Charles Skelton

Mr. Chairman, for our men and women in uniform, I ask for support of this authorization bill. For our soldiers in the U.S. Army in places like Sinai, Ecuador, Peru, South Korea, Haiti, and the Balkans, I ask for support of increased…

I became quite concerned over this as a result of the New York Times article, and I subsequently wrote the President because the Secretary of State clearly said that we are not guaranteeing peace over there, that the 1 year of the IFOR and…

this is the fifth speech I am giving on Bosnia. It contains good news. In my last address I stated that on March 28 I sent a letter to the President regarding the New York Times report that the United States is being urged to stay in…

Our troops continue to do an outstanding job. They are fully deployed. They are completing tasks according to schedule, although not always under optimum circumstances. However, I have concerns about three conditions that may cause us to…

the sad part of this whole debate is the fact that it attacks the confidence and credibility of an institution that has served Great Britain and the United States and our various States now for some 700 years, and that is the jury trial…

the debate over the American deployment to Bosnia has ceased and in this, my third floor speech regarding that troubled part of the world, I wish to say a good word about the Americans in uniform stationed there. From briefings that I have…

Today I am giving this second in a series of speeches updating the Congress on the state of our peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Last night in his State of the Union Address the President thanked the American troops taking part in the…

Mr. Speaker, we have troops in Bosnia. We have troops on the way to Bosnia. The least we can do is to pass this authorization bill to go to conference, because there are so many, many items in this bill that are noncontroversial that will…

in all of this discussion and debate about who goes to work, who does not go to work, who gets paid, who does not get paid, who will have the tools and the gasoline and the wherewithal to do their work, I am reminded of the comment once…

In all of this business about the budget, there are some dedicated Americans we should not overlook. The votes in this Chamber on the issue of Bosnia do not end our interest or attention to the American forces now arriving in that troubled…

I speak for the young men and young women in uniform today. I speak for this Department of Defense appropriations bill. I think that this bill makes a major step in the right direction to help restore the needed dollars that have been…

I bring this issue to the floor of this House because it involves the potential problem of American military forces being where Americans do not want them to be. This amendment which I offered states that none of the funds provided in this…

I speak today to keep this House of Representatives from making a mistake. This House made a mistake in the past. In 1939 it sent a message when it failed to spend those dollars necessary to upgrade the harbor at Guam, telling the Japanese…

the German chancellor of the last century, Bismarck, once remarked that the Balkans are not worth the bones of one Pomeranian grenadier. I say to you today that the Balkans are not worth the life of one American soldier. We are on the…

my wife was sandbagging in 1993 in my home town of Lexington. I point out that my home is on the Missouri River and, throughout my lifetime, I have seen the problems of the rising of the spring floods. And I want to commend the gentleman…

Americans awakened today to good news, the rescue of Capt. Scott O'Grady, the F-16 pilot whose plane was shot down last week by rebel Serbs over Bosnia. The successful mission was performed by the Marine Expeditionary Force, commanded by…

So, in other words, the War Powers Act had it been in effect in 1940-41 would have affected what President Franklin Roosevelt did at the time, is that correct?

No, no, no. In his activities in having patrols acting against the submarines of the Nazis at the time in the North Atlantic. Does that ring a bell?

My next question, if you recall, deals with a bit of history back in the 1940 era, early 1941, when President Roosevelt made certain actions, particularly with the United States Navy. How would the War Powers Act have affected him?

Mr. Chairman, I have been in the Committee on National Security this afternoon listening to testimony by the Secretary of Defense and by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and so I missed the earlier part of this debate. I wonder if the…

what does this do to the nature and extent of the injuries such as someone with an amputated foot?

my amendment would add a section to 604 requiring the President to assess the number, types, and costs of NATO armed forces that would be required to defend the country and the number, types, and costs of U.S. Armed Forces; also whether…

I rise with this motion to recommit with instructions with a heavy heart. I do so with the background, Mr. Speaker, of having stood with my friends on the other side of the aisle, lo, those many times in the cause of national defense. I…

I would like to again speak for the troops: $1.5 million will take care of a lot of taking care of their homes, their roofs, their refrigerators, the bathrooms, the quality of life. It will take care of a lot of ammunition for them to…

Mr. speaker, we are at a crossroads in American military preparedness. Since the Iron Curtain collapsed in 1989, the quantity and extent of U.S. military commitments abroad have stretched our forces thin. Today, there are signs of a…