[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   DIRECTING THE PRESIDENT TO REMOVE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM 
                           BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

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                               speech of

                           HON. DOC HASTINGS

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 1998

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my 
reluctant opposition to this resolution, which I believe proposes the 
wrong means of achieving the right end. I opposed the President's 
original decision to deploy our troops in Bosnia because I believed 
that neither the goals of the mission nor the exit strategy was clearly 
defined. Furthermore, I strongly suspected that the Dayton Agreement 
would not easily or permanently resolve the disagreements dividing 
groups in the region, and that the conditions of the Dayton Agreement 
could only be enforced through a long-term U.S. presence. As a result, 
I have voted on numerous occasions to put an end to this seemingly 
endless deployment of troops.
  Unfortunately, my reservations have become reality. A mission 
originally characterized by President Clinton as a temporary 
implementation measure has turned into an open ended mission with U.S. 
troops serving as everything from peacekeepers, to traffic cops, to 
construction workers. For that reason, I have supported efforts in the 
House to fix a date certain for the withdrawal of our forces through 
the use of our Constitutional authority to control funding for such 
missions.
  I must confess that because of my strong desire to see our troops 
returned home I considered supporting H. Con. Res. 227. However, in the 
end I cannot in good conscience endorse a process which I believe to be 
unconstitutional simply to settle a policy difference with this 
President. I have consistently opposed the War Powers Act as contrary 
to the intent of the framers of the Constitution, who reserved 
leadership in foreign policy to the Presidency.
  I have always viewed the War Powers Act, enacted in 1973, as a 
partisan gimmick devised and used by liberal Democratic Congresses 
seeking to tie the hands of Republican presidents with whom they 
disagreed. To change my position now that we have a Congress controlled 
by Republicans in order to score points against Bill Clinton would be 
politically opportune, but counter to my basic opposition to the War 
Powers Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject the unconstitutional 
mechanisms of the War Powers Act and defeat this resolution. Instead, I 
encourage my colleagues to vote their consciences on the Bosnia issue 
when we consider the President's request for additional funding to 
continue this deployment. Let us bring our troops home in an orderly, 
but timely manner. I have voted to do so before and I will do so again, 
but not in a way that I believe does such great damage to the doctrine 
of separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.

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