KOSOVO
The first portion of Representative Campbell’s provision was H. CON. RES.
82 which directs the President, pursuant to section 5© of the War Powers
Resolution, to remove U.S. Armed Forces from their positions in connection
with the present operations against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This
resolution failed 139-290. Congressman Miller voted “Yes” to remove the troops
because of his ongoing concern about the complete lack of planning and clearly
stated goals of this operation. Until the compelling interests of the United
States are clearly identified, our soldiers should be removed from harm’s way.
The second portion of the War Powers Act was a vote to force Congress to
declare war on Kosovo. H. J. RES. 44 introduced by Congressman Campbell would
declaring a State of War Between the United States and the Government of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This provision failed by a vote of 2-427.
Congressman Miller voted “No” because he does not believe the United States
should be at war with Yugoslavia. After both provisions failed, Congressman
Campbell filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the President from going
forward with the war since Congress has not authorized it under the War Powers
Act.
There were two other votes on April 28 relating to Kosovo. The first vote
was H. R. 1569 Military Operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Limitation Act. This bill would prohibit the use of funds appropriated to the
Department of Defense from being used for the deployment of ground elements of
the United States Armed Forces in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia unless
that deployment is specifically authorized by law. This bill passed 249-180
and now moves to the Senate for action. Representative Miller voted “Yes” on
this provision to ensure that the President and Congress work together to
clearly define the interests of the United States and have mutual support for
actions.
The final vote was on S. CON. RES. 21 which authorizes the President of the
United States to conduct military air operations and missile strikes against
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). This bill failed
to receive a majority of votes. 213 Members of Congress voted for the bill and
the same number voted against. Congressman Miller voted “No” to authorize air
strikes since this would be an endorsement of the present failed Clinton
policy. Moreover, Representative Miller is concerned about how stretched our
military has become and the military action in Kosovo is only stretching our
military more.
Finally, Congressman Miller voted for the Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations Bill for Kosovo. This bill provides $12.9 billion in spending
for this military operations associated with our armed conflict in Kosovo. The
House passed version is nearly twice as much as President Clinton requested.
The House added this extra money to make up for the shortfalls in our
military. There are signs of strain in our military such as aging equipment
and failure to meet recruiting goals because of the greatly increased use of
our military forces all over the world. This bill will increase the
replacement rate for ammunition and speed up military construction projects in
Europe. Also, this bill funds an overdue pay raise for our soldiers. This bill
passed 311-105. The House and Senate Appropriations Conference Committee will
meet to negotiate what the final version and level of support for our troops
will be before it is re-voted upon by the Congress. The negotiators may finish
work this week and Congress may vote on this Conference Report. It would then
be sent to the President for his signature.
GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG ROLE CONTINUES
Once again Kosovo has dominated the debate in Congress. Over the
past two weeks, Congress debated and voted on five important issues relating
to Kosovo. First Congressman Tom Campbell introduced two resolutions under the
War Powers Act. The War Powers Act was passed in response to the Vietnam War
and has proven to be controversial as many Presidents and scholars have
claimed that the War Powers Act infringes on the constitutional duties of the
President. Others claim that the law is necessary to preserve the
constitutional role of Congress in providing for the common defense of the
nation. A spirited and interesting debate on these sometimes competing roles
occurred on the House floor on April 28.
EVERGLADES
Over the past few weeks, Congressman Miller has attended several
congressional hearings and meetings on the issue of the Everglades restoration
plan. Congressman Miller noted his concerns with how many federal agencies are
working on this project and will continue to urge more coordination and less
“turf”battles. Congressman Miller is committed to reducing bureaucratic costs
that will continue to drive up the price of this project. Congressman Miller
is committed to seeing the Everglades get restored.
Congressman Miller has been involved in efforts you may have read
about to require better data from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The
LSC has asked for $300 million of your tax dollars but a recent audit of a few
agencies has greatly affected the number of cases it reported. An audit of
only five of the local agencies has shown that the number of cases reported to
Congress was overstated by 90,000. Congressman Miller has joined with Majority
Leader Dick Armey and others to ask the General Accounting Office to look into
this issue. Congressman Miller will continue to monitor this to make sure that
funding decisions are based on the most complete and accurate data possible.
Look for more updates as this issue develops further.