Doug Bereuter: “my colleagues, I rise in opposition to the resolution. I want to drop back, though, to some of the debate that took…”

“my colleagues, I rise in opposition to the resolution. I want to drop back, though, to some of the debate that took place on the rule. The minority leader came here and suggested it was inappropriate for us to be debating this resolution at this time. That was also voiced by the ranking minority member of the House International Relations Committee here today, and by others. As the gentleman from New York (Chairman Gilman) said, unfortunately debating the issue before the situation fully developed is important for Congress to have a meaningful role. I want to remind my colleagues what happened in Somalia where without any consultation we saw the Administration move from protecting the people involved in the deliveries of food to a nation-building process. It was classic mission creep. I want to remind Members what happened in the formulation of the Dayton Accords when, in fact, we were told by the Administration "do not do anything, it might upset these delicate negotiations ongoing in Dayton." Then what happened? Before Congress had any opportunity express its view or to have a role, before the Dayton Accords were actually signed, troops were on the way to Bosnia and we were locked in. Then what were we told? What we had been told before, we have to support our troops, our men and women in the field, and Congress was cut out of the process. Here we are in another similar situation, but what we have here is very different.…”