House Ties Clinton's Hands
A divided House voted Wednesday to require President Clinton to get congressional approval before injecting "ground elements" into the Kosovo conflict. Also, in a largely symbolic move, the House voted against supporting the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
The 249-180 vote to limit his ability to widen the war came despite Mr. Clinton's appeal to Congress that the United States must follow NATO's lead and speak "with a single voice" on the crisis.
Democrats suggested a veto was likely if the measure is enacted. The Senate has not voted on the legislation.
Mr. Clinton's appeal was made in a letter to the House, in which he also said he would reject any attempt to send troops to Kosovo without first consulting Congress. He also said he didn't intend to use U.S. troops to fight their way in on the ground to Kosovo, reports CBS White House Correspondent Bill Plante.
The House voted anyway to force him to get congressional approval. A later vote (sponsored by the Democrats) in support of the air war failed on a tie vote.
The White House shrugged this off as inconclusive. Mr. Clinton is going to Germany next week to visit the refugees who have been given shelter there. He'll also visit troops at the big U.S. base in Ramstein. (It will be a short trip; the president will leave Washington on Tuesday evening and return early Thursday morning.)
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Thursday that, the House votes aside, the president intends for the U.S. to persist until NATO prevails in the Kosovo conflict. He adds that the House voted "no" on pulling back, "no" on going forward, and deadlocked on standing still, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.
"The only thing they agreed on is that they need to spend twice as much money on what we can't agree on," said Lockhart. "Our concern was this would send a mixed signal or be misinterpreted. I don't think anyone in the world will understand what they did yesterday."
Lockhart also says the president does not feel boxed in by the House votes. He thinks the American people support the U.S. position. He also doubts the Senate will follow the House lead on any of these measures.
The House Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, plans to vote Thursday on a $12.9 billion measure financing the conflict with Yugoslavia, more than twice the $6.05 billion Mr. Clinton requested.
Arguing that the administration has underestimated the campaign's price tag and overburdened the Pentagon, Republicans have increased spending for the fighting and Kosovar refugees. They also have added money for defense programs around the globe, including a pay raise for troops. The Senate is preparing a similar bill.
Mr. Clinton has been pressing for quick approval of his $6 billion request to pay for the conflict with Yugoslavia, and urged lawmakers to resist Republican-led efforts to double it. "We must get a Kosovo unding measure passed and to my desk now," President Clinton said.
The president briefed lawmakers at the White House on the five-week air battle and NATO's resolve to prevail over Milosevic and his campaign of violence in Kosovo.
Asked if there were any signs that Milosevic was losing his grip on power, Mr. Clinton said, "We have some indications that there are differences of opinion, obviously, developing in Belgrade ... There are some things we know I should not comment on." In Belgrade, Vuk Draskovic, a deputy premier who criticized Milosevic, was fired.
President Clinton accused Milosevic of waging a "meticulously planned" campaign to drive 1.8 million ethnic Albanians from their homes in Kosovo. He quoted an account related by Brian Atwood, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, from an elderly woman who told of Serb soldiers tying up all the men in her village, dousing them with gasoline and setting them afire.
"It's the kind of story that would be too horrible to believe if it were not so consistent with what other refugees have been saying," the president said.
Lockhart said that "any additional funding creates the potential for political fights and dangerous delay." Unless Clinton's request is approved and signed within three weeks, "we'll face a readiness crisis of substantial portion," Lockhart said.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that it will call 33,102 reservists to active military duty, beginning immediately with 2,116 members of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard to help in aerial refueling of NATO warplanes.