.''
  Article I, section 8 of the Constitution gives to the Congress the 
power to provide and pay for the common defense. Constitutionally, the 
President 

[[Page H 13935]]
can do absolutely nothing unless the Congress appropriates the money 
for the military's use. It was precisely that restraint on the 
warmaking power which forced Bill Clinton to abandon his disastrous 
adventure in Somalia.
  Mr. Speaker, coming to Congress after a decision has been made to 
engage in full scale military operations abroad is an affront to the 
Constitution and a threat to our soldiers. I don't care what Bill 
Clinton pollsters tell him. The momentous issue of war and peace is too 
dangerous to be left to one publicity hungry chief executive.
  To paraphrase a great military mind, ``Bosnia is the wrong war, in 
the wrong place, at the wrong time.'' Bill Clinton, who spent his 
college and Oxford years tearing down the American military and damning 
his country overseas obviously learned nothing from his experiences 
during Vietnam. It is long past time that he read the simple but 
powerful words of the Constitution. He must either get the people on 
his side or pull out now.

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