Benjamin Gilman: “the House has just taken a courageous step. We have voted to do something about the aggression and genocide in Bosnia by…”

“the House has just taken a courageous step. We have voted to do something about the aggression and genocide in Bosnia by unilaterally ending the arms embargo of that country. Now the House is being invited by Mr. Hamilton essentially to reverse itself. The Hamilton amendment is instant oatmeal. Members now are being asked to take back the vote they have just cast and vote against ending the embargo, by voting for another amendment that pretends to do something about the arms embargo but which in fact is designed to keep the embargo in place. Under the king-of-the-hill procedure contained in the rule, a vote for the Hamilton substitute is a vote to supersede the just-passed McCloskey-Gilman amendment. Unlike the McCloskey-Gilman amendment, which ends the arms embargo once and for all, the Hamilton substitute says only that the President should talk to the United Nations about ending the embargo. I submit, the President has been doing just that for over a year and with nothing to show for it. Let there be no mistake about this: the Hamilton substitute keeps the arms embargo in place. If the House votes to approve the Hamilton amendment after having just passed the McCloskey-Gilman amendment, the House will have made a colossal flip-flop. The American people are watching. The victims of aggression and genocide in Bosnia are waiting. Let us not flip-flop. I urge my colleagues to stand by their prior vote and vote down the Hamilton substitute.”