[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 153 (Thursday, December 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H11750-H11752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FURTHER LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

  (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, first, the minority respects the right of 
the majority to decide the agenda and decide when we will vote on 
important matters like the one that is to be before us tomorrow. The 
minority also wants debate and wants as much debate as we can have so 
that Members can express their views on this very important subject. 
The minority also wants this to be completed this year if at all 
possible. We have said that over and over again. I agree with those 
views.
  But I must say that we strongly object to this matter coming up 
tomorrow or the next day or any day in which our young men and women in 
the military are in harm's way protecting the interests of the people 
of the United States.
  I would simply say the reason we believe that and we believe it 
strongly is that we think, we must think, not only of how this activity 
will be received by Members or other Americans around the country, we 
believe we have got to also look at how Saddam Hussein will perceive 
the idea and the information that, while he is under physical attack by 
the United States and its people, we are having a debate in our House 
of Representatives to remove the Commander in Chief from his office. I 
do not think we can assume that Saddam Hussein understands all the 
nuances and all the facts surrounding this debate and this activity.
  We also have to ask how this will be received by the Russians, how it 
will be received by the British, how it will be received by the French, 
the Chinese, and people all across this world, that we are seeking to 
ally ourselves with or to at least get their understanding and their 
help and their cooperation as we go through this very difficult 
activity.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield at that point?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.

[[Page H11751]]

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I think more important to that, if I can 
comment on the remarks of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), 
it is how the sailors, marines, airmen, and the soldiers would receive 
this.
  Who would think of removing General Schwarzkopf in the middle of 
Desert Storm? We are talking about taking up a motion to remove the 
Commander in Chief of the troops who are actively engaged in a military 
effort, to remove him during a military crisis of the United States of 
America.
  We have come back at other times in this Congress, at the end of the 
year, when there is no conflict, and I say this not to be of help to 
the President, but to be of assistance to the morale and to the 
steadiness of the young men and young women who are engaged in this. I 
think we really ought to rethink taking this matter up during this 
military crisis that we are in.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would sum up; and I 
know we have one or two other speakers who want to speak. Let me just 
put it this way: We have had a lot of partisan rancor in the years 
past, and that always is part of a political body like this.
  But I want to say to my friends in the Republican Party in the 
majority, I feel very strongly that this is a high moment for the House 
of Representatives. I feel strongly that we must perform at a high 
level. I hope we can. I also hope that there is not partisan rancor in 
this debate on impeachment, because we have a high duty and 
responsibility to carry forward.
  I hope and pray that we could have this debate when it will not be 
misperceived by Saddam Hussein or by somebody else in the world that we 
have to depend upon. I ask the majority to reconsider its decision, its 
legitimate decision to hold this debate while our troops are in the 
field.
  I know that Members may feel that there is inconvenience in waiting 
here until this military action is finished tomorrow or the next day or 
the day after that. I would like us all to think of the inconvenience 
that our young people are undergoing, the danger that they face, and 
how they will see this action and perhaps misperceive what is happening 
in their House of Representatives.
  I want them to see nothing from us but support and unity of purpose 
at this time of danger in their lives.
  Mr. KENNEDY OF Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman 
brings up a very important point. I would like to honestly ask the 
majority leader to answer it.
  As a member of the Committee on National Security, we get briefings 
constantly on intelligent reports and the implications of United States 
foreign policy around the world. It is hard for me to believe for one 
moment that, if this House engages in impeachment debate tomorrow while 
the bombs are being dropped and our men and women in uniform are 
actively engaged in a wartime activity, that we do not invite some 
action on the part of our enemy in this war to take advantage of this 
situation at the cost of the lives of men and women in uniform.
  I would ask the gentleman whether he has gotten a full briefing from 
George Tenet, the Director of the CIA, to give us some satisfaction 
that, if we embark on this precarious road, that we are not putting in 
jeopardy the lives of our men and women in uniform.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Armey), the majority leader.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the minority leader for yielding to 
me.
  If I might just make a quick response to the gentleman's comments. 
Mr. Speaker, I believe the Nation has fully well understood the 
schedule that was prepared for this week and announced for this week.
  The President certainly must have known about this. The President 
must have weighed that. Indeed, I think, by press reports, it is clear 
that he did weigh that matter as he made the decision to engage in this 
effort in Iraq.
  When he made that decision, knowing full well that this debate might 
be happening at this time, he very likely addressed in his own mind the 
question: Can I effectively complete this mission under those 
circumstances? Indeed, he must clearly have concluded he can; and 
perhaps that is why he felt so confident this morning when asked in the 
Oval Office: ``Would it undercut your authority if the House opens the 
impeachment debate during this operation?'' The President replied, 
``No. I think that, first of all, I am going to complete this 
mission.''
  He clearly understands that, as the Commander in Chief and the 
President of the United States, he has the ability to complete his 
mission. He clearly understands that we, too, have our ability to 
complete our mission.
  One of the wonderful things about a democracy that perhaps Saddam 
Hussein may never be able to understand is different, important 
missions can be carried out by different branches of the government 
simultaneously at peace and with decorum and with effectiveness and 
with conclusion.
  That, ladies and gentlemen, is why our democracy is so wonderful and 
the message that our men and women in the field fighting should have 
the right to see; that as we engage in conflict, democracy does not 
stop in America, and, therefore, it is all the more worth our fight and 
our risk.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Bonior).
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding to me. I 
would like to reference the remarks that were made by the distinguished 
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and the Speaker-elect, the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston).
  The gentleman from Louisiana said let us disregard the outside 
influence. I would suggest that, as a body, when we are dealing with 
the two most profound questions this institution could ever deal with, 
sending our young men and women into combat and deciding the fate of a 
President, that the country has a right to be involved and involved 
intimately in those decisions, and that we ought not to disregard their 
voice, disregard the election results, disregard, as the distinguished 
leader has just said, the minority leader, the effects it will have on 
24,000 men and women who are engaged in combat at this very hour.
  It would be a grave mistake to go forward with this vote while our 
Nation is engaged in military action. I cannot believe that we are even 
having this debate. It was totally inappropriate, if I might say, for 
some in the Republican leadership, to call for the President's 
resignation when he was trying to bring peace just this last week in 
the Middle East. So it should not surprise us that this decision would 
flow from that.
  Our angst about moving forward rests on another pillar; and that is 
the inability of this side of the aisle to have the chance to offer a 
reasonable alternative, a censure alternative which the majority of 
Americans now support. It is unfair. It is wrong. There is something 
about this whole process that shows a lack of judgment, a lack of 
proportionality, a lack of common sense.
  We have time to reach some resolution on these important questions 
before we engage in the debate. But I think it behooves us all to take 
a step back, to take a deep breath.
  My goodness, if Bob Dole and Jerry Ford could offer a way out of this 
mess through the censure resolution, why cannot we have that choice on 
the floor? Why is that fundamental choice supported by the majority of 
the people in this country being denied to us on the most fundamental 
question that we could be dealing with in this Congress?
  So I just would ask the distinguished chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations and the Speaker-elect to reconsider the path that I 
think we are about to follow regretfully tomorrow; to pause. There will 
be time to have this debate. It will, I suspect, be before the end of 
the year. But my sense, it makes no sense, to go forward when our young 
men and women are under arms.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if I can reclaim my time and conclude, I 
would simply ask again in an earnest way, in a heartfelt way, that the 
majority would consider what we have said about doing this debate and 
taking this under consideration while our young men and women are in 
harm's way and also consider the wisdom of

[[Page H11752]]

denying an alternative motion of censure when this debate takes place.
  We feel that both of these requests are reasonable and make common 
sense, and we make them with respect, and we make them with heartfelt 
feeling among most of the Members on this side.
  We appreciate the opportunity to communicate this with the majority. 
We feel this is a moment of great responsibility for the House of 
Representatives. We want nothing more than all of the House and all of 
its Members to bring praise on ourselves as an institution, that we 
carry out these grave responsibilities in the best possible way for the 
American people.

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