Charles Skelton: “Mr. Chairman, I find it rather ironic; no, I find it rather sad that in the wake of a military victory for America and…”

“Mr. Chairman, I find it rather ironic; no, I find it rather sad that in the wake of a military victory for America and for the NATO forces, we find ourselves in this excellent authorization bill discussing language that cuts off funding for the troops on September 30 of this year. The amendment which I offer will delete subsection A of section 1006, while leaving in place subsection B. Subsection B requires the President to request supplemental appropriations in order to conduct combat or peacekeeping operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Subsection B, standing alone, adequately protects the funding authorized by this bill without running the risk of undermining America's and NATO's military and peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo. Now the withdrawal of Serb forces, which is under way from Kosovo today, the message that we would send by rejecting my amendment would be a horrific message. We must pass this amendment so that we can proceed further and not cut off the troops for the wonderful job that they have done. We cannot cut them off on September 30 of this year.”