[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7892]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 7892]]


                    INTERPRETING THE VOTES ON KOSOVO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, the subject that is on all of our minds is 
the fight in Kosovo, and I would like to focus on properly interpreting 
the votes of yesterday and looking to what our opportunities for 
solving this crisis might be tomorrow.
  Yesterday was a momentous day in the history of this House. First, we 
voted with an over 60 percent vote that the President should not send 
major ground forces into Kosovo without the approval of this House.
  Now it is fair to point out that there were those on the other side. 
They argued that Congress should not have a role in determining whether 
ground forces are deployed. They argued that our enemies would tremble 
in fear if they knew that one man, the President of the United States, 
without the approval of Congress, could deploy 100,000 American 
soldiers.
  Mr. Speaker, I would tremble in fear, and the founders of this 
republic would tremble in fear if it was thought that one man, without 
the approval of the representatives of the people, could send 100,000 
of our men and women into battle.

                              {time}  1400

  But the fact that Congress insists upon approving in advance any 
deployment of ground troops does not mean that Congress has prejudged 
the issue.
  Whether this country supports ground troops will depend, in my 
opinion, on what we discover is happening to the men of Kosovo. Because 
the refugees come out, the women, the children, the old men, but the 
younger men and the middle-aged men are left behind. They may join the 
KLA, and that is their right; they may be detained, and that is not 
something that would cause incredible outrage. But if we discover, as 
so many fear, that the men of Kosovo are being systematically 
slaughtered, then there will be an outcry throughout Europe and the 
United States, and it is possible that this House would authorize the 
use of ground troops.
  Second, and I think most telling, we voted 2-to-1, and that is very 
rare in this House, by a 2-to-1 majority against ending all 
hostilities. In doing so, we made it clear that America is not simply 
going to shrug our shoulders and walk away. This is the most important 
vote, and the vote that should be focused on by Belgrade.
  The third vote, and, unfortunately, the vote that is getting the 
press, was a vote of 213 to 213 as to whether this House would go on 
record authorizing the air strikes.
  Now, our own press is misinterpreting this vote, for it came just a 
few hours after, by a 2-to-1 majority, my colleagues and I voted not to 
stop what is going on now. We are not fools. What is going on now is an 
air campaign, and our decision not to stop it should have been read as 
a decision to go forward, at least for the present time.
  But our own press, let alone the people in Belgrade, misinterpret the 
last vote yesterday, because they fail to account for two groups that 
voted against the resolution. One was a group, unfortunately, of some 
of my Republican colleagues, who, while they support continuing the air 
campaign, oppose saying anything good about anything President Clinton 
has ever done. It is not a secret even in Belgrade that President 
Clinton is not popular in the Republican Caucus, but that does mean 
that this people or this Congress wants to stop action and let 
Milosevic have his way.
  Second, there were a group that I respect immensely who looked at 
some of the hidden possible legal implications of that resolution. They 
noticed that under the War Powers Act there may be a challenge to any 
attempt by the President to put in ground troops without the approval 
of this House, and that there is some judicial writing to the effect 
that if Congress authorizes any kind of force, that we are in no 
position to limit any other kind of force.
  Properly interpreted, the votes of yesterday are clear: We should 
proceed to work to put Kosovars back in their homes in security and 
peace, and I addressed the House earlier on some of the more creative 
ways to try to accomplish that.

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