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This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on H.R. 1664, the bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for
military operations, refugee relief, and humanitarian assistance relating
to the conflict in Kosovo, and for military operations in Southwest Asia.
The Administration appreciates the Committee's prompt action on the
President's supplemental request and looks forward to working with the
Congress on a bi-partisan basis on this important legislation.
On April 19th, the President submitted to Congress a request for $6.05
billion for the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and other
international programs to provide the funds necessary to cover the costs of
the military and humanitarian operations related to the crisis in Kosovo.
Also included were funding requests to cover costs associated with
on-going, enhanced operations in Southwest Asia.
The Administration's package:
- Protects the military readiness of those forces in the Balkan theater
and
all other U.S. forces;
- Ensures our military has the full measure of resources necessary to
carry
out the Kosovo air campaign; and,
- Funds the U.S. commitment to provide humanitarian relief now and
respond
to potential future refugee assistance needs.
The fact that we are asking the Congress for funding to respond to
emergency needs in Kosovo does not in any way diminish the importance of an
emergency that is very close to home. The Central American relief package
remains urgent. Every day we delay means another day the people of Central
America lose hope in their ability to rebuild their homes, earn their
livelihood, and achieve a prosperous future in their homeland. In
addition, the FY 1999 supplemental request for $100 million in assistance
for Jordan is critical to stabilizing the Jordanian economy, ensuring a
smooth transition of leadership and promoting the goal of peace in the
Middle East that we all share. Also of critical importance is our request
for emergency agricultural relief to our farmers. The Administration
urges the Congress to avoid confrontation by acting quickly to enact these
requests without extraneous riders and spending.
Regrettably, the Committee-reported bill, which totals nearly $13 billion,
goes well beyond the funding requirements of the mission in Kosovo and the
need to maintain current readiness. It includes funding of over $1 billion
for military construction projects, most of which may not begin
construction for several years and many of which are not even included in
the Department's long range plan. It includes significant increases for
operation and maintenance programs that have been budgeted for in the FY
2000 Budget and should be considered during the FY 2000 appropriations
process, not in an emergency supplemental bill.
We continue to believe that the Administration request is the appropriate
level of funding and we continue to urge the Congress to provide funding at
that level. We support efforts to reduce the amount of unrequested,
non-emergency defense funding in the bill and to provide the urgent Central
America, Jordan and agricultural relief funding discussed above.
Despite months of allied diplomatic efforts to achieve a balanced peace
plan, the government of Slobodan Milosevic defied the international
community and pursued a course of repression and terror against the people
of Kosovo. We determined that we could not allow these actions to go
unchallenged. Now, we have a responsibility to our country and to the men
and women serving our country in the Balkans and to address the
humanitarian crisis provoked by the Milosevic government. The
Administration has provided you with our best estimate of the resources
required to achieve our goals in Kosovo. Now is not the time to slow
progress on our emergency supplemental request by adding funding unrelated
to the mission or to maintaining current readiness or by adding extraneous
provisions.
As the President stated on April 28th, "My request fully funds our military
and humanitarian needs in Kosovo. Congress should resist the temptation to
add unrelated expenditures, even important ones, which could delay the
process, because that would undermine the very goals that this funding is
intended to meet." We ask the Congress to act quickly upon this request
and send a clear message to Milosevic - his actions will not be tolerated
and we are prepared to back our words with action.
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