congressional_record: CREC-1998-12-17-pt1-PgH11750
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| CREC-1998-12-17-pt1-PgH11750 | 1998-12-17 | 105 | 2 | FURTHER LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM | HOUSE | HOUSE | ALLOTHER | H11750 | H11752 | [{"name": "Richard A. Gephardt", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Ike Skelton", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Patrick J. Kennedy", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Richard K. Armey", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "David E. Bonior", "role": "speaking"}] | 144 Cong. Rec. H11750 | Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 153 (Thursday, December 17, 1998) [Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 153 (Thursday, December 17, 1998)] [House] [Pages H11750-H11752] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] FURTHER LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.) Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, first, the minority respects the right of the majority to decide the agenda and decide when we will vote on important matters like the one that is to be before us tomorrow. The minority also wants debate and wants as much debate as we can have so that Members can express their views on this very important subject. The minority also wants this to be completed this year if at all possible. We have said that over and over again. I agree with those views. But I must say that we strongly object to this matter coming up tomorrow or the next day or any day in which our young men and women in the military are in harm's way protecting the interests of the people of the United States. I would simply say the reason we believe that and we believe it strongly is that we think, we must think, not only of how this activity will be received by Members or other Americans around the country, we believe we have got to also look at how Saddam Hussein will perceive the idea and the information that, while he is under physical attack by the United States and its people, we are having a debate in our House of Representatives to remove the Commander in Chief from his office. I do not think we can assume that Saddam Hussein understands all the nuances and all the facts surrounding this debate and this activity. We also have to ask how this will be received by the Russians, how it will be received by the British, how it will be received by the French, the Chinese, and people all across this world, that we are seeking to ally ourselves with or to at least get their understanding and their help and their cooperation as we go through this very difficult activity. Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield at that point? Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri. [[Page H11751]] Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I think more important to that, if I can comment on the remarks of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), it is how the sailors, marines, airmen, and the soldiers would receive this. Who would think of removing General Schwarzkopf in the middle of Desert Storm? We are talking about taking up a motion to remove the Commander in Chief of the troops who are actively engaged in a military effort, to remove him during a military crisis of the United States of America. We have come back at other times in this Congress, at the end of the year, when there is no conflict, and I say this not to be of help to the President, but to be of assistance to the morale and to the steadiness of the young men and young women who are engaged in this. I think we really ought to rethink taking this matter up during this military crisis that we are in. Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would sum up; and I know we have one or two other speakers who want to speak. Let me just put it this way: We have had a lot of partisan rancor in the years past, and that always is part of a political body like this. But I want to say to my friends in the Republican Party in the majority, I feel very strongly that this is a high moment for the House of Representatives. I feel strongly that we must perform at a high level. I hope we can. I also hope that there is not partisan rancor in this debate on impeachment, because we have a high duty and responsibility to carry forward. I hope and pray that we could have this debate when it will not be misperceived by Saddam Hussein or by somebody else in the world that we have to depend upon. I ask the majority to reconsider its decision, its legitimate decision to hold this debate while our troops are in the field. I know that Members may feel that there is inconvenience in waiting here until this military action is finished tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. I would like us all to think of the inconvenience that our young people are undergoing, the danger that they face, and how they will see this action and perhaps misperceive what is happening in their House of Representatives. I want them to see nothing from us but support and unity of purpose at this time of danger in their lives. Mr. KENNEDY OF Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield? Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island. Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman brings up a very important point. I would like to honestly ask the majority leader to answer it. As a member of the Committee on National Security, we get briefings constantly on intelligent reports and the implications of United States foreign policy around the world. It is hard for me to believe for one moment that, if this House engages in impeachment debate tomorrow while the bombs are being dropped and our men and women in uniform are actively engaged in a wartime activity, that we do not invite some action on the part of our enemy in this war to take advantage of this situation at the cost of the lives of men and women in uniform. I would ask the gentleman whether he has gotten a full briefing from George Tenet, the Director of the CIA, to give us some satisfaction that, if we embark on this precarious road, that we are not putting in jeopardy the lives of our men and women in uniform. Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), the majority leader. Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the minority leader for yielding to me. If I might just make a quick response to the gentleman's comments. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Nation has fully well understood the schedule that was prepared for this week and announced for this week. The President certainly must have known about this. The President must have weighed that. Indeed, I think, by press reports, it is clear that he did weigh that matter as he made the decision to engage in this effort in Iraq. When he made that decision, knowing full well that this debate might be happening at this time, he very likely addressed in his own mind the question: Can I effectively complete this mission under those circumstances? Indeed, he must clearly have concluded he can; and perhaps that is why he felt so confident this morning when asked in the Oval Office: ``Would it undercut your authority if the House opens the impeachment debate during this operation?'' The President replied, ``No. I think that, first of all, I am going to complete this mission.'' He clearly understands that, as the Commander in Chief and the President of the United States, he has the ability to complete his mission. He clearly understands that we, too, have our ability to complete our mission. One of the wonderful things about a democracy that perhaps Saddam Hussein may never be able to understand is different, important missions can be carried out by different branches of the government simultaneously at peace and with decorum and with effectiveness and with conclusion. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why our democracy is so wonderful and the message that our men and women in the field fighting should have the right to see; that as we engage in conflict, democracy does not stop in America, and, therefore, it is all the more worth our fight and our risk. Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior). Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding to me. I would like to reference the remarks that were made by the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and the Speaker-elect, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston). The gentleman from Louisiana said let us disregard the outside influence. I would suggest that, as a body, when we are dealing with the two most profound questions this institution could ever deal with, sending our young men and women into combat and deciding the fate of a President, that the country has a right to be involved and involved intimately in those decisions, and that we ought not to disregard their voice, disregard the election results, disregard, as the distinguished leader has just said, the minority leader, the effects it will have on 24,000 men and women who are engaged in combat at this very hour. It would be a grave mistake to go forward with this vote while our Nation is engaged in military action. I cannot believe that we are even having this debate. It was totally inappropriate, if I might say, for some in the Republican leadership, to call for the President's resignation when he was trying to bring peace just this last week in the Middle East. So it should not surprise us that this decision would flow from that. Our angst about moving forward rests on another pillar; and that is the inability of this side of the aisle to have the chance to offer a reasonable alternative, a censure alternative which the majority of Americans now support. It is unfair. It is wrong. There is something about this whole process that shows a lack of judgment, a lack of proportionality, a lack of common sense. We have time to reach some resolution on these important questions before we engage in the debate. But I think it behooves us all to take a step back, to take a deep breath. My goodness, if Bob Dole and Jerry Ford could offer a way out of this mess through the censure resolution, why cannot we have that choice on the floor? Why is that fundamental choice supported by the majority of the people in this country being denied to us on the most fundamental question that we could be dealing with in this Congress? So I just would ask the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and the Speaker-elect to reconsider the path that I think we are about to follow regretfully tomorrow; to pause. There will be time to have this debate. It will, I suspect, be before the end of the year. But my sense, it makes no sense, to go forward when our young men and women are under arms. Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, if I can reclaim my time and conclude, I would simply ask again in an earnest way, in a heartfelt way, that the majority would consider what we have said about doing this debate and taking this under consideration while our young men and women are in harm's way and also consider the wisdom of [[Page H11752]] denying an alternative motion of censure when this debate takes place. We feel that both of these requests are reasonable and make common sense, and we make them with respect, and we make them with heartfelt feeling among most of the Members on this side. We appreciate the opportunity to communicate this with the majority. We feel this is a moment of great responsibility for the House of Representatives. We want nothing more than all of the House and all of its Members to bring praise on ourselves as an institution, that we carry out these grave responsibilities in the best possible way for the American people. ____________________ |