[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14984-14995]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON S. 1059, NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT 
                          FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000

  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII, and by 
direction of the Committee on Armed Services, I offer a privileged 
motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Spence moves that the House take from the Speaker's 
     table the Senate bill (S. 1059) to authorize appropriations 
     for fiscal year 2000 for military activities of the 
     Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
     defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe 
     personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed 
     Forces, and for other purposes, with the House amendment 
     thereto, insist on the House amendment, and agree to the 
     conference requested by the Senate on the disagreeing votes 
     of the two Houses thereon.


[[Page 14985]]


  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence).
  The motion was agreed to.


          Motion To Instruct Conferees Offered By Mr. Skelton

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Skelton moves that the managers on the part of the 
     House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two 
     Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill S. 1059 be 
     instructed to insist upon the provisions contained in section 
     1207 of the House amendment (relating to goals for the 
     conflict with Yugoslavia), in order to recognize the 
     achievement of goals stated therein by--
       (1) the United States Armed Forces who participated in 
     Operation Allied Force and served and succeeded in the 
     highest traditions of the Armed Forces of the United States;
       (2) the families of American service men and women 
     participating in Operation Allied Force, who have bravely 
     borne the burden of separation from their loved ones, and 
     staunchly supported them during the conflict;
       (3) President Clinton, Commander in Chief of United States 
     Armed Forces, for his leadership during Operation Allied 
     Force;
       (4) Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Chairman of the 
     Joint Chiefs of Staff General Henry Shelton and Supreme 
     Allied Commander-Europe General Wesley Clark, for their 
     planning and implementation of Operation Allied Force;
       (5) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, National 
     Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and other Administration 
     officials who engaged in diplomatic efforts to resolve the 
     Kosovo conflict;
       (6) all of the forces from our NATO allies, who served with 
     distinction and success; and
       (7) the front line states, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, 
     and Romania, which experienced firsthand the instability 
     produced by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's policy of 
     ethnic cleansing.

                              {time}  1445

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) and the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spence) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I move that the motion to instruct be adopted by this House.
  This is a motion to require or to urge the conferees to adopt section 
1207 of the House amendment. The House will remember this is an 
amendment offered by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) which 
dealt with the goals for the conflict in Yugoslavia. I might say that 
these goals were set forth by numerous people, including General Wesley 
Clark, including the President, including the Secretary General of 
NATO. They have been the polestars of this whole conflict.
  We do this in a customary manner, Mr. Speaker. Customarily, at the 
end of a conflict, we compliment as a body those who participated in 
and helped achieve a victory. There is no question about it, this is a 
substantial victory for the allies, a substantial victory for NATO, and 
a substantial victory for the United States of America.
  First, we speak of the United States Armed Forces. True, it was an 
air war primarily, but many of the Army and much of the Navy were 
deeply involved. But for that effort, it would not have been nearly as 
well done or as well planned nor as well executed.
  To the families of American servicemen and women who bear the brunt 
of their spouses and their mothers and their fathers being gone, 
because of the separation from their home, from their loved ones, and 
we support them through this by giving them a congratulatory word.
  To the President, for his steadfastness, for his perseverance toward 
the goal of victory.
  To the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the 
Supreme Allied Commander, all of them for their hard work and planning 
and implementation of this Operation Allied Force.
  To the Secretary of State, the National Security Adviser, and the 
other administration officials who engaged in diplomatic efforts which, 
in the end, resolved the Kosovo conflict.
  And to all the forces of our NATO allies. This was not a mere United 
States effort. It was an effort on behalf of all the NATO nations led 
by the Secretary General and the Allied Commander in Europe, General 
Wesley Clark.
  To all the front line states, those who bore the burden of refugees 
and of having foreign forces on their soil. Albania, Macedonia, 
Bulgaria, and Romania, they all experienced the instability produced by 
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in its policy of ethnic cleansing.
  This is a mere token of appreciation by this House to each of these 
people, to each of these countries, to each of those who participated 
and bore the burden of victory in Yugoslavia.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the motion by the gentleman from Missouri speaks to an 
uncontroversial provision offered by the gentleman from Mississippi 
(Mr. Taylor) and adopted by a voice vote on June 10 during House 
consideration of H.R. 1401.
  Section 1207, the provision in question in the motion, has two parts. 
The first part restates the authorities of the Congress under the 
Constitution to declare war and provide for the common defense. The 
second part establishes eight policy goals for the NATO military 
operation against Yugoslavia which, at the time the provision was 
adopted, was winding down and, in fact, is now over.
  The gentleman's motion does go beyond the text of the House-passed 
language and asserts that the House should support section 1207 in 
order to recognize the efforts of our troops, the military chain of 
commands and a long list of others. While I do not believe that section 
1207 or its legislative history had, or has, anything to do with the 
assertions contained in this motion, I nonetheless support the motion 
of the gentleman from Missouri and specifically want to commend the 
United States military and our NATO allies who executed Operation 
Allied Force with skill and courage.
  Our Armed Forces, together with the military forces of NATO allies, 
conducted a military campaign involving over 35,000 aircraft sorties 
without a single casualty. The United States was responsible for the 
bulk of this military effort, especially with regard to air strikes 
against the most heavily defended and difficult targets in Kosovo and 
Serbia.
  In addition, the United States forces provided most of the essential 
military capabilities in the areas of intelligence surveillance, 
reconnaissance, aerial refueling, electronic warfare and combat search 
and rescue. While having to carry out what unexpectedly and 
unfortunately turned into the equivalent of a major theater war, the 
United States Armed Forces were also providing almost simultaneously 
significant contributions to the humanitarian assistance effort as part 
of our Operation Allied Harbor in Macedonia and Albania.
  Mr. Speaker, irrespective of how one might feel about the policy 
assumptions and judgments that unfortunately got us into this conflict, 
assumptions and judgments which I strongly disagreed with at the time, 
these in no way are endorsed by the motion of the gentleman from 
Missouri. I believe we can join together in commending the dedication 
and courage of all those in the Armed Forces who carried out this 
difficult military campaign. I am prepared to support this motion.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Tauscher).
  Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me this 
time, and I rise in strong support of the motion to instruct conferees 
on the Defense Authorization bill to insist on language in the House 
bill articulating the goals and objectives of the air campaign in 
Yugoslavia.
  Our military forces with our NATO allies have done a tremendous job 
in Kosovo. They have ended Yugoslav aggression against its own people, 
forced

[[Page 14986]]

the withdrawal of Yugoslav military forces from Kosovo, reached an 
agreement with Yugoslavia on an international military presence in 
Kosovo, and started the safe return of Kosovo refugees.
  The success we have achieved in Kosovo could not have been achieved 
without strong leadership from President Clinton and his senior 
military advisers. In particular, General Wesley Clark distinguished 
himself by conducting an air campaign that suffered not a single combat 
casualty. I will be introducing legislation shortly, Mr. Speaker, to 
award General Clark the Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts.
  Or Nation's goals and objectives have been achieved with unparalleled 
success. We owe our military personnel a debt of gratitude for their 
service. I urge my colleagues to vote for this motion to instruct 
conferees.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cunningham).
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, while I agree with my friend, the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), on the service of our military 
men and women, because their efforts are laudatory, I disagree 
extremely with the laudatory comments about our diplomatic corps and 
the President in this effort. As a veteran, it is sickening to me, and 
I will tell my colleagues why.
  The total number of people killed in Kosovo prior to our bombing was 
2,012. We have killed more than five times that amount in our bombing, 
and yet we are supposed to be saving people. There has been a forced 
and increased evacuation of Albanians outside of the country. The 
United States flew 85 percent of all the sorties and provided 90 
percent of all of the weapons, and we are only supposed to pay 15 
percent of it. If my colleagues will remember, in Desert Storm, George 
Bush actually made $2 billion. We did not have to spend $100 billion in 
the war and rebuilding Kosovo.
  Rambouillet was a joke to start with and, in my opinion, caused us to 
go there. Jesse Jackson said that we need to understand both sides of 
an issue. One, what were the fears of the Serbs? One, that the number 
of Serbs that were killed by the KLA was going to continue if 
Rambouillet existed. There are 300,000 Albanians that live in 
Yugoslavia that have not left, where the KLA is not. Secondly, that 
none of their police forces could stay and protect the Serbs. And we 
can see what is happening today there. Third, they were afraid that no 
one would protect them at all. And to me this is a travesty.
  Our diplomatic corps did not make this happen. If my colleagues will 
take a look, it was Russia. From the day we started bombing, I said, we 
need Russia to negotiate, we need Scandinavian and we need Italian 
troops to resolve this, A, to protect both sides; and, B, to have some 
stability in there. And yet the United States and our diplomatic corps 
did not.
  We are going to see increased interest rates. We will see us pay $100 
billion before this is over. And my colleagues that want to save Social 
Security and Medicare, where do they think this comes out of? The 
surplus.
  General Reimer told me that we used 1 year of life in our aircraft, 
which were already devastated with parts, and most of those are engines 
and so on. If we take a look, one-half of our tankers participated, but 
we used all the crew. We are only keeping 23 percent of our military 
personnel in here, and it has been devastating.
  So, yes, our troops were exemplary, we did the job. But, in my 
opinion, the President of the United States and the whole diplomatic 
corps, through their failure, caused the war in the first place.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully disagree with my friend from California. 
Let us give credit where credit is due. It was because of the strength 
and perseverance and unity of all 19 democratic nations of NATO that 
finally got Milosevic to capitulate and end the atrocities in Kosovo. 
But, ultimately, the credit belongs to those young men and women in 
American and NATO uniform who were being asked yet again in the 20th 
century to restore some peace and humanity to the European continent.
  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to the Balkans and to 
meet and see firsthand those troops who were carrying out this 
dangerous mission. I wish all Americans had the opportunity to 
experience what I did and to feel the patriotism and the pride that I 
felt in those troops over there.

                              {time}  1500

  They performed their mission with honor and with great success. 
Unfortunately, two young officers were not able to return home safely. 
These were Chief Warrant Officer David Gibbs of Ohio and Chief Warrant 
Officer Kevin Riechert from a small town in my congressional district 
in western Wisconsin, Chetek.
  I am sure that all our thoughts and prayers go out to their families 
today. I just wanted to recognize and acknowledge their service and the 
sacrifice they and their families made on behalf of our country.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston).
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about some concerns and reservations 
about what we are doing here. Because I certainly, unequivocally, join 
435 Members of this House in support of our Armed Forces and the great 
work that they have done and their families who have supported them 
throughout this and I support the whole chain in that respect. But I 
must say, I am very concerned that this could be misconstrued as an 
endorsement of support for our policy in Kosovo.
  Because I, as do so many Members of this House, oppose this war. This 
was the result of diplomatic ineptitude. It is bad foreign policy. The 
President and the leaders never have told the American people what our 
American peril was in Kosovo. We do know that one of the goals was to 
try to bring peace to that area, and yet we are going to have 50,000 
``peacekeepers'' acting as proactive police officers in that area for 
an unlimited amount of time. I hardly say that that is a fitting 
conclusion to a war and animosities that date back at least to the 
Field of Blackbirds in 1389.
  So I want to say, unequivocally, that this House Member joins many, 
many other House Members in saying we did not support this war and do 
not want to have this vote being construed as supporting the war. I do 
not think that the President showed great leadership, nor did most of 
his cabinet members, when they cannot define what the peril is, why we 
are in a conflict, and when the result of that conflict or that action 
is the evacuation of 855,000 people from the country and then another 
500,000 within the country who have lost their homes, and now, after 
already spending $12 billion in the Balkans and another $5 billion in 
Kosovo itself, we are going to be spending billions more to rebuild 
that society, which I will not say we should run from that 
responsibility at all.
  But I do think now we are in it, and it just seems to me that this 
administration's whole policy in the Balkans has been a quagmire. It 
has been vague. It has been haphazard. I do not believe that this is an 
outstanding chapter in American diplomatic history whatsoever.
  So I do understand that the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) has 
great respect for the armed services, which we all admire and we all 
join him in doing. I am going to support this portion because the armed 
services personnel are being commended. But I do want to emphasize 
strongly that a large number of Members of the House on the Democratic 
and Republican side oppose this policy in the Balkans, oppose this war, 
and we have great questions about the so-called peace agreement.
  How long are we going to be there? When do we get out? What will be 
the result? Why is Russia in the process

[[Page 14987]]

when they did not contribute to this yet they are going to have a major 
part in the rebuilding of Kosovo? Will this make Kosovo more western, 
or is it going to make them more pro-Russia?
  So I just wanted to air those reservations, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a limitation on time, but I wish to point out 
to my friend from California that the wording herein is a reflection 
exactly of the matter that was passed in the United States Senate 
unanimously.
  I might also say that, because of what we did, the horrors, the 
deaths, the starvings, the burned homes, the rapes, and all the 
tragedies have come to an end because of what we, our leadership, our 
Armed Forces, and our allies did. So this is an effort to commend all 
of them in urging the House to adopt section 1207.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. 
Romero-Barcelo).
  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the 
motion to instruct conferees and to commend our troops for the success 
in Kosovo.
  We in Puerto Rico are pleased to have participated in the endeavor to 
secure democracy for Kosovo. A portion of our military's training was 
carried out in Vieques, Puerto Rico. During that training, a tragic 
accident occurred when a bomb went 1\1/2\ miles off target and killed 
one civilian and injured four others.
  I urge the conferees to address the safety and security concerns of 
the 9,300 American citizens who reside in Vieques. The accident of 
April 19 underscored the hazards to which the residents of the island 
are exposed by the bombings during our military maneuvers at the Navy 
range.
  We must consider other options for training which do not pose a 
danger to the U.S. citizens in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Engel).
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Skelton) for yielding me the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this motion. I certainly 
commend our brave United States Armed Forces, their families. I believe 
that President Clinton ought to get all the praise possible for the 
conduct of this war. Secretary Cohen, Secretary Albright, all the NATO 
allies, the front-line states, Albania, Macedonia, Romania, and 
Bulgaria, this was truly a united effort.
  I very much regret that we needed this vehicle to put forth this 
resolution commending our Armed Forces. The Senate, as the gentleman 
from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) pointed out, unanimously adopted a 
resolution several weeks now. We have been trying to get the Republican 
leadership to allow us to have a similar resolution on the floor, but 
they have denied it. This is the only vehicle.
  What, frankly, really bothers me is that the same critics in this 
House who were calling the war ``Clinton's war'' and were saying that 
bombing would never work and the war would never be won and this was a 
tragedy and this was a travesty now will not give credit where credit 
is due.
  The fact is we won this war. We ought to be proud of winning this 
war. The President was right. The President did the right thing in 
Kosovo.
  I co-chaired the Albanian Issues Caucus, and we have been yelling for 
years and years about the ethnic cleansing that is going on in Kosovo, 
the lack of human rights, the fact that the ethnic Albanians there were 
denied for years and years the basic rights.
  I am proud of our country for stepping in and standing up for human 
rights. I am proud of our President for taking a stand. It would have 
been politically easier for him to just sit back and say, what can we 
do? This is not our war. Ethnic cleansing and genocide, as abhorrent as 
it is, there is nothing we can do about it.
  But the President did not say that. The President took action, and 
thank God he took action and saved thousands upon thousands of lives.
  The fallacy that ethnic cleansing somehow was not happening and that 
the bombing caused it is nonsense. It is what I have been calling for 
years ``quiet ethnic cleansing'' or ``slow ethnic cleansing.'' And we 
put a stop to it and we allowed ethnic Albanians, who constituted 90 
percent of the population of Kosovo before the war, to be able to live 
normal lives.
  So I think that our Armed Forces ought to be praised. The President 
of the United States deserves all the praise there can be. And my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle that were calling this 
``Clinton's war'' ought to be calling it ``Clinton's victory'' because 
the President deserves the credit. I am very, very proud of what we 
did.
  I want to say, I hope that there will be autonomy and self-governing. 
But, as I have always said, I believe, long range, the solution for 
Kosovo is independence because those people have the same right of 
self-determination and independence that the other people of former 
Yugoslavia when the former Yugoslavia broke up and Croatia and Bosnia 
and Macedonia and Slovenia all had the right to self-determination. The 
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, in my estimation, ought to have that same 
right.
  So, again, I commend the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) for 
this. I think we all ought to go on record as praising the Armed Forces 
and commend President Clinton.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the amount of time that 
we have remaining on this side, please?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The gentleman from Missouri 
(Mr. Skelton) has 19\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spence) has 21 minutes remaining.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Hoeffel).
  Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of his motion to recommit. Of 
course we should commend the troops. Of course we should commend the 
President. Of course we should commend the Secretaries of State and 
Defense and all of the NATO leaders and all the NATO countries and all 
the front-line States that stood up to this terrible situation in 
Kosovo.
  What astonishes me is that it was bad enough that the effort here in 
this House was not bipartisan to support our effort in Kosovo and today 
we do not have bipartisan support to commend the effort in Kosovo. We 
have to resort to this parliamentary effort to get a vote to commend 
these terrific achievements. And I think it is a sad day.
  My father and grandfather, lifelong Republicans, taught me that 
politics ended at the water's edge. Well, I am afraid to tell the 
gentleman and the House that this Republican party is not my 
grandfather's or my father's Republican party. Something has gone wrong 
here. But we had strong leadership. NATO did the right thing.
  I support the motion of the gentleman.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Reyes).
  Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this motion by my good friend from 
Missouri. This motion instructs conferees to retain the provisions of 
the defense authorization legislation relating to the goals for the 
conflict in Yugoslavia.
  Maintaining this language will allow us to recognize the brave men 
and women in the U.S. Armed Forces who have served this Nation so well. 
Through their efforts and the efforts of our allies in NATO, we have 
stopped a brutal tyrant from continuing his attempts to destroy a 
region and its people. This motion not only praises our uniformed 
personnel, but it also recognizes the critical contributions of their 
families. Without the sacrifices of the husbands and wives and children 
back home, we could not have accomplished our military goals.

[[Page 14988]]

  When we debated the defense authorization on the floor of this House, 
the military conflict was underway. Now, however, we are afforded an 
opportunity to show our thanks on the record for the victory that they 
have achieved. Now, as the peacekeeping work begins, we must continue 
to support the military's efforts and stand by our military men and 
women in the field and their military and civilian leaders.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for this motion.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Andrews).
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Skelton), our ranking member, for yielding me the time.
  Mr. Speaker, the system that is over 200 years old in our country has 
been a very wise one indeed. It is a system in which we vigorously 
debate and often disagree about what direction our country's policies 
should go in before we engage in conflict. But it is also a tradition 
that says that, once we engage in conflict, we unify.
  It is the wisdom of this motion to instruct that reflects that 
tradition, and it is because of that wisdom that I rise in strong 
support of the motion. This motion appropriately looks both backward 
and forward.
  It looks backward to say thank you to a lot of people who made a 
tremendous effort to make the successful result in Kosovo possible, to 
our very brave and noble troops, to their families who supported them 
back home, to our allies who stood with us, to the front-line States 
who endured, and, yes, to the leaders of our country, the military 
leaders in uniform, the diplomatic leaders at the State Department, 
Secretary Cohen at the Defense Department, and certainly to the 
Commander in Chief, to President Clinton. These are words that are 
definitely worthy of being said by this Congress.
  It is also important to support this motion because it looks forward. 
It recognizes that although the conflict is hopefully over in Kosovo, 
the job is not, that there still are objectives to be met to establish 
a framework under international law for a Democratic government to make 
sure that those, including President Milosevic, who commit crimes 
against humanity are brought to justice, to be sure that refugees are 
brought to a safe and humane home and resting place once again.
  This resolution is in the finest bipartisan tradition of our country. 
It looks forward and says there is work still to be done in a 
bipartisan way, and it looks backward to the brave and noble work of 
our troops, their families, and their leaders and delivers a well-
deserved thanks. I am proud to support it.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman 
from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I want to thank the very distinguished 
gentleman from Missouri for finding a way to bring this resolution to 
the floor. We ought to be proud of what we have done. Nineteen nations 
worked together cooperatively to stand up for the freedoms that we 
enjoy and to stand up against thuggery. The Kosovar Albanians had been 
denied virtually every freedom that we take for granted in this country 
since 1989, but that is not why we got involved. We got involved 
because we knew a war criminal had 40,000 troops massed on the border, 
was going to go into Kosovo and was going to burn homes, oftentimes 
with people in them, rape women, execute men, that is what he would 
have been able to do in order to clear their country of people based 
purely upon their ethnicity. That is wrong.
  The free nations of the world stood up and were successful, and in 
the process they showed that we can prevail without the loss of one 
American soldier, sailor or airman. We were successful with an air war 
when people said it could not be done. We were successful in putting 
strength and resoluteness in NATO. This set a precedent. We should be 
proud of what we have accomplished. And we should tell the rest of the 
world that we are proud in a bipartisan manner.
  That is what this resolution is all about. It should be passed 
unanimously.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Guam (Mr. Underwood).
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
this time, and I rise in very, very strong support of this motion to 
instruct conferees that has been presented by the ranking member of the 
Committee on Armed Services. One of the basic principles that we learn 
in trying to deal with fellow human beings in our lives is that we 
should give credit where credit is due. What this motion to instruct 
conferees does is basically to recognize success, the success of our 
armed services, the success of our joint efforts along with our NATO 
allies, and in particular also the contributions of front line states 
that surround the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the success of our 
diplomatic efforts, and the success of the leadership of our military 
as well as our civilian authorities and, of course, the success of our 
President.
  But this is not just about a great victory. It is about a great 
success, with some fairly limited objectives. I am sure that many 
people will take the time to point out and there will be lots of 
discussion about the problems that this has created. It will be pointed 
out that there will be problems with the occupation of Kosovo, problems 
associated with civil administration, infrastructure, trying to bring 
people together who have experienced lots of division and have been 
subjected to all the kinds of things which have gone on under the 
leadership of Milosevic. But I would like to point out that the 
problems of peace are infinitely preferable to the problems of war.
  What we have here is a resolution that highlights our gratitude to 
the men and women of our armed services and their families and 
President Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Shelton, Supreme Allied Commander 
Europe General Wesley Clark for their planning and implementation, 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser 
Sandy Berger. We must send a message of gratitude to all of those who 
worked hard for this success.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority whip.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for 
yielding me this time. I want this body to know and through this body 
the Nation to know that I support the troops. I think the job that they 
gave to us and did for us was outstanding. As always, our men and women 
in uniform have done an outstanding and admirable job. I would vote for 
this motion to instruct if that is what we were doing. But I have got 
to tell my colleagues, a declaration of success in Yugoslavia by the 
media and the White House does not mean that victory was actually at 
hand. This charade in the Balkans has gone on long enough.
  How can you call it victory when Milosevic is still in power? The 
agreement that they signed to end the bombing is an agreement that 
Milosevic would have signed before the bombing. How can you call it a 
victory when the reasons that we went to war are exactly the reasons 
why it cannot be called a victory. The President said that if we did 
nothing, there would be Kosovar Albanians destroyed and killed and 
refugees would flood the borders, there would be instability in the 
region, and that NATO's credibility would be undermined if we did 
nothing.
  Take a look at it. Thousands of Kosovars were killed, refugees had 
lost their homes, they are coming back to burned-out homes and areas 
that are absolutely devastated. Instability is still in the region. In 
fact, I contend there is even more instability in the region because we 
now have a partitioned Kosovo, including Russian troops reintroduced 
into Yugoslavia, something that we have been afraid of ever since World 
War II. And NATO's credibility

[[Page 14989]]

has been undermined. NATO for the first time in the history of NATO 
changed its mission from being a defensive organization to being an 
organization that bombs and invades sovereign nations. I contend that 
their credibility is seriously undermined. On top of all that, our 
relationships with Russia and our relationships with China and many 
other countries in the region have been seriously undermined.
  That is a victory? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to bomb? Was it 
worth it to devastate and suck the very strength out of our defenses so 
that the fact that we had to move an entire aircraft carrier task force 
out of the Pacific and leave our troops in Korea at risk and move it to 
the Adriatic Sea? Was it worth it to take our stockpile of cruise 
missiles and reduce them from 1,000 that we need for a two-theater war 
down to what some people say is less than 45 and we do not have a 
production line to build any more? Was it worth it to put the United 
States in one of the weakest positions that it has been in many, many a 
year in its ability to fight a two-theater war? I think not.
  I do not think this House ought to be commending a President for his 
leadership, particularly someone like Sandy Berger, Mr. Speaker, whom 
many people on both sides of the aisle have questioned his leadership, 
in a motion to instruct. I think this is a terrible mistake to bring 
this kind of debate to the floor of the House. But it is here and we 
have to debate it.
  I reiterate, once again, that this body unanimously supports our 
troops and the job that they have done when asked to go. We have no 
question that they did the best, the job that they were trained to do, 
under very difficult circumstances. But for us to call this a victory 
and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in 
Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce.
  Therefore, I am going to vote against the motion to instruct and 
hopefully we can bring a resolution to this floor commending our 
troops.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
Let me take this opportunity to point out a bit of history, that I 
supported the efforts of our country regarding the Contras, that I 
supported President Bush's efforts, successful efforts against Saddam 
Hussein, that I supported this country and NATO's efforts against Mr. 
Milosevic. Omar Bradley, the famous Missourian, Second World War 
General, once said that ``second place doesn't count on the 
battlefield.'' We were victorious, Mr. Speaker. Milosevic's troops, his 
presence is no longer in Kosovo. Was it worth it to take on Saddam 
Hussein? Certainly. It was well worth it to take on Milosevic. The 
killing has stopped. The NATO alliance has held together.
  I might point out to this body that we are talking about section 
1207, and in particular in response to the gentleman from Texas, I wish 
to read subsection 7 that says, ``President Slobodan Milosevic will be 
held accountable for his actions while President of the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia in initiating four armed conflicts,'' et cetera. 
Also section 8 says, ``Bringing to justice through the International 
Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslavia individuals in the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia.''
  That is what we are commending, that is what we are instructing the 
conferees to adopt, among other items.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for 
yielding me this time.
  Three weeks ago, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to comply 
with NATO's demands to withdraw its forces from Kosovo, ending more 
than 80 days of hostility.
  In bringing this conflict to a close, the United States and NATO 
brought an end to a Yugoslavian campaign of ethnic cleansing, rape and 
murder. It ended the flood of refugees fleeing Kosovo and gave hope to 
hundreds of thousands of men, women and children that they would soon 
be able to return to their homes.
  More than 2 weeks ago, the Senate passed a resolution commending all 
those involved in our Nation's successful efforts in Kosovo. We had 
hoped that the leadership in the House would bring forth a similar 
bipartisan resolution commending our troops and congratulating 
President Clinton and other administration officials for their 
leadership.
  To date, they have refused to bring up such a resolution. For 
goodness sake, is the dislike so intense, the hatred so great of 
President Clinton that the Republican majority cannot bring themselves 
to commend our troops and congratulate the President for his 
leadership? Listening to some of my colleagues on the floor this 
afternoon, I can only conclude that this is the case. These troops 
under the leadership of the President of the United States and the NATO 
officials stopped a modern day Holocaust from taking place in eastern 
Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, we should overlook partisanship today and vote for the 
motion to instruct.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Metcalf).
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support and pride in our 
service personnel in this most difficult Kosovo situation. But I cannot 
vote for this motion. I can neither support nor condone this military 
bombing of Kosovo. Bombing is by definition an act of war which if I 
read the Constitution correctly must be supported by a vote of 
Congress. There was no such vote for a declaration of war. I am very 
reticent to allow any President to commit acts of war without such a 
declaration. The bombing probably killed 7,500 people and did an 
immense amount of damage. Now we will be asked to go in and repair it.
  I think the Congress should notify the President that from now on, no 
money will be available for acts of war without a declaration of such 
by Congress. I believe the cost in billions of dollars now will be 
borrowed--we have not got the money to pay it--now will be borrowed 
from our children and grandchildren and they will pay interest on it 
the rest of their lives. I think this is atrocious.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson).
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I am impressed by the agility of the 
majority party. They come to the floor with incredible arguments on why 
we can never recognize a Clinton accomplishment.
  The whip was in the well saying that, well, Clinton went to 
Yugoslavia and Milosevic was there before and he is still there now. 
Let me tell my colleagues, when the Democrats were in control, George 
Bush went to Iraq. After the Bush administration told Saddam Hussein, 
``Oh, you can take a little bit of Iraq, we don't get involved in Arab 
land disputes,'' and then President Bush, with a majority of Congress, 
went to Iraq and Democrats and Republicans alike commended the 
President for a job well done, those who voted for the war and those 
who did not.

                              {time}  1530

  This Congress, on the majority side, cannot find it in its nature to 
recognize even one act the President may achieve that is successful, 
stopping a slaughter similar to the ones that led to World War II. 
Every argument; we have hit buildings, we have caused damage, as if the 
thousands of people killed by Milosevic were irrelevant. The President 
deserves no credit.
  How many speeches did we hear on the other side that bombing would 
never work? We have never been able to achieve a goal through bombing 
day after day on the floor. We achieved our goal. We have rid Kosovo of 
Mr. Milosevic and his murderers. We are in the process of trying to 
establish a peaceful society where people can live civilly together. It 
will not be easy.
  But just as Mr. Milosevic is still in control, so is Saddam Hussein 
still in control. Our goals were never the removal simply of these 
presidents. God knows we all hope that Mr. Milosevic and Mr. Saddam 
Hussein are tried as war criminals. But to come to this

[[Page 14990]]

floor under almost any excuse because God forbid they should ever say a 
good word about what President Clinton did; he had the courage to lead 
the West, to keep NATO united and to succeed in stopping murder on our 
watch.
  First the argument was we could not succeed, second the argument was 
the danger was too great. The only loss of life was not in combat, as 
sad as that was. I believe two pilots died in a helicopter crash.
  This President succeeded to lead a successful policy, and this 
Congress had a chance to vote, and there was one day here where 
somebody described it better than I can. Congress voted. They decided 
not to go back, not to go forward, and by an even vote, I think of 213 
to 213, did not even vote to support what we were doing.
  Now after the fact take your partisan hate aside for one moment. 
Recognize our troops and our Commander in Chief. They politicize the 
foreign policy of this country I believe more than it has ever been 
politicized. We always had the courage to come down here, and if we 
were wrong initially, we stood up and commended Reagan or Bush or 
whatever Republican President was here. Have the guts to do the same.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and 
chairman for yielding this time to me, and I rise with a great deal of 
disappointment. I have the highest respect for my good friend from 
Missouri. I think he is a great American. I have acknowledged that 
publicly on a regular and consistent basis.
  I would join with him in a heartbeat if this were a resolution 
honoring our troops, and the gentleman knows if that were the case, 
that resolution would pass this body 435 to zip with no dissenters. But 
if we took the resolution and if we want to honor the President, which 
is evidently what some on the other side want to do, then let us have 
that vote. Take out the troops and just honor the President for his 
role. I would say this to my colleagues: That would not pass this body. 
That resolution would not pass this body.
  So what do we have here? We have a resolution where we are using the 
patriotic troops as the cover, as the cover to allow a Commander in 
Chief with a policy that is being questioned by Members on both sides 
of the aisle in this body to be able to have him say that we praised 
him for his actions.
  If my colleagues want to have the vote on supporting the President's 
actions, then have the guts to have that vote separately. Have their up 
or down vote. Let us see how and whether Congress comes out in terms of 
whether or not they agree that this President did a good job. Let us 
have that debate. Let us talk about the fact that our relations with 
Russia and China have never been worse in this decade. Let us talk 
about the fact that we are driving the Duma election this December into 
the hands of the ultra nationalists because of our deliberate policy of 
not involving the Russians for the first 3 weeks, and if a Member 
challenges me, I will show them a confidential internal State 
Department memorandum that outlines that because I have it.
  This debate is not about honoring our troops, and it is unfortunate 
because those on the other side know they boxed the Members on this 
side, Members who want to display their patriotism and their thanks for 
America's sons and daughters for the job they did. But as the President 
did when he used the military and paraded them down the White House 
lawn for that photo op, as the President did when he stood on the deck 
of an aircraft carrier and talked about his commitment for our military 
while cutting the budget to an unprecedented level, we are again going 
to give this President cover.
  We are going to let him hide behind the skirts of the women who 
served in the military in combat and did the service for this because 
we are going to let him hide behind the uniforms of our military 
personnel to get a victory based on the military so he can tell the 
fact that Congress is supportive of what he did.
  I have never been more sick in the 13 years that I have been here 
that we would have to have a vote where we use our military to give 
cover to a policy that should be openly debated, and if Members want to 
debate support for the President's policy, I would say to my colleague 
make that the motion to instruct conferees, make it be on the 
administration and the policy, but do not use the troops as political 
pawns. All of us praise our troops, but Democrats and Republicans alike 
express grave concerns about what we have done here.
  We caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Europe in 
helping to push a million people out into the hinterlands, and now we 
are not going to have a chance to say that. All we are going to do is 
say because it has a paragraph that praises the President, all of us 
then must be behind what he did.
  What a crock of my colleagues know what.
  This is a very sad day in the history of this body.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy).
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, this is a very dysfunctional Chamber. Blind 
partisan hatred infuses, it seems like all issues, even something as we 
look back at a successful completion of a military conflict, an end of 
a series of atrocities against a people too horrible to fully 
contemplate.
  The preceding speaker is 100 percent incorrect in suggesting that 
this conflict created the humanitarian catastrophe unleashed by 
Slobodan Milosevic. The American people know what happened. The 
military action under the leadership of the President ended this 
humanitarian crisis and stopped the slaughter of a people. We ought to 
be proud as Americans for the role played by our military, the role 
played by our troops, the role played by our leaders, including 
President Clinton, and it might be tough in light of this partisan 
period that we are in to say so, but nothing less is deserved.
  The President provided leadership when leadership was needed, and the 
military conflict has been successfully concluded.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 additional minutes to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, where do we have to go from here? First 
of all, NATO nations have got to upgrade their own military so that we 
do not have to fly 85 percent of all the sorties and drop 90 percent of 
the bombs in the future. We cannot afford it, to take the lead in all 
of these. Tudjman's ethnic cleansing is 750,000 out of Croatia, is a 
war criminal, should be attacked. Izetbegovic according to the 
Mujahedeem and Hamas should be a war criminal right along with 
Milosevic.
  A supplemental check, our next supplemental, should be a check from 
NATO paying for our fair share. We are supposed to pay for 15 percent, 
not an 80 percent of a war that happened. When we talk about 300,000 
Albanians and Yugoslavs that live peacefully, how about the 200,000 
Serbs that are now evacuated. My colleagues do not think that those 
men, women, and children are innocent victims, that we have a great 
victory on our hands and we ought to take care and have as much 
compassion for them as well.
  Efforts to repay and the relationship with Russia has got to be a 
priority. Now Russia, in my opinion, is our enemy, but we have made 
great gains with Russia, and unless we continue in that direction, then 
all is lost. I think we need to take a look at the Progressive Caucus 
in this House listed under the web page: Democrats Socialists for 
America, and their last of their 12 point agenda is to cut defense by 
50 percent should remove that from their agenda because it does 
disservice to our men and women in military and disservice to the 
national security of this country.
  We need to take a look at how we are going to conduct ourselves in 
these wars, and when the gentlemen say this is partisan; no, there is a 
disagreement on what victory is and that we should not have been there 
in the first place. Not partisan, but a fact that we should not have 
been there in the first place

[[Page 14991]]

and expend the resources of this country when there was only 2,000 
people killed and we killed over 7,500.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to 
instruct conferees. This is not a vote of a popularity contest with 
respect to the President. This is a vote to recognize the achievement 
of goals.
  We had several debates on the floor of this House. We had 
disagreement as to those goals. But ultimately we as a country, acted 
in furtherance of goals, and we achieved those. Why did we achieve 
those goals? Because we had our best men and women in the country here 
in the field giving their very best efforts, and by the grace of God we 
prevailed.
  Were mistakes made? Of course there were. Were lessons learned? 
Absolutely. An important part of our job is to think about what lessons 
were learned. But we did achieve those goals, and I do not think 
anybody can stand here today and say that everybody did not give it 
their best effort.
  So let us come together as a country through this Congress. Let us 
recognize that we achieved those goals. Let us be thankful we 
succeeded. Let us learn our lessons from Kosovo and let us put this 
behind us and recognize our troops and everybody who played a part in 
the mission.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter).
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I read the resolution. It starts out 
commending the troops, and of course that is the most important thing 
that we can do. I think we should all be involved in that. It then goes 
on to commend Secretary Albright and the President of the United States 
in this operation.
  Mr. Speaker, I voted for the air war. I voted to support the 
operation even though it was a retroactive vote that was placed before 
us. But I am not going to vote to support the President's leadership, 
and I am not going to vote, make that vote, for partisan reasons. I am 
going to vote because of the President's leadership and because of his 
treatment of the military.
  Now let us review the facts:
  Today we have shorted our military people $13 billion worth of 
ammunition. That is all the way from cruise missiles to M16 bullets. 
That means, if we have to go to war tomorrow because this 
administration has pulled money out of the cash register that was meant 
for bullets and used it for peacekeeping operations, we are going to 
have people die because they run out of bullets.
  Today we are 13\1/2\ percent below the civilian pay rate for our 
military. That means that we have 10,000 military families on food 
stamps. That is a direct result of the President's leadership or lack 
thereof. If my colleagues think the President has paid our men and 
women in the military adequately, then vote for this resolution. But I 
am not going to do that. Today our mission-capable rates have dropped 
like a rock for lack of spare parts, and that is because the President 
has not put enough money in the military budget for spares, for 
aircraft and the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force. I 
am not going to commend the President for that.
  So, Mr. Speaker, if the President wants to really do something that 
thanks our military families for their valiant effort in this war, I 
suggest that he pay them, increase their pay to the full 13 percent 
like President Reagan did when he came in and closed that 12.6 percent 
pay gap, and I recommend that he supply adequate ammunition so that 
they can fight wars without running out of ammunition, and I recommend 
that he comes forward with all the spares and the modernization that is 
required to keep 55 airplanes a year from falling out of the sky and 
crashing, resulting in 55 deaths in peacetime operations like we had 
last year.

                              {time}  1545

  This President has hollowed out the military. If he was a Republican, 
I would say exactly the same thing.
  We have some fault, I think, Mr. Speaker, because we have allowed 
ourselves as a Congress to be finessed by this administration and not 
to come back with all the requirements our military really needs.
  I recommended a $28 billion emergency supplemental because that is 
what the services said they needed, and yet when we even tried to get 
above $6 billion and finally got to $12 billion, the President resisted 
that mightily.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, when George Bush came to this Chamber after 
a successful campaign in destroying the designs which Saddam Hussein 
had on Kuwait, he came to this Chamber and we rose as one, not 
Democrat, not Republican, not liberal, not conservative. We stood to 
praise our Commander-in-chief.
  We did not say, Mr. President, how could April Glasbie, your 
ambassador to Iraq, have told those people we would have no protest if 
you had designs on Kuwait? Which she did.
  We could have said, Mr. President, how could you have not detected 
the gas centrifuge technology that he was using for nuclear weapons?
  How could you have voted to condemn Israel in the U.N. for bombing 
the Osirak nuclear power plant?
  How could you have not killed the Red Guard when you had a chance? 
How could you have not wiped out Saddam Hussein when you had a chance?
  We did not do that. We praised George Bush, after a successful 
military campaign, as our Commander-in-Chief. The majority in this 
House should be ashamed. They continue this pathology of bitter hatred 
of the President at the expense of our country.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished 
chairman, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence), for yielding 
me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleague and friend, I agree with him. Let 
us have the question on whether or not we support this President.
  Mr. MARKEY. No.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. That is what you just said.
  Mr. MARKEY. No.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. You just said in your statement, and I 
will take your words down if you want to repeat them, that we voted on 
whether or not to support the policies of President Bush.
  What I am saying and what my colleagues are saying, let us have that 
debate. Let us have a real amendment, not a phony amendment, where we 
have the President's policies hidden behind the skirts and the uniforms 
of the men and women in this military.
  Mr. MARKEY. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. No, I will not yield.
  Mr. MARKEY. You are over the line.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Regular order, Mr. Speaker.
  The gentleman knows full well, as all of our colleagues on the other 
side know, if there is a freestanding amendment on supporting the 
troops, it will pass 435 to 0. If there is a freestanding motion to 
recommit or motion to instruct that only supports the President, they 
could not get the votes. You could not get the votes.
  Let us have that vote. Let us have the vote you want. Let us have the 
policy decision that you have asked for, but you will not give it to 
us.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the motion to 
instruct the conferees, yes, to commend the President of the United 
States, our Commander-in-Chief, and our troops, for the success of the 
air war over Yugoslavia.
  I say shame on those who do not want to honor our troops or to honor 
our Commander-in-Chief. If we may recall in this body, some of these 
are the same people, indeed, who refused to authorize the air strikes 
in Yugoslavia when our young men and women were, in fact, flying 
through enemy fire.

[[Page 14992]]

  What is also interesting to note is over the last 2 weeks, the House 
Democratic leadership have urged a similar kind of an effort to have a 
bipartisan resolution in the same way that the other body did, and they 
have been turned down at every single turn, in order to do this in a 
bipartisan way.
  If we are serious about what we are doing here today, we need in fact 
to say, thanks, and commend the Commander-in-Chief of this United 
States for his leadership and his efforts to honor the valor of the 
young men and women who fought so bravely so that in fact, yes, we can 
stand here today and talk to the people of the United States. That is 
what both of them did for us.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spence) has 3 minutes remaining, the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Skelton) has 1 minute remaining, and the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Skelton) has the right to close.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Kuykendall), a Marine veteran and the father of an F-14 
female pilot.
  Mr. KUYKENDALL. Mr. Speaker, we in this country did not recognize the 
service of those that fought the war that I was part of. We did a 
terrific job recognizing the young men and women we sent to the Persian 
Gulf.
  I will stand foursquare in front of anybody to praise the young men 
and women in this military force we have in the field today. They are 
asked to do more with less, more frequently, than any force we have had 
in our recent history that I am aware of.
  I live that from my past experience. I live it from my current 
experience with a daughter that is involved in those kinds of 
conflicts.
  I find it distasteful, in order to stand up, and want to praise the 
civilian leadership, which is actually their praise comes by being 
elected to those jobs and being approved by us to hold those positions 
as secretaries of defense or other elected leadership that are 
civilian. And I am happy to sign on any motion to praise everyone from 
General Shelton and General Clark, whether I agreed or disagreed with 
how they managed that war on down, because they put themselves in the 
position of putting young people in harm's way. The civilian leadership 
is not the one where that praise needs to be. It needs to be to the 
people who were doing the job, the people who were there and had their 
lives at risk and had their families torn apart because of those 
deployments.
  I very much want to praise them, and I do every time I see some of 
them, and I will continue to do that because the times that I and my 
counterparts lived through in the 1960s and 1970s should never come 
back to this country again, because they do so willingly when they step 
forward to carry that banner for us.
  I would not be in favor of this. I guess I cannot get myself to the 
inflamed pitch of some of my opponents or some of my colleagues, but 
the feeling is just as heartfelt. These young men and women are the 
finest we have, and they deserve our praise, and that is who we should 
be praising specifically and no one else in this.
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) 
is recognized for 1 minute.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spence) for yielding the balance of his time.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just say to my colleagues, if this President will 
close the $13 billion ammunition shortage and supply adequate 
ammunition to our troops, I will personally join with the gentleman 
from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) in offering any type of a resolution to 
thank the President for doing that and say that he is doing a good job.
  If he will take the 10,000 service people off of food stamps and 
close that 13\1/2\ percent pay disparity between the civilian sector 
and the military sector, I will join with the gentleman from Missouri 
(Mr. Skelton) in saying the President is doing a good job in leading 
the military.
  The President right now is not doing a good job in leading the 
military. He is willing to do anything to thank them except pay them 
and arm them, and I am going to vote no on this resolution.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, there is an old saying that a rose by any other name is 
still a rose, and I say, Mr. Speaker, today that victory by any other 
name is still a victory.
  We won this for a number of reasons; the troops. Representing the 
Fourth District of Missouri, I feel compelled to compliment the 509th 
Bomb Wing of the United States Air Force led by Brigadier General Leroy 
Barnidge, for the magnificent job that they did.
  They, and many others, won by the air war; and also but for the Army 
and what they did, their presence, the Navy and what they did and its 
flying missions, all of them did a good job.
  I think we are losing sight of what this instruction is. We all voted 
on this amendment. It passed the House unanimously. So I say let us 
vote on the instruction. The other arguments are side issues. A victory 
is a victory, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, I cannot vote against this resolution 
because I support our troops. Our Nation is forever indebted to our 
service men and women, and they deserve our praise for doing the job we 
sent them to do in Yugolsavia.
  But there are other aspects to this resolution that I find troubling. 
I can't help but think that the agreement signed to end this conflict 
could have been signed before the conflict began, avoiding significant 
suffering and loss of life on all sides.
  Having visited refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia, and having 
traveled to Yugoslavia during the N.A.T.O. bombing, I have seen first-
hand the suffering of innocent people. Ethnic cleansing is evil, and we 
are right to oppose it. But I cannot in good conscience deny my belief 
that this conflict and the refugee crisis could have been avoided but 
for the failure of our diplomatic efforts and our lack of foresight in 
anticipting events.
  Mr. Speaker, with all the suffering that has taken place, this is 
time for solemn reflection, not celebration.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the motion to 
instruct conferees to commend the President and our troops for the 
success of the air war over Yugoslavia.
  By passing this amendment, we reaffirm Congress' support for our men 
and women in the armed forces who carried out this vital mission, and 
for their efforts to bring justice to a devastated region and send an 
important message to Milosevic that his savage campaign of ethnic 
cleansing will not be tolerated.
  27 Reservists from the 103rd Air Control Squadron in Orange--part of 
my District in Connecticut--volunteered to join our troops supporting 
the NATO effort in Kosovo. I am proud of the dedication and bravery of 
these men and women, and honored to have the opportunity to commend 
them for the sacrifice they made to protect our nation and the values 
it represents.
  We must let our forces know of our prayers and our gratitude for 
their efforts to counter aggression, end the misery, and foster peace. 
Support the Motion to Instruct.
  Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, our airmen and soldiers deployed to Kosovo 
executed their mission, albeit unclear, with swiftness and precision. 
Thanks to them and the rigorous training they undertake daily, the 
crisis in Kosovo is over. For this I, my colleagues, the American 
people, and the ethnic Albanian of Kosovo are grateful, and as a member 
of the Armed Services Committee, I'm proud to take any opportunity to 
thank and honor them.
  I cannot, however, support a motion that commends this Administration 
for its role in the Kosovo conflict. How can we praise the 
Administration for a mission that was never defined, an exit strategy 
that was never communicated, and a failure to consult the Congress of 
the United States? While I am glad that the violence in Kosovo has 
ceased, I remain critical of the means which brought about the end. And 
quite frankly, I believe the President should feel fortunate that we 
appear to have at least temporarily resolved the conflict.
  Mr. Speaker, the Administration never presented the Congress and the 
American people with a clear outline of our goals in Kosovo. More 
importantly, never were we provided with the leadership that the people 
of our nation and of the entire free world have come to expect from the 
United States.

[[Page 14993]]

  Fortunately, our fighting forces prevailed and proved, once again, 
that they are the finest in the world. But to suggest that they ended 
the conflict in Kosovo because they were given a blueprint for victory 
is simply wrong.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).
  The question was taken, and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the Chair will reduce to 
5 minutes the vote on closing the conference that will immediately 
follow the first vote on instructing conferees.
  There was no objection.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 261, 
nays 162, answered ``present'' 5, not voting 7, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 266]

                               YEAS--261

     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baird
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bilbray
     Bishop
     Bliley
     Blumenauer
     Boehlert
     Bonior
     Bono
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson
     Castle
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (VA)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dickey
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Foley
     Forbes
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Ganske
     Gejdenson
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Greenwood
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)
     Hastert
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill (IN)
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Hooley
     Horn
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson, E.B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kolbe
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Larson
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McIntyre
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Northup
     Nussle
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Phelps
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Reyes
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Schakowsky
     Scott
     Serrano
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shows
     Sisisky
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thurman
     Tierney
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Walsh
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weller
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Wise
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--162

     Abercrombie
     Aderholt
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Blunt
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Brady (TX)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Campbell
     Canady
     Cannon
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Crane
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Deal
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart
     Doolittle
     Duncan
     Ehrlich
     Everett
     Ewing
     Fletcher
     Fowler
     Gallegly
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green (WI)
     Gutknecht
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill (MT)
     Hilleary
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hunter
     Istook
     Jackson (IL)
     Jenkins
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kingston
     Knollenberg
     Kucinich
     Kuykendall
     Largent
     Lazio
     Lee
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCrery
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     McKinney
     Metcalf
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Norwood
     Ose
     Oxley
     Packard
     Paul
     Pease
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pickett
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Radanovich
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Talent
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thune
     Tiahrt
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Walden
     Wamp
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Young (AK)

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--5

     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Blagojevich
     Rivers
     Rogan

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Brown (CA)
     Cox
     Fossella
     Gibbons
     Green (TX)
     Lipinski
     Smith (NJ)

                              {time}  1616

  Mr. McINTOSH and Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma changed their vote from 
``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. McCOLLUM changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  Mr. ROGAN changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``present.''
  So the motion was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The Chair will appoint 
conferees after the next motion.


   Motion To Close Conference Committee Meeting On S. 1059, National 
    Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, When Classified 
          National Security Information is Under Consideration

  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 12(a)(2) of House rule 
XXII, I offer a motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Spence of South Carolina moves that the conference 
     committee meetings on the bill (S. 1059) be closed to the 
     public at such times as classified national security 
     information is under consideration, provided, however, that 
     any sitting Member of Congress shall have the right to attend 
     any closed or open meeting.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence).
  Pursuant to clause 12(a)(2) of rule XXII, this vote must be taken by 
the yeas and nays.
  This will be a 5-minute vote.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 413, 
nays 9, not voting 12, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 267]

                               YEAS--413

     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Allen
     Andrews
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baker
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Barrett (WI)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Bono
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Cannon
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Clay
     Clayton

[[Page 14994]]


     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Ewing
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Forbes
     Ford
     Fowler
     Frank (MA)
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gejdenson
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill (IN)
     Hill (MT)
     Hilleary
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Holt
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Istook
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson, E.B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kuykendall
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Ose
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pease
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pickett
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sanford
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Schakowsky
     Scott
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Sisisky
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Stupak
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Talent
     Tancredo
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tierney
     Toomey
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Wise
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                                NAYS--9

     Blumenauer
     DeFazio
     Kucinich
     Lee
     McKinney
     Oberstar
     Owens
     Stark
     Watt (NC)

                             NOT VOTING--12

     Abercrombie
     Brown (CA)
     Emerson
     Fossella
     Franks (NJ)
     Gibbons
     Green (TX)
     Larson
     Lipinski
     Salmon
     Smith (MI)
     Souder

                              {time}  1626

  So the motion was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated for:
  Mr. LARSON. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 267, a motion to close 
portions of D.O.D. authorization conference, I was out of the Chamber 
on legislative business. Had I been present, I would have voted 
``Yea.''
  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to speak out of order for 1 
minute.)


                          Legislative Program

  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce to my colleagues 
that, pending completion of today's legislative business, we will be 
adjourning for the Independence Day District Work period. Members will 
be happy to know that the House will, therefore, not be in session 
tomorrow. Please be advised that we expect votes to run late into the 
evening. By completing our work tonight, Members will be able to return 
home a day sooner than expected.
  Mr. Speaker, I would furthermore like to notify Members that we will 
be returning on Monday, July 12 at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour debates. 
We will begin legislative business at 2 p.m., with no votes expected 
until 6 p.m. There will be an official Whip notice distributed to 
Members' offices next week outlining the legislative agenda.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the Chair appoints the 
following conferees:
  From the Committee on Armed Services, for consideration of the Senate 
bill and the House amendment, and modifications committed to 
conference: Messrs. Spence, Stump, Hunter, Bateman, Hansen, Weldon of 
Pennsylvania, Hefley, Saxton, Buyer, Mrs. Fowler, Messrs. McHugh, 
Talent, Everett, Bartlett of Maryland, McKeon, Watts of Oklahoma, 
Thornberry, Hostettler, Chambliss, Hilleary, Skelton, Sisisky, Spratt, 
Ortiz, Pickett, Evans, Taylor of Mississippi, Abercrombie, Meehan, 
Underwood, Reyes, Turner, Ms. Sanchez, Mrs. Tauscher, Mr. Andrews and 
Mr. Larson;
  From the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for 
consideration of the matters within the jurisdiction of that committee 
under clause 11 of rule X: Messrs. Goss, Lewis of California, and 
Dixon;
  From the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, for 
consideration of section 1059 of the Senate bill and section 1409 of 
the House bill, and modifications committed to conference: Messrs. 
McCollum, Bachus, and LaFalce;
  From the Committee on Commerce, for consideration of sections 326, 
601, 602, 1049, 1050, 3151-53, 3155-65, 3173, 3175, 3176-78 of the 
Senate bill, and sections 601, 602, 653, 3161, 3162, 3165, 3167, 3184, 
3186, 3188, 3189, and 3191 of the House amendment, and modifications 
committed to conference: Messrs. Bliley, Barton of Texas, and Dingell;
  Provided that Mr. Bilirakis is appointed in lieu of Mr. Barton of 
Texas for consideration of sections 326, 601, and 602 of the Senate 
bill, and sections 601, 602, and 653 of the House amendment, and 
modifications committed to conference.
  Provided that Mr. Tauzin appointed in lieu of Mr. Barton of Texas for 
consideration of sections 1049 and 1050 of the Senate bill, and 
modifications committed to conference.
  From the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for consideration 
of sections 579 and 698 of the Senate bill, and sections 341, 343, 549, 
567, and 673 of the House amendment, and modifications committed to 
conference: Messrs. Goodling, Deal of Georgia, and Mrs. Mink of Hawaii.

                              {time}  1630

  From the Committee on Government Reform, for consideration of 
sections 538, 652, 654, 805-810, 1004, 1052-54, 1080, 1101-1107, 2831, 
2862, 3160, 3161, 3163, and 3173 of the Senate bill, and sections 522, 
524, 525, 661-64, 672, 802, 1101-05, 2802, and 3162 of the House 
amendment, and modifications committed to conference: Messrs. Burton of 
Indiana, Scarborough and Cummings;
  Provided that Mr. Horn is appointed in lieu of Mr. Scarborough for 
consideration of sections 538, 805-810, 1052-1054, 1080, 2831, 2862, 
3160, and 3161 of the Senate bill and sections 802 and 2802 of the 
House amendment.
  From the Committee on International Relations, for consideration of 
sections 1013, 1043, 1044, 1046, 1066, 1071, 1072, and 1083 of the 
Senate bill, and sections 1202, 1206, 1301-1307, and 1404, 1407, 1408, 
1411, and 1413 of the House

[[Page 14995]]

amendment, and modifications committed to conference: Messrs. Gilman, 
Bereuter, and Gejdenson.
  From the Committee on the Judiciary, for consideration of sections 
3156 and 3163 of the Senate bill and sections 3166 and 3194 of the 
House amendment, and modifications committed to conference: Messrs. 
Hyde, McCollum and Conyers.
  From the Committee on Resources, for consideration of sections 601, 
602, 695, 2833, and 2861 of the Senate bill, and sections 365, 601, 
602, 653, 654, and 2863 of the House amendment, and modifications 
committed to conference: Messrs. Young of Alaska, Tauzin and George 
Miller of California.
  From the Committee on Science, for consideration of sections 1049, 
3151-53, and 3155-65 of the Senate bill, and sections 3167, 3170, 3184, 
3188-90, and 3191 of the House amendment, and modifications committed 
to conference: Messrs. Sensenbrenner, Calvert and Costello.
  From the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for 
consideration of sections 601, 602, 1060, 1079, and 1080 of the Senate 
bill, and sections 361, 601, 602, and 3404 of the House amendment, and 
modifications committed to conference: Messrs. Shuster, Gilchrest and 
DeFazio.
  From the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for consideration of 
sections 671-75, 681, 682, 696, 697, 1062, and 1066 of the Senate bill, 
and modifications committed to conference: Messrs. Bilirakis, Quinn and 
Filner.
  There was no objection.

                          ____________________