[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12427-12428]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--KOSOVO

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of a Kosovo-related resolution; 
that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc; and that the 
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have to object at this time, not that I 
will object to it in the end. The Senate will go on record on this 
matter, but we just saw the language 15 minutes ago. I have already 
initiated a process to have it reviewed by the chairman of the Armed 
Services Committee, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, 
the chairman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, and 
other interested Senators, to make sure they are comfortable with the 
language, because it does go beyond just the resolution we see underway 
now concerning Kosovo and the withdrawal of the Serbian troops and, 
hopefully, the return of the Kosovars. It also goes into some language 
with regard to what should happen in Kosovo now and also language with 
regard to President Milosevic.
  All I am saying is we want to review the language and make sure all 
interested Senators are aware of it. We will be glad to work with 
Senator Reid, Senator Daschle, and others to have a statement by the 
Senate on this matter, as we usually do when there are events such as 
this.
  I do want to go ahead and say for the record, as others have, that 
the Senate is, I am sure, and I personally am very pleased an agreement 
appears to have been worked out and appears to be going forward.
  Earlier I was able to discuss this matter with the President. It does 
appear that the Serbian troops are beginning to be withdrawn and the 
bombing will be halted. This should lead to a process where the 
Kosovars can return to their homeland. That is good news.
  I think we all should express our appreciation for the leadership 
that has occurred in this area, and also for the good and outstanding 
work done by our troops. That is the thrust of what is in this 
resolution. So I think we all should acknowledge that. I think there is 
a sigh of relief that it did not go on further, with great problems 
facing U.S. men and women in uniform who had to go in as ground troops, 
or as the weather turned bad. We are all very pleased that this appears 
to be working out.
  As the President said to me when we talked earlier today--and I do 
not want to quote the President, because you do not do that, but the 
upshot of it was we still have a long way to go. And we do. But we all 
can hope and pray for the best.
  So while I will reserve the right to object at this point, we will 
work with the leadership on both sides of the aisle and develop some 
language on which the Senate can act.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we understand the objection of the majority 
leader. We wish we could have gotten the information in the form of 
this resolution to him sooner. But the war just ended, and the United 
Nations resolution just a matter of hours ago was passed.
  We thought it was very appropriate prior to this weekend--we are 
going out of session now until Monday--that the President, the 
Secretary of Defense, and especially those military men and women who 
have been away from home for weeks--the bombing has taken 11 weeks--
that we commend and applaud the work they have done.
  The way to do that formally is through a resolution. As the leader 
has said, he agrees generally with the thrust of what we are trying to 
do. We will be happy to work with the Republican leadership to come up 
with a resolution that makes sure the fighting men and women of this 
country are commended, that the Secretary of Defense is commended, the 
Commander in Chief, and that also we acknowledge we set out to make 
sure the Serb forces got out of Kosovo--they are on their way out--that 
the ethnic Albanians are allowed to return--they are on their way 
back--and, of course, there be a peacekeeping force on the ground, 
which this body has already approved.
  So with that, I will yield the floor, recognizing that this is a 
great day in the history of the United States, and it is a great day in 
the history of the other 18 nations in that we have been able to force 
evil to come to an end. We have won the war. It is very important that 
we now win the peace.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. LOTT. One final comment on that. The record will show the Senate 
is working on an appropriate resolution. We will have one, I am sure, 
early next week.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Daschle-
Reid resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the concurrent resolution was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. --

       Whereas United States and NATO Forces have achieved 
     remarkable success in forcing Yugoslavia to accept NATO's 
     conditions to halt the air campaign;
       Whereas these historic accomplishments have been achieved 
     at an astoundingly small loss of life and number of 
     casualties among American and NATO forces;
       Whereas to date two Americans have been killed in the line 
     of duty;
       Whereas hundreds of thousands of Kosovar civilians have 
     been ethnically cleansed or killed by Serb security forces: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That:
       (1) The Congress applauds and expresses the appreciation of 
     the Nation to:

[[Page 12428]]

       (A) President Clinton, Commander in Chief of all American 
     Armed Forces, for his leadership during Operation Allied 
     Force.
       (B) Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Armed Forces Chief 
     of Staff Hugh Shelton and Supreme Allied Commander--Europe 
     Wesley Clark, for their planning and implementation of 
     Operation Allied Force.
       (C) All of the American forces deployed in the Balkan 
     region, who have served and succeeded in the highest 
     traditions of the Armed Forces of the United States.
       (D) All of the forces from our NATO allies, who served with 
     distinction and success.
       (E) 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 in this crisis.
       (2) The Congress notes with deep sadness the loss of life 
     on all sides in Operation Allied Force.
       (3) The Congress demands from Slobodan Milosevic:
       (A) The withdrawal of all Serb forces from Kosovo according 
     to relevant provisions of the Military Technical Agreement 
     between NATO and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
       (B) An end to the hostilities in Kosovo on the part of Serb 
     forces.
       (C) The unconditional return to their homes of all Kosovar 
     citizens displaced by Serb aggression.
       (4) The Congress urges the KLA to observe the ceasefire and 
     demilitarize.
       (5) The Congress urges all relevant authorities to 
     seriously examine the issue of possible war crimes by 
     Slobodan Milosevic and other Serb military leaders and 
     forces.

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