Benjamin Gilman: “Mr. Speaker, this request for $995,000 to fund the Select Subcommittee on Bosnia is a reasonable, prudent allocation of…”

“Mr. Speaker, this request for $995,000 to fund the Select Subcommittee on Bosnia is a reasonable, prudent allocation of House resources for a particularly important task. Some of our colleagues have asked why our full committee cannot investigate the Clinton administration's role in secretly permitting the Iranians to provide arms to the Bosnian Muslims in 1994. It is an appropriate question, and there is a good response. First of all, our full committee continues to have a full and demanding agenda. Among the major issues our committee is extensively engaged in are international terrorism, narcotics and organized crime, NATO expansion, trade, China-MFN, the Middle East Peace Process, Haiti, North Korea, Russia, and oversight of other aspects of United States policy towards Bosnia, to name just a few. My colleagues will recall that, in keeping with our promises after the 1994 elections, Republicans reduced the size of our committee staffs by one-third. All of our professional staff are fully engaged in their regular duties. We do not have the staff to undertake the focused and comprehensive investigation that the administration's handling of this arms pipeline issue has demonstrated is needed.”