Wendy Sherman: “the subject that is on all of our minds is the fight in Kosovo, and I would like to focus on properly interpreting the…”

“the subject that is on all of our minds is the fight in Kosovo, and I would like to focus on properly interpreting the votes of yesterday and looking to what our opportunities for solving this crisis might be tomorrow. Yesterday was a momentous day in the history of this House. First, we voted with an over 60 percent vote that the President should not send major ground forces into Kosovo without the approval of this House. Now it is fair to point out that there were those on the other side. They argued that Congress should not have a role in determining whether ground forces are deployed. They argued that our enemies would tremble in fear if they knew that one man, the President of the United States, without the approval of Congress, could deploy 100,000 American soldiers. Mr. Speaker, I would tremble in fear, and the founders of this republic would tremble in fear if it was thought that one man, without the approval of the representatives of the people, could send 100,000 of our men and women into battle. But the fact that Congress insists upon approving in advance any deployment of ground troops does not mean that Congress has prejudged the issue. Whether this country supports ground troops will depend, in my opinion, on what we discover is happening to the men of Kosovo.”