Andrea Joy Campbell: “the resolution carries the following explicit language: What we do today, and I quote, ``does not necessarily reflect…”

“the resolution carries the following explicit language: What we do today, and I quote, ``does not necessarily reflect any disagreement with the purposes or accomplishments of such Armed Forces, nor does it constitute any judgment of how the Congress would vote, if given the opportunity to do so, on either a declaration of war or a specific authorization for the use of such Armed Forces,'' end quote. My friend and distinguished colleague who has just spoken, therefore, presents, I believe, an inaccurate reflection of what this resolution does. It does not take a position on the advisability or not of being in Bosnia, but it does assert, and strongly so, that it is the right and it is the obligation of the Congress of the United States to say yes or no before United States troops are engaged in hostilities overseas. What has happened is this: The President put troops into Bosnia in December of 1995. He did not obtain the approval of Congress in advance. He should have. And that would be true whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. It is the obligation of Congress to approve the use of United States troops overseas. Now, of course, I recognize that, in the context of an emergency, it is the right of the President, his duty, to respond to an attack upon the United States or upon its Armed Forces. But this is not the situation in Bosnia. There has been plenty of time for the President to bring the matter to Congress and ask for our approval.”