Russ Feingold: “I will not oppose the second-degree amendment that he and the Senator from Rhode Island and the Senator from Arizona…”

“I will not oppose the second-degree amendment that he and the Senator from Rhode Island and the Senator from Arizona have proposed. I also wish to compliment the Senator from Rhode Island on his comments, which I think were very appropriate with regard, especially, to the issue of making it absolutely clear throughout all aspects of our Government that it really is our intention to be out of this situation in terms of our ground troops by the end of June 1998. As Senator Levin has described, his second-degree amendment expresses the sense of the Congress that United States ground troops should not participate in a follow-on force in Bosnia and Herzegovina after June of 1998. Of course, I heartily agree with that premise. I believe we have to have a firm end date to our mission in Bosnia. Without it, many of us have said it here on the floor tonight, the mission absolutely risks continuing for who knows how long. There simply is no sign or clue as to when our involvement would end. Of course, I would have preferred my own hard mandate in my own amendment, which would have cut the purse strings of the Bosnia mission after June 30, 1998. This would have absolutely ensured that United States ground troops would be out of Bosnia by that date.”