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Gene Taylor ( D ) reluctantly but loudly announced, " I am going to vote to declare war ( on Yugoslavia ) ", even before debate on the four measures began. They were: 1) House Resolution 1569 : To require Congressional approval before ground troops could be sent; 2) House Continuing Resolution 82: To return the troops from Yugoslavia; 3) House Joint Resolution 44: A declaration of war on Yugoslavia; and 4) House Continuing Resolution 21: Support the current mission of the air campaign with NATO.
While Bill Clinton " wagged the dog " and lied through his teeth about the refugee stories coming out of Kosovo in a short televised press conference just outside the White House, the House of Representitives prepared to deal with the issues involved in this undeclared and illegal Clinton/Gore War. You could tell Clinton was lying the entire time, as he continuously was biting his lip when he saying things like, " We would welcome the support of Congress ". What a liar! And just who is the " we " he keeps talking about; him and the Albanians?
*After a short debate and vote on the rule, debate was opened on HR. 1569: must seek Congressional approval.
John Linder ( R ) pointed out that Congress stopped the Vietnam War. Cythia McKinney ( D ) said, " This administration is on the wrong track...we have killed many innocent civilians, both Serb and Albanian ". McKinney continued, " This administration backed itself into a corner and now it wants to take us with it ".
Tom Campbell ( R ), who stirred up this hornet's nest with CR 82 and JR 44, forcing the House to do the War Powers Act routine, began by pointing out, " the President has authorized combat pay ". He declared, " We are on the verge of combat troops ". He thought the Clinton administration has usurped power from the Congress and noted, " The Secretary of State said there was no need for Congressional support to send in the troops ". He made it quite clear that " we will be rebuilding the bridges we've bombed in Yugoslavia " with U.S taxpayer dollars. He begged, " This is a question of lives and money ", and that the House should " vote to declare war or return our troops home ".
Michael McNulty ( D ) had an often reflected position of, " I support arming the KLA ". These Democrats are drippy drooly when offering aid to every specisis on the planet, but truely heartless when it comes to treating their opposite numbers, the Republicans. Lloyd Doggett ( D ) attacked the Republicans relentlessly and directly, accusing them of advancing their own pet projects over patriotism. Brad Sherman ( D ), see: Sherman's March To Kosovo. ( 4-22-99 ), said, " The President refuses to seek Congressional support " for his actions in Yugoslavia. He followed with, " I tremble in fear " when " one man can send one hundred thousand troops into battle, without seeking Congressional approval ".
Duke Cunningham ( R ) understood the true nature of the Albanian position in accepting the United States/NATO offer of an unlimited airforce for free, saying " Albanians have to stop their expansionism ".
Dennis Kucinich ( D ) said, " Don't give a license to extend an undeclared war ".
Pete Stark ( D ) thought , " We cannot ignore other conflicts, but...NATO has made matters worse ".
Charlie Norwood ( R ) wasn't coy, " He ( Clinton ) might become dictator of the whole world ".
Dan Burton ( R ) asked this rhetorical question, " Does this involve our national security? I think not...does this involve one country invading another, I think not ". He read the Democrats the riot act with, " We are going to have to take money out of the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for this illegal war ".
Steve Buyer ( R ) wasn't going to sugar-coat the situation, but he started out slow with, " We need to thoroughly understand what we are fighting for ". He also had a rhetorical question, " Are we Europhiles? Do we only go to war when the problem is in Europe and not Africa ". He finished strong with, " This is a cover vote for Democrats who don't have a stomach ".
Merril Cook ( R ) thought we should " pull out our troops ", and opined that " Our current military action has not helped ".
" There goes the Social Security Trust Fund ", said Dana Rohrabacher ( R ). He continued, " We can't be the world's policeman ".
William Gooding ( R ) said, " I don't believe the President can conduct a ground war without the consent of Congress ". He also mentioned the word " draft ".
Tillie Fowler ( R ) surprised me with, " While the President has stated he doesn't intend to deploy ground troops... meanwhile several NATO allies are pushing for ground troops. It is not within our power to stop all the world's problems ".
Tom DeLay ( R ) is usually a hawk but he was concerned that " fighter planes are being canabalized for spare parts and we are running out of cruise missiles ". He called the Clinton/Gore War an " open-ended peace mission that cost ten billion dollars already ". He pointed out that the Clinton administration can't be trusted as, " two withdrawl deadlines in Bosnia have passed ".
Dick Armey ( R ) was direct to the point with, " He made an agreement with NATO on using American aircraft and ground troops, then he came to us. Maybe he should have come to us before going to NATO...We want to change that cycle ".
John Kasich ( R ) thought we had " no vital interest, no achievable goal, and no exit strategy ". He opined that, " One man should not have the ability to send our nation to war ". He correctly pointed out that, " the civil war in Kosovo has been raging on since 1389 ".
Joe Scarborough ( R ) was refreshingly smug, saying, " The Secretary of State guaranteed it would be short, and the President is acting like LBJ ".
Lindsey Graham ( R ) didn't mince any words with, " I do not have confidence to trust the President ", and " a NATO invasion would start the Cold War all over again ".
James Traficant ( D ) said, " Let Europe provide the ground troops ".
Floyd Spence ( R ) expressed, " We should not be in the Balkans ".
The final vote on HR. 1569 was roughly 249 to 180 for passage with almost all Republicans voting for, together with a few Democrats.
*The debate on Continuing House Resolution 82: bring troops back, showed the Democrats were still playing partisan political games.
These guys thought we should pull our troops out now:
" Pull out the forces...was it worth it in Vietnam , to save face ", began Tom DeLay ( R ). He continued, " Clinton's bombing campaign has caused everything to explode...Reagan cut his losses in Lebanon ". He called the Clinton/Gore War a " humanitarian invasion force ".
Chris Cannon ( R ) declared, " I am a hawk ". He observed that " Without considering the rammifications, he ( Clinton ) decided to go to war ".
Steve Chabot ( R ) said, " Our involvement in this European conflict is wrong ".
Dan Manzullo ( D ) questioned, " Thousands of Americans wounded and killed; is it worth it "?
Ernest Istook ( R ) observed, " He ( Clinton ) failed to get permission ". He correctly pointed out that " the NATO treaty says nothing about launching an attack ".
Sam Johnson ( R ) thought " war is a last resort ".
Patsy Mink ( D ) wanted to " declare a halt on the bombing and have Germany, Russia and the UN negotiate ". Go Patsy!
Tom Tancredo ( R ) had the guts to say, " It has nothing to do with ethnic cleansing, it has to do with a legacy...it is time to withdraw ".
Jim Leach ( R ) admitted, " Seven weeks ago I voted against using force in Yugoslavia, because I couldn't discern a legitimate interest ".
Edward Royce ( R ), Charlie Bass ( R ), and Charles Canady ( R ) and Steve Horn ( R ) all saw there was " no vital interest " involved in Yugoslavia. While Bob Barr ( R ) thought the whole thing was a " recipe for disaster ".
These guys all wanted to keep or add to, our forces in the Balkans:
Benjamin Gilman ( R ) said, " it would remove all pressure on him ( Milosevic ) ". Notice how they let the Republican go first?
William Delahunt ( D ) is a disgrace. I can't be much more specific, as it was truely gorilla theater that can only play that fast and loose with the truth on the floor of the House. He did say, " There is no civil war "?
Joseph Hoeffel ( D ) called it ( I assume what the Republicans are saying about the war being undeclared and illegal ), " a modern day isolationism ". He used heavy buzz words like, " genocide " and phrases like, " don't undermine NATO's resolve ".
Gregory Meeks ( D ) wanted to " stay the course in Kosovo and correct our policy in Africa ".
Danny Davis ( D ) talked of " assualts ", " brutal rapes ", things getting " burned ", " ethnic cleansing " and " genocide ". He didn't want to be accused of missing any of the White House talking points fax subjects or suggested phrases, by ending with, " There can be no justice in America while there is injustice in Kosovo ".
Sam Gejdenson ( D ) got emtional with, " Stop Milosevic from killing civilians ". I guess he hasn't been watching CNN to see who has the higher civilian body count, Clinton or Milosevic ( it has to be getting quite close now ). Sam did admit, " Hitler and Stalin did it bigger and better ", while John Olver ( D ) and Sonny Callahan ( R ) did the bi-partisan chorus.
Tom Campbell ( R ) closed his resolution debate with, " We don't have to do this war ." Looking sort of like Wings Hauser, he said, " This is a moment we didn't have before...before getting involved in a civil war ". Dig the heavy Vietnam reference?
The vote on House Continuing Resolution 82: Withdrawl of U.S. troops, was 139 to 290 against passage.
*Next came House Joint Resolution 44: A declaration of war on Yugoslavia.
Tom Campbell ( R ) closed again, " We are at war ". He then listed why he thought we were at war and illustrated how the Clinton White House was going to great lengths to deny it. " The Secretary of Defense said he wasn't qualified to say if we were at war ". " The Secretary of State refused to say hostilities were occuring ". " We have prisoners of war, admitted as much by the President ". He postulated, " If it is not war, we must stop the incidents of war ". He concluded with, " If we are at war, declare it; if not, bring home the troops ".
Both sides were using the occasion to voice opinions on the Balkan situation in general. " We are not going to declare war on Yugoslavia, they have done nothing to us ", said Ron Paul ( R ). Nancy Peloxi ( D ) played to the cameras and talked of her trips to the Balkans. She rationalized on not declaring war because, " the timing wasn't right "? Matt Salmon ( R ), " opposed this mission from the get-go ". He cliched, " The road to hell is paved with good intentions ". Walter Jones ( R ) thought, " While the United States may be the world's only super-power, we cannot be the world's policeman ". Duke Cunningham ( R ) wanted to " halt the bombing and get our boys back ". Jeff Matcalf ( R ) was serious with, " Congress should reclaim the right to take this nation to war ". Finally, Robin Hayes ( R ) called Kosovo, " failed foreign policy ".
Two people voted yes, to declare war ( 2 to 427 ). We know they were Gene Taylor ( D ) and Joe Barton ( R ), though Benjamin Gilman ( R ) said during the debate, " Mister President, do it right or don't do it at all "?
*The last resolution to be debated and voted on came from the Senate, where it passed at 57 votes, House Continuing Resolution 21: Voicing support of the current airwar.
Those for the resolution included:
Jim Davis ( D ) showed his true intentions, saying " His ( Milosevic's ) campaign of terror must be stopped " and we must install, " self government in Kosovo ". Jim Moran ( D ) pounded the podium like some insane animal and shouted, it is " the strength of NATO against Milosevic ". He blatantly lied and exaggerated with, " Slobodan has killed 200,000 people ". He did correctly call the Balkans, " the fault line between the Chrsitians and the Muslims ". Funny, I didn't think Moran looked like a Muslim terrorist, but ' wipe your mouth, Jim ', okay? That white stuff collecting in the corners of your mouth reminds me too much of Schumer. Ike Skelton ( D ) was displaying his teaching well, as he said , " It has to be victory ". Norm Sisisky ( D ) stressed that we " never suggest to the troops, our own supportisn't forthcoming ". Richard " Send a message " Gephardt ( D ) wanted to " stand firmly behind something ". He crooned, " America must be unified with NATO in it's first action conceived in 50 years ". He finally thought, " our best...we owe them an affirmation ". Barney Frank ( D ) added the class clown's non-opinion opinion, with, " We don't have the option of copping out ".
Those against the resolution included:
Tom DeLay ( R ) announced that a vote for " this resolution means you are about to take ownership of this bombing ". He described the current situation as the " Secretary of State decided to bomb him to the peace table ". He exposed, " The briefings told us this was no big deal ", only a few days of bombing. He finally declared, " This administration started a war with less than two weeks planning ".
Dana Rohrabacher ( R ) had a realistic point of view once again with, " The President is using the bombing to have both parties endorse a policy where U.S. forces will be garrisoned in the Balkans ". He mused, " NATO has done it's job ".
Heather Wilson ( R ) asked, " Do you want to stand behind this? " Looking to the objective, she said, " We have exasterbated the disaster ", and to make sure everyone understood her point, " we have made it worse ". Joe Scarborough ( R ) revealed that, " This is a radical extreme departure by NATO from it's defensive nature ". He said, " We see the ghosts of LBJ rising in the steam of the Potomac ". On why Kosovo and not the other larger areas of human suffering, he urged everyone to, " apply the same test to every regime ". Doug Ose ( R ) said, " I don't understand what the national security interest is whether it be in the air or on the ground ".
Oh man, I was impressed, as HR 21 didn't pass, deadlocked at 213 to 213, with 26 courageous Democrats offsetting the 31 gut-less Republicans who voted yes. Oh yeah, somewhere in there, Duncan Hunter ( R ) said, " We need you Democrats to vote for more funding of the military ".
Representitives repeating the Clinton White House spin lines about ethnic cleansing and genocide by Milosevic, instead of addressing other places where the killing is thousands of times more serious included: Sam Gejdenson ( D ) , Alcee Hastings ( D ), Sander Levin ( D ), Benjamin Giman ( R ), Maxine " I am not a hawk " Waters ( D ) , Ron Kind ( D ), Brad Sherman ( D ), Edward Markey ( D ), David " Don't forget to use the buzz phrases, ' gang rape ' and ' burned villages ' Bonior ( D ), Eliot Engel ( D ), Peter " The majority of Republicans don't favor the War Powers Act " King ( R ), John Tanner ( D ), Sonny Callahan ( R ), Ike Skelton ( D ), Richard " The President will not ask for an introduction of ground troops without a vote " Gephardt ( D ) - this is probably true, as he would never ' ask '-, Steve Rothman ( D ), Steny Hoyer ( D ), Delegate Robert Underwood ( D ), Vic Snyder ( D ) , Jim Turner ( D ), John Spratt ( D ), Bernie Sanders ( I ), Tom Lantos ( D ), Sheila Jackson Lee ( D ), Earl Pomeroy ( D ) is a White House pomeranian, Chet Edwards ( D ), Rosa DeLauro ( D ) and Tom Allen ( D ).
Who said partisanship is dead in the House? I think the Senators should be quite embarrassed for sending that continuing resolution over, to be thrown back in their faces.
- Bongo ( Find your integrity? )
