[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10143-S10144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CALLING FOR THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT CLINTON

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to address a subject that 
is both extraordinarily difficult and painful. In times of 
international turmoil, the Nation should rally behind our leaders, and 
we are in the midst of such times. But President Clinton's abdication 
of the duties of leadership has made this impossible. The report of the 
independent counsel is now under seal. When its contents are released 
to the Members of Congress, questions of criminal wrongdoing will 
unavoidably dominate this branch of government.
  The Congress must determine whether the President will be impeached. 
I will not prejudge that question. As a Member of the body that will 
deliberate on this issue, I believe it is important to have access to 
all the evidence before reaching a conclusion on the issue of 
impeachment. Rather, I rise today to respectfully ask President Clinton 
to do the right thing for our country and resign from his office 
voluntarily.
  There are three reasons why I believe this has become necessary at 
this point in time.
  First, the President's conduct has all but destroyed his ability to 
lead as head of state and Commander in Chief.
  Second, the President's actions have been corrosive to our national 
character and have debased the Office of the Presidency.
  Third, President Clinton should spare our Nation the debilitating 
spectacle of impeachment hearings.
  Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed the disastrous 
consequences abroad of diminished American leadership. There are some 
who have said that the President's conduct is purely a private matter. 
They are wrong. Private actions have public consequences. They do for 
all of us, but especially the President of the United States. In all of 
governance, but with foreign policy in particular, credibility is 
everything. Weakness is provocative; deceit can be deadly. When 
American foreign policy is unpredictable, our allies are unreliable, 
and tyrants are emboldened. These hypothetical dangers have become 
tragic realities.

  Yesterday afternoon, I chaired a hearing on U.S. foreign policy in 
Iraq, for instance, and we heard from Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.N. 
Special Representative; James Woolsey, former CIA Director; and 
Lawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State. What we heard was 
deeply distressing. It appears that the President's policy toward Iraq 
consists of paying lipservice to the importance of comprehensive and 
unrestricted weapons inspections and then preventing the arms 
inspectors from carrying out their mission.

[[Page S10144]]

  Such abdication of leadership leaves Saddam Hussein free to build 
weapons of mass destruction, thus jeopardizing the security of our 
troops, our allies in the region, and ultimately the United States 
itself. Nor is Iraq the only nation that has thumbed its nose at a 
weakened United States.
  Around the world, rogue nations are violating fundamental human 
rights, waging wars of aggression, and flouting international treaties. 
Our ability to deter these acts has been sadly compromised by an 
absence of leadership, a total lack of credibility. Enemies of our 
values and interests have judged the President's ability to lead the 
United States and have found it wanting. As a result, the world is a 
much more dangerous place.
  Second, the President's actions have squandered his moral authority 
to lead at home. The problems of family breakdown and moral decay are 
the most significant that we face. Just one comes glaringly out into 
mind: that nearly 30 percent of our children born in this country are 
born to single moms, many of whom are teenagers having children.
  Can the President, with the problems he has today, lead our fight in 
that area? The President cannot address these problems when he himself 
has contributed to the decay. One of the privileges and obligations of 
high office is to act as a role model for children. We need our 
President to set an example to be admired, not to be avoided. The 
President's ongoing adultery with an intern of barely legal age, misuse 
of the Oval Office, and repeated lies from he and his staff have done 
enormous damage to the body politic. Unfortunately, at the very time 
when most need strength, focused resolve, and moral leadership from our 
President, he has been unable to supply it. We live in a volatile world 
with very real dangers and very difficult problems. We cannot afford to 
let these dangers go unnoticed and problems unresolved by a President 
unable to lead.
  I say all of this with great respect and with deep regret. President 
Clinton is a talented man who believes in America and has spent his 
life serving others.
  Yet his immoral indiscretion, and months of lies to the Nation have 
tarnished his leadership ability beyond repair. None of us are without 
sin. But the high call of leadership demands a certain moral authority 
that by the President's own actions is now lost.
  There is a final point to be made. Very soon the contents of the 
independent counsel's report will be made known publicly. The contents 
of this report will result in impeachment proceedings. Such hearings 
will surely take a heavy toll on the function of our government, on the 
trust invested in our civic institutions, and on the American people 
themselves. President Clinton could spare us this ordeal. He could 
quickly and decisively enable our Nation to put this sorry chapter in 
our history behind us and to move on. But at this point there is only 
one way for him to do that. Sadly and reluctantly, I have concluded 
that the only way for us to move forward as a Nation is for the 
President to resign.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. 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. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak on the issue of campaign finance reform, and that I be 
allowed to complete my statement even if it runs into the period 
designated for the campaign finance reform discussion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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