[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 135 (Thursday, October 1, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9193-H9194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  MILITARY ACTION AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA REQUIRES AUTHORITY FROM CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard news of horrible 
massacres of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces in Kosovo: women, 
children, the elderly all shot in cold blood. The same reports say that 
these massacres may now spur NATO to take military action.
  As terrible as these events are, I want to remind my colleagues that 
under our Constitution, Congress has the responsibility to decide 
whether

[[Page H9194]]

America goes to war, even a limited war. It may well be that if this 
body voted on military action against Yugoslavia, we would support it 
overwhelmingly.
  But there is no doubt in my mind that attacks by U.S. forces, whether 
under NATO or not, against a sovereign nation, even if it is 
Milosevic's Yugoslavia, constitute an act of war. Actions NATO may 
decide to take with absolutely no congressional involvement could lead 
to an expensive, perhaps lengthy involvement which, most importantly, 
puts American lives at risk.
  There are legitimate policy questions Congress should ask about the 
kind of military involvement NATO is contemplating. Would air strikes 
do any good? Against what kind of targets? If air strikes do not make 
Milosevic stop, are we willing to send in ground forces in a shooting 
war into the mountains of Kosovo?
  We may be over the Vietnam syndrome, but that conflict, in which I 
served, should remind us of one critical lesson for any military 
involvement: that we should secure the Nation's understanding and 
support before major military action is taken. That is what military 
officers learned from Vietnam, and that support is best assured when 
Congress debates and votes.
  The framers of the Constitution vested the war power in Congress for 
very good reason: Both as a check against precipitous action by a 
President and as a way to be sure that the American people, through 
their elected representatives, have been consulted before the Nation 
goes to war.
  The framers placed the war power in Congress because they saw it as 
an essential part of our democracy, reflecting the fact that it is the 
people's lives and funds that are put at risk. They expressly rejected 
the idea that this kind of power should be entrusted to a single 
individual, the President.
  Some people object that the Constitution is inconvenient in this 
respect, that there is something wrong with taking the relatively small 
amount of time that would be needed to secure Congress' approval. The 
situation in Kosovo has been worsening for months. The President has 
had plenty of time to seek authorization from Congress for military 
action, and he still has time to do so.
  Our participation in NATO does not supersede Congress' role in 
deciding about war. In fact, Congress conditioned U.S. participation in 
NATO on the requirement that it retain its constitutional prerogatives. 
This point was underscored by then Secretary of State Dean Acheson at 
the time the North Atlantic Treaty was ratified, who said,

       The treaty does not mean that the United States would 
     automatically be at war, even if one of the other signatory 
     nations were the victim of an armed attack. Under our 
     Constitution, the Congress alone has the power to declare 
     war.

  Congress' war power is one of its most important and most basic 
responsibilities. The American people have a right to expect Congress 
to do its job. As my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Campbell), mentioned a few minutes ago, he and I have drafted a letter 
to our colleagues urging signature on a letter to the President of the 
United States that the President respect that exclusive power in 
Congress and have the authority of Congress before military action may 
be taken against Yugoslavia.

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