[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 28, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H2456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE IN DEALING WITH KOSOVO ISSUE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, over the last month this Congress could not 
have been more irresponsible in the way it has dealt with the issue in 
Kosovo if it had taken lessons. I would like to walk through with you 
the quaint way in which this institution has stumble- 
bummed its way through its efforts to try to deal with our 
constitutional responsibilities.
  First of all, it gratuitously decided to vote on the question of 
whether or not the President could use peacekeepers in Kosovo. That is 
not a constitutional prerogative of the Congress. The President as 
Commander in Chief has the prerogative of deciding where to use troops 
in noncombat situations.
  Then, having gratuitously decided to support the placement of those 
peacekeepers in Kosovo, when the war began this institution then did 
not step up to its responsibilities to vote on whether or not the 
combat should proceed. The Senate did. They passed, I believe, the 
McCain-Warner motion which indicated their support for the ongoing 
military operation in Kosovo.
  Then, further compounding its backwards approach to this issue, this 
House decided today that it was going to stipulate that under no 
circumstances could ground troops be used in Kosovo. Again, that is not 
a congressional prerogative. Once you are in a combat situation, it is 
the President and his military advisers who have the constitutional 
obligation to determine what the best way is to proceed militarily, 
whether it is through the use of ground forces, whether it is through 
the use of air power, whether it is through the use of naval power or a 
combination of the three.
  The Congress has the right and an obligation to address the question 
of whether military activity should proceed, but when they are 
proceeding it has no right to try to micromanage the combat situations. 
That is a responsibility of our military leaders and the President.
  Then, having compounded the confusion by gratuitously getting 
involved in that issue, it then proceeded to turn down, by one vote, 
the endorsement of the McCain-Warner language, good bipartisan language 
with Republican leadership in the other body. It then turned down our 
obligation to support troops in the field. I just find the way this 
institution has approached this to be mind-boggling.
  And now, tomorrow, after they have turned down their authorization 
for what is going on in Kosovo, we will be marking up the supplemental 
appropriation bill in the Committee on Appropriations. And guess what? 
The same crowd that voted ``no'' on authorizing this military operation 
today will be going into that committee and demanding that we double 
the amount of money that the President asked to spend on it, taking it 
from $6 billion to over $13 billion and creating an opportunity to pork 
up the next year's defense bill in the process.
  Never, never in the 30 years that I have served here have I seen less 
vision. Never have I seen less leadership. Never have I seen more 
confusion. And never have I seen the national interest being left in 
the dust the way it is tonight. I want to see how many Members of the 
majority party who today voted against authorizing this operation will 
tomorrow then demand that we double the amount of spending for the 
supplemental. It is very clear to me, based on the votes taken here 
today, that that supplemental appropriation is dead.

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