Mike Levin: “the Byrd-Warner provision would make the decision that U.S. ground troops must pull out of Kosovo starting in August of…”

“the Byrd-Warner provision would make the decision that U.S. ground troops must pull out of Kosovo starting in August of this year if the Europeans don't meet certain specified percentages of their financial and civilian police commitment, unless the Congress changes its mind and decides otherwise. It did decide, in any event, that even if the Europeans do meet their commitments, even if they do meet the commitments we have been urging them to meet--and they have been making progress--even if they meet those commitments, next year, in any event, our troops are coming out of Kosovo, unless Congress changes its mind. It is all self-executing. If Congress does nothing from this point on, if we adopt the Byrd-Warner language, next year, in the middle of the year, our troops must come out of Kosovo. Now, the issue here isn't whether we have the power to set a withdrawal date and to enforce it with the power of the purse. That is not the issue. I think all of us would support the right of this Senate and this Congress to set a withdrawal date for our forces from anywhere. We have exercised that power. We exercised it in Somalia and in Haiti. The issue before us is the wisdom of setting a withdrawal date today, putting it on automatic pilot, and saying that a year from now, unless Congress reverses its position, those troops must come out.”