[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H3068-H3069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            FRAMEWORK FOR NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT WITH KOSOVO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to describe a 
plan that we have been working on for the past 5 weeks in cooperation 
with the various parts of the administration to provide a framework for 
a negotiated settlement of the Kosovo crisis.
  Today, for approximately 1 hour, 11 members of this body who traveled 
with me to Vienna, Austria, 2 weekends ago to meet with our Russian 
counterparts in the Duma met with the Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright in her office. She was accompanied by the Under Secretary of 
State, Tom Pickering.
  It was a very constructive discussion with Members on both sides of 
the aisle engaged in a constructive way to let the Secretary know that 
our ultimate objectives and purpose are identical to what the President 
and what she wants to achieve, and that is an honorable settlement that 
is done in line with the five principles that the NATO countries have 
agreed to.
  We spent a great deal of time outlining the process that we have 
used, and we cited the fact that we were asked to get involved by our 
Russian Duma counterparts approximately 5 weeks ago.
  We explained to the Secretary that tomorrow, in the Committee on 
International Relations, there will be a public hearing where all 11 
Members of Congress from the far right to the far left will present an 
overview of why this particular framework should move forward and why 
this Congress and this House should go on record in sync with the work 
of the Russian Duma to provide a process whereby the U.S. and Russia 
can assist in getting the objectives that NATO wants, and that is to 
bring Milosovic to understand that the world community is coming 
together in an effort to solve this crisis quickly.
  Timing is of the essence, Mr. Speaker. Russia is going through 
turmoil right now. I just got off the phone with my second conversation 
with the Duma leadership today. As you know, they have sacked Primakov. 
On Saturday of this week, the Duma will vote on whether or not to 
impeach Yeltsin as the President of Russia.
  We need to understand that we have a significant opportunity here, an 
opportunity to work constructively with the Russians, using their 
leverage to bring Milosovic to terms that our government, that our 
President, that our Secretary of State want to see achieve.

[[Page H3069]]

  I encourage all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
support the bipartisan work of the 11 Members of Congress who are 
reaching out to provide a framework that will allow this conflict to be 
ended.
  I am more optimistic than ever. The Russians are faxing us a letter 
at this very hour expressing their desire to pass the same document in 
the Russian Duma. Let us not lose this opportunity to show Milosovic 
that Russian leaders across the spectrum, American leaders across the 
political spectrum are coming together with a common agenda which says 
Milosovic must in the end agree to the conditions that NATO has 
established to end this conflict. Together I think we can finally end 
this crisis.

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