[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 108 (Monday, July 28, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5840-H5843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONCERNING THE CRISIS IN CAMBODIA
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 195) concerning the crisis in Cambodia, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 195
Whereas during the 1970s and 1980s Cambodia was wracked by
political conflict, civil war, foreign invasion, protracted
violence, and a genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge from
1975 to 1979;
Whereas the Paris Agreement on a Comprehensive Political
Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict led to the end of 2
decades of civil war and genocide in Cambodia, demonstrated
the commitment of the Cambodian people to democracy and
stability, and established a national constitution
guaranteeing fundamental human rights;
Whereas the 1991 Paris Peace Accords set the stage for a
process of political accommodation, national reconciliation,
and the founding of a state based on democratic principles;
Whereas the international donor community contributed more
than $3,000,000,000 in an effort to secure peace, democracy,
and stability in Cambodia following the Paris Peace Accords
and currently provides over 40 percent of the budget of the
Cambodian Government;
Whereas the Cambodian people clearly demonstrated their
support of democracy when over 93 percent of eligible
Cambodian voters participated in United Nations sponsored
elections in 1993;
Whereas since the 1993 elections, Cambodia has made
significant progress, as evidenced by the decision last month
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to extend
membership to Cambodia;
Whereas notwithstanding the notable societal and economic
progress since the elections of 1993, concern has
increasingly been raised regarding the fragile state of
democracy in Cambodia, in particular the quality of the
judicial system, which has been described in a United Nations
report as thoroughly corrupt; unsolved attacks in 1995 on
officials of the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party; and the
unsolved murders of journalists and political activists;
Whereas tensions within the Cambodian Government have
erupted into violence in recent months;
Whereas on March 30, 1997, 19 Cambodians were killed and
more than 100 were wounded in a grenade attack on a peaceful
political demonstration in Phnom Penh;
Whereas preliminary reports by eyewitnesses and reports in
Phnom Penh to the FBI of witness intimidation indicate that
forces loyal to Hun Sen were involved in the March 30, 1997,
grenade attack;
Whereas in June 1997 fighting erupted in Phnom Penh between
military and paramilitary forces loyal to First Prime
Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister
Hun Sen;
Whereas on July 5, 1997, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen
deposed the First Prime Minister in a violent military coup
d'etat;
Whereas at least several dozen opposition politicians have
died in the custody of Hun Sen's forces, some after being
tortured, and hundreds of others have been detained due to
their political affiliation;
Whereas democracy and stability in Cambodia are threatended
by the continued use of violence to resolve political
differences;
Whereas internal Cambodian Government reports and
investigations by United States drug enforcement agencies
have reported that Hun Sen and his forces have received
millions of dollars in financial and material support from
major international drug dealers; that Hun Sen has publicly
threatened violence against any Cambodian official who
attempts to arrest alleged drug barons Teng Bumma and Mong
Rethy; and in a July 23, 1997, press conference in Cambodia
Teng Bunma admitted to providing $1,000,000 to Hun Sen to
fund the ongoing coup and is providing his personal fleet of
helicopters flown by Russian pilots to ferry Hun Sen's
troops to suppress democratic forces in western Cambodia;
Whereas representatives of the United Nations and the
Government of Thailand estimate at least 30,000 Cambodian
refugees (including wounded civilians and malnourished
children) displaced by the ongoing fighting are massed,
without assistance, in northwest Cambodia near the border of
Thailand;
Whereas the administration has suspended assistance to
Cambodia for 1 month in response to the deteriorating
situation in Cambodia; and
Whereas the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
has decided to delay indefinitely Cambodian membership: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that--
(1) the forcible assault upon the democratically elected
Government of Cambodia is illegal and unacceptable;
(2) the recent events in Cambodia constitute a military
coup against the duly elected democratic Government of
Cambodia;
(3) the authorities in Cambodia should take immediate steps
to halt all extralegal violence and to restore fully civil,
political, and personal liberties to the Cambodian people,
including freedom of the press, speech, and assembly, as well
as the right to a democratically elected government;
(4) the United States should release the report by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning the March 30,
1997, grenade attack in Phnom Penh;
(5) the United States should declassify and release all
reports by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency related
to Cambodia that were compiled between 1994 and the present;
(6) the United States should press the authorities in
Cambodia to investigate fully and impartially all abuses and
extralegal actions that have occurred in Cambodia since July
4, 1997, and to bring to justice all those responsible for
such abuses and extralegal actions;
(7) the administration should immediately invoke section
508 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-208), as it
is required to do;
(8) the United States should urgently request an emergency
meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider
all options to restore peace in Cambodia;
(9) the United States should encourage the Secretary
General of the United Nations to expand the monitoring
operations of the United Nations Special Representative on
Human Rights in Cambodia;
(10) the United States and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) should coordinate efforts to restore
democracy, stability, and the rule of law in Cambodia;
(11) direct United States assistance to the Government of
Cambodia should continue to be suspended until violence ends,
a democratically elected government is reconstituted,
necessary steps have been taken to ensure that the election
scheduled for 1998 takes place in a free and fair manner, the
military is depoliticized, and the judiciary is made
independent;
(12) at least a substantial share of previously
appropriated United States assistance to the Government of
Cambodia should be redirected to provide humanitarian
assistance to refugees and displaced persons in western
Cambodia through nongovernmental agencies or through
Cambodian civilian, political, or military forces that are
opposing the coup; and
(13) the United States should call for an emergency meeting
of the Donors' Consultative Group for Cambodia to encourage
the suspension of assistance as part of a multilateral effort
to encourage respect for democratic processes,
constitutionalism, and the rule of law.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California [Mr. Kim] and the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr.
Faleomavaega] each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Kim].
[Mr. KIM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
General Leave
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on this resolution, House Resolution 195.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the world watched in disbelief as
violence erupted once again in Cambodia. On July 5, Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen and his forces loyal to him ousted the democratically
elected First Prime Minister in a classic coup d'etat.
The chairman of our committee, the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Gilman], together with the ranking minority member, the gentleman from
Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], along with several of their colleagues,
introduced House Resolution 195 to express our deep concern about the
tragic events that have unfolded in Cambodia. On behalf of the
gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], the chairman of the committee,
and I express my appreciation to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr.
Hamilton] as well as to the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter] and
the gentleman from California [Mr. Berman],
[[Page H5841]]
the chairman and ranking Democrat respectively on the Subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific, in seeing that this resolution was able to move
to the floor.
The resolution expresses the sense of the House that the forcible
change of the democratically elected government in Phnom Penh is
illegal and unacceptable. The resolution also urges the administration
to take specific decisive actions to return peace, stability and
democracy to the Cambodian people.
We also call upon the Cambodian authorities from all political
factions to halt the violence and extralegal actions, bring to justice
those people responsible for the reported abuses and restore all
personal and civic freedoms to the Cambodian people.
As the leader of the free world, the United States must take resolute
action whenever and wherever tyranny threatens to destroy democracy.
Cambodia has taken a regrettable, but hopefully temporary turn off the
path to democracy, peace and prosperity. It must not stand idly by
while liberty is threatened in Southeast Asia.
I urge my colleagues to support this timely and most important
resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Gilman], the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and
the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], the Democratic ranking
member, for introducing this timely measure concerning the deplorable
crisis in Cambodia. I also would like to state that I am also an
original cosponsor of this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to join my colleagues of the Subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific, the chairman, the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr.
Bereuter], the gentleman from California [Mr. Berman], the gentleman
from Iowa [Mr. Leach], and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter] as
original cosponsors of this House Resolution 195. Like many of our
colleagues in Congress and those watching around the world, I was
shocked, appalled and saddened by the return to violence in Cambodia, a
small nation still wracked by the scars of the Khmer Rouge genocidal
killings of a million Cambodians and a civil war that raged for 2
decades.
As everyone knows, Mr. Speaker, the co-Prime Minister Mr. Hun Sen has
ousted Prince Ranariddh from Cambodia's government, destroying the
fragile democracy brokered by the 1991 Paris Peace Accords. The Paris
peace plan, backed by the United States, China, the Soviet Union,
Japan, Vietnam, the Asean countries, France, the United Kingdom, India,
Australia and other members of the United Nations was designed to bring
to an end the decades of conflict in Cambodia. Since the Paris
agreement and the U.N. supervised elections in 1993, Cambodia has
enjoyed relative peace and prosperity, with an economy expanding at a
7-percent rate.
During the last 6 years, the international community has invested
more than $3 billion to bring about this peace and stability in
Cambodia. The United States alone has contributed over $300 million,
increasing foreign assistance to Cambodia to $38.4 million in 1997,
with an administration request for $38.6 million for fiscal year 1998.
With the outbreak of violence again in Cambodia where scores of
Cambodians have been killed, hundreds wounded and executions and
torture widely used by Hun Sen's forces, it begs the question, Mr.
Speaker, whether anything has changed in that country and whether the
international community has achieved anything by the massive investment
of time and resources in Cambodia.
Given the serious setbacks to Cambodia's democracy, I support the
administration's freeze of United States assistance to Cambodia and
applaud the cutoff and reduction in aid from Germany and Australia.
As to Japan, Cambodia's top donor of aid, I hope they eventually will
heed our call for the international community to suspend assistance
until the return of law and democratic government in Cambodia. With
foreign aid paying for half of Cambodia's budget, cutting off
assistance sends the strongest and most effective statement of
objection to Hun Sen's military rule in Phnom Penh.
Likewise, the decision of the Asean nations to stop Cambodia's entry
into Asean this month is an appropriate condemnation of Hun Sen's
resort to violence.
I applaud Secretary of State Albright's appointment of Stephen Solarz
as her special envoy to Cambodia and am confident that our former
colleague, a greatly respected Asia-Pacific policy expert, shall work
with Secretary of State Albright and the Asean ministers delegation to
mediate a political solution to Cambodia's crisis.
Mr. Speaker, while I am hopeful that these efforts of the
international community will help in bringing peace and stability back
to Cambodia, ultimately the matter will have to be decided by the
Cambodian people themselves. I would hope that we learned that from our
tragic experience in Vietnam, which resulted from shortsighted United
States foreign policy. In the end it is the will of the people in the
country that will determine whether democracy is to prevail.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to adopt this worthy
legislation before us, which calls for our Nation and the international
community to support efforts leading to the resolution of peace, the
rule of law and the democratic government in Cambodia.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KIM. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman
from California [Ms. Lofgren].
Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution
and thank the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] and the original
cosponsors for introducing this important legislation.
Several months ago a number of Cambodian emigres, now my
constituents, approached me with their concerns about Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen and the fragility of democracy in Cambodia. When I
asked the State Department about this, I was informed that in their
view the allegations that had been brought to my attention against Mr.
Sen were, quote, merely part of the partisan bickering between the
parties. History, I am sad to say, has now proven my constituents
correct, certainly more knowledgeable than those in the State
Department who downplayed the concern.
This resolution makes it clear that the United States will not
tolerate the violence that has hit Cambodia or the anti-democratic
actions of Hun Sen. Mr. Sen's killing spree, directed against those who
would oppose him or who would seek to bring to light his relations with
the narcotic trade, has resulted in the murder of hundreds of
Cambodians.
Last fall I had the privilege of meeting in San Jose, at home, a
number of prominent Cambodian ministers, including the Minister of the
Interior Hou Sok. The Minister of the Interior has now been murdered by
Hun Sen forces because of the reporting that he did linking Sen to drug
lords who are, it is reported, bankrolling the new regime and trying to
turn Cambodia, to quote the Washington Post, into a narco state.
Mr. Speaker, the rampages in the killing fields of Cambodia have gone
on for far too long. We must stand firm to prevent history from
repeating itself yet again. I support the suspension of the assistance
to Mr. Sen's regime, I support the call for the U.N. Security Action to
take some action. I strongly support the calls for justice and
democracy in Cambodia.
For the sake of the Minister of the Interior who has now been
murdered and the others who have already died and for the victims of
torture, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. I hope this
marks merely the first of many actions this Congress will take on this
vital issue. We do know that the Cambodian people love peace and
democracy. We must support their efforts, and we must not tolerate or
entertain the notion that Hun Sen, who is the perpetrator of a coup,
could play a part in democratic Cambodia any more than his predecessor
Pol Pot could do so.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this important
and timely resolution. I would just offer a few thoughts on the very
disturbing recent events in Cambodia.
[[Page H5842]]
First, there should be no doubt the United States and the
international community have important interests at stake in Cambodia.
The United States helped lead the negotiations among the Permanent Five
members of the U.N. Security Council leading up to the Cambodian peace
agreement. We did so in order to create a legitimate and
internationally recognized government, to reduce foreign interference,
advance regional peace and stability, and avert the return to power of
the genocidal Khmer Rouge. It remains in the U.S. interest to see that
those objectives are met.
Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's coup d'etat in Cambodia--and there
can be no doubt this was a coup, a sudden and decisive exercise of
force in politics--and subsequent resort to murder, torture, and
political intimidation has betrayed the hopes for peace and prosperity
by the Cambodian people. It has undermined the interests of the United
States and the broader international community in a politically and
economically stable Cambodia in which fundamental human rights are
respected. It has set back Cambodia's efforts to join ASEAN and
hindered its re-integration into the world community. Vietnam's role,
if any, in this affair may be troubling for regional stability. The
coup also raises the specter of civil war. Tragically, it may also very
well help resuscitate the Khmer Rouge at a moment of maximum peril for
the movement, when it appeared that its collapse was imminent, and that
Pol Pot and other senior leaders--evidently now under house arrest--
might be turned over to an international tribunal for crimes against
humanity.
Hence it is paramount that the United States, ASEAN, Japan, and other
parties to the Paris accords promptly engage in a full court press to
make Hun Sen--and other leaders within the CPP--understand that no
Cambodian Government will not receive significant international support
if it uses political intimidation and violence against its opponents.
Until very recently, I have been less than impressed by the vigor and
determination that the administration has brought to bear on this
issue.
Hun Sen and his colleagues in the CPP, as well as Prince Ranariddh
and his supporters, need to understand that their mutual
miscalculations and zero-sum struggle for political supremacy has
driven a stake in the heart of a Cambodia's economic recovery and
reconstruction.
Prior to the recent deterioration in the political and security
environment, Cambodia's prospects were brighter than at any time in the
last 25 years. But unless the political process created by the Paris
accords is sustained, marcroeconomic instability, inflation, heightened
levels of already widespread corruption, and a substantial decrease in
aid from bilateral donors as well as the international financial
institutions are likely to result. Without foreign external assistance,
foreign investment, or significant revenues from tourism, Cambodia's
already difficult external debt situation will be exacerbated. In
short, the Cambodian economy will be seriously set back. These
consequences need to be very carefully considered by the Hun Sen and
his colleagues in Phnom Penh.
The deteriorating situation in Cambodia has occasioned much criticism
of the U.N. peacekeeping effort in Cambodia. Some of this criticism is
well-founded, but much of it is not. Perhaps the biggest flaw in the
U.N. effort was the failure to assert control over the security
apparatus of Hun Sen in the run up to the election. As to the failure
to disarm the parties, I would remind Members that disarmament and
demobilization did not occur because the Khmer Rouge did not live up to
their obligations. There was no support from any of the countries
providing peacekeeping troops for a U.N. mandate that encompassed
forcible disarmament. There was and is no NATO-like coalition that
could accomplish this task. And while this Member has long favored a
modest U.N. standing force to fulfill some of these objectives, such a
force did not then and does not now exist.
But there is also much to be proud of in what was then an
unprecedented peacekeeping effort. Over 350,000 refugees were
repatriated. Over five million Cambodians were registered to vote.
Despite Khmer Rouge attempts to derail the election, a secret ballot
was held in which the overwhelming majority of Cambodians exercised
their right to vote. In the wake of the election an active opposition
press sprung up, over 100 foreign and indigenous NGO's operated freely
throughout the country, and the once-feared Khmer Rouge gradually
diminished as a military force and began to turn in on itself. Despite
tremendous poverty, and serious human rights and democracy concerns,
there can be no doubt the people of Cambodia were moving forward toward
better days and a better life.
The egregious failure of Cambodia's leaders to pursue the national
interest instead of self-interest, most particularly on the part of Hun
Sen, severely jeopardizes the hopes and dreams of the Cambodian people.
The international community needs to act now to prevent a fait
accompli, to use its very substantial diplomatic and economic leverage
to stave off the total collapse of prospects for a peaceful and
prosperous Cambodia. After 25 years of civil war, genocide, and
national destruction, the people of Cambodia deserve better.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support
for the resolution offered by the gentleman from New York, [Mr. Gilman]
and to urge all Members to give this matter their attention. As an
original cosponsor of House Resolution 195, I am pleased that the House
has moved quickly to consider this resolution and to take a firm and
principled position regarding the violent, anti-democratic coup which
recently took place in Cambodia.
In April of this year, I sent a letter to Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright expressing grave concerns about events that were
going on in Cambodia at that time. A copy of this letter follows these
remarks. Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who gained his position in the
Cambodian Government not through elections but by threatening violence,
appeared to be orchestrating a parliamentary coup by attempting to
split the governing coalition which had won the U.N.-sponsored 1993
elections. This letter followed an earlier one which seven of my
colleagues and I sent to the co-prime ministers after the tragic March
30th grenade attack on Sam Rainsy and the Khmer National Party during a
peaceful demonstration calling for judicial reform. It was my hope that
Secretary Albright would visit Cambodia during her trip to the region
and, in her trademark manner, ``tell it like it is'' when she met with
Hun Sen and First Prime Minister Ranariddh, urging them to renounce
political violence and work together to prepare for democratic
elections in 1998.
Unfortunately, Secretary Albright's trip to Cambodia never happened
and, just days after she had been scheduled to visit, Cambodia again
plunged into armed conflict. This country, which has suffered so much,
went from euphoria over reports that Pol Pot had been captured and
might soon be brought to trial, to the despair of another strongman
taking power through illegitimate means. Cambodia's fragile democracy
was being dismantled by armed thugs and political assassination. While
this is an old story for the people of Cambodia, we had hoped it would
be one that remained in their past.
The United States and the international community have been implicit
in allowing this latest tragedy. In 1993, the royalist-led democratic
coalition decisively won the first elections held in Cambodia, soundly
defeating Hun Sen's formerly communist Cambodian People's Party. These
elections were marked by high voter turnout, despite the deadly
political violence which preceded them. The people of Cambodia spoke
out strongly in favor of democratic self-government, but the
international community denied their aspirations by allowing the loser
of these elections--Hun Sen and the CPP--to threaten and bully its way
into maintaining a large share of power in the new government. I
believe this decision was the root cause of this latest assault on
Cambodian democracy because it sent the message to Hun Sen that we are
not willing to back up democracy in the face of force, and it was just
a matter of time before he could discard with impunity the democratic
structures we were building.
Now, our Government is preparing to make the same mistake again.
Since 1993, we have allowed Hun Sen to build a legacy of intimidation
and corruption, and to strengthen his hold on power, by ignoring
belligerent and anti-democratic tendencies on his part. Our
administration has refused to call Hun Sen's power grab by its proper
name--a coup. They have suspended assistance to Cambodia for 30 days to
sort things out, but have not yet tied resumption of assistance to the
restoration of the legitimate government, as the law would if this had
been declared a coup.
I welcomed Secretary Albright's strong words to ASEAN over the
weekend and I hope that this signals a firm resolve to stand with and
for the people and the democratic forces in Cambodia. That is certainly
the intention of the Congress by passing this resolution today. This
resolution lays out a fair and flexible approach to this difficult
situation by calling for actions which send the right message not only
to Hun Sen, but also to those others who would choose violence and
thuggery over democracy and the rule of law. I want to especially
commend my friend, the chairman of the International Relations
Committee, for including in this resolution a statement concerning the
redirection of assistance away from the Cambodian Government to those
who are in need as a result of this conflict. This is certainly the
least our Government can do after failing the Cambodian people so
miserably up to this point.
I believe that we have a duty to the Cambodian people, perhaps like
no others, as a result of our involvement in so much that has gone
wrong in the recent history of the Cambodian state. We owe the people
of Cambodia
[[Page H5843]]
our moral support and strength. I am hopeful that 1998 will bring free
and fair elections where the Cambodian people can again express their
longing for democracy, freedom, and a brighter future. I am also
hopeful that the international community, led by the United States,
will give them this opportunity and respect their choices by defending
them from the threat of violence, rather than giving in to it.
Congress of the United States,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, April 23, 1997.
Secretary Madeleine Albright,
U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC.
Dear Madeleine: I am writing to express my grave concerns
about recent and emerging events in Cambodia, and to urge
that the United States take all appropriate actions to ensure
that the situation there does not deteriorate further.
It is my understanding that the situation in Phnom Penh is
extremely tense at this time, and that Hun Sen seems to be
attempting to orchestrate some sort of parliamentary coup in
an effort to wrest control of the Cambodian government from
the present coalition. It is also my understanding that
parliamentarians from the FUNCINPEC coalition are currently
in hiding at the home of First Prime Minister H.R.H. Prince
Ranariddh, and that there are credible reports that FUNCINPEC
members have been kidnapped by military units loyal to Hun
Sen.
If accurate, such developments are extremely disturbing,
particularly in light of the recent violent attack on Sam
Rainsy during a Khmer National Party rally. It would appear
that certain parties are refusing to maintain their
commitments to the democratic political process, and thereby
seriously jeopardizing the very future of the Cambodian
nation. I urge the administration in the strongest possible
terms to call on the parties to renounce political violence
and manipulation, and to use peaceful, democratic means to
settle any disputes.
The United States has invested a great deal in the
retrieval of the Cambodian state. Should events continue to
unfold as they are presently doing, our efforts would most
likely be completely lost. We cannot afford, from a financial
or moral perspective, to allow this to happen. I thank you
for your attention to this extremely urgent matter, and I
would appreciate your keeping me apprised of events and U.S.
actions in the wake of this volatile situation.
Sincerely,
John Edward Porter,
Member of Congress.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, so I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California [Mr. Kim] that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 195, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________