Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
May 20, 1999 -- Page: S5643

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of the emergency appropriations bill because it is an emergency, it is necessary. I have been reading all of the press reports about the bill and criticisms of the bill because it is too large or perhaps too much money has been spent on one area or another. But the fact is, we have emergencies in our country that are not covered by the budget. We have had more emergencies in our agriculture area than we ever could have foreseen. You can't pick up the paper that you don't read about a terrible tragic tornado, and we are coming into hurricane season. So we are putting more money into FEMA. We have had floods in my home State. We must deal with these as they occur, and clearly on an emergency basis.

A good part of this bill is for agriculture. We are also helping our neighbors in Central America who were ravaged with a terrible hurricane and tornadoes. We are trying to do the things we have promised we would do. But since we started this emergency appropriation, we have also had a new emergency, and that is the situation in Kosovo. We are seeing, every day, what is happening there.

Mr. President, it is no secret that I have spoken out strongly against the way we got into this Kosovo operation. I have spoken out against going into an operation when we didn't have a good contingency plan. I have spoken out against so much of our policy in the Balkans. I just came back from the Balkans, just over the weekend, and I met with our soldiers on the airfield in Albania, the ones who are going to be supporting our humanitarian effort and, hopefully, be part of our defenses there, whatever we may do. I went to Aviano, Italy, and met with the troops who are doing so many of these air operations that we are seeing day after day after day. And, of course, there is no question that our troops are doing a great job. They don't make the policy; they just do the mission they are given. Nobody can question their sincerity, their great attitude, and their commitment to our country. You will never meet a young man or woman in the military who isn't there because they love our country.

So when I think about this supplemental appropriation--and I know I have spoken against the mission itself, the way it has come about--and I remember looking into the eyes of the young men and women who are on the front line, I think, now, can I vote not to give the money to them to have the equipment they need to do the training they need, to have the incentives that they need to be doing a very tough job in a very tough neighborhood? Well, the answer is no, I can't vote against paying for their security, because they are the security for me and my family and for every one of us who is lucky enough to live in the greatest country on Earth.

So they have volunteered to give their lives so that we may live in freedom. Do you think for one minute I would vote not to give them the equipment they need to do that job? It would be unthinkable. So while we debate how we pay for it or who is responsible, in the end, I am going to vote for this bill, because I am going to support the troops who are in the field.

I am going to continue to argue with the administration that we need to learn the lessons about how this operation has been handled, and I think we will. I think there is a glimmer of hope that perhaps Mr. Milosevic has seen that we are going to win and prolonging it will only hurt his own people. So there is a glimmer of hope, and a glimmer of hope is better than total darkness. I think we need to seize on that glimmer of hope and try to come to the first agreement that we must have from Mr. Milosevic--that he will stop the atrocities against the people of Kosovo.

I just visited with the people of Kosovo. I visited with them in Macedonia. I visited with them in Albania. Those people have been through more than any one of us will ever know or understand. What I want now is the atrocities to stop for the ones who are still there. The ones we met with are in refugee camps. They are not comfortable, but they are safe. I want to try to help the people who are still in Kosovo, and the atrocities on them to stop so that we can then allow the people who have fled their country in terror to be able to go back in and rebuild their homes, rebuild their economy, so that they will be able to have a livelihood, so that they will be able to raise their children in their homeland without fear of a despot who would commit the atrocities that there is no question in my mind have been committed in the last 6 months and, indeed, for many years in this part of the world.

So, Mr. President, while we are debating policy, while we are debating from where the money is going to come all of which is legitimate debate, while we are talking to each other about our principles, which is our right to do, but at the end of the day, it is most important that we have the emergency appropriations which would give our kids who are on the front line and their commanders everything they need so as to know that we are not going to pull the rug out from under them, that they will have the equipment, they will have the airplanes, they will have the helicopters for their own security while they are protecting yours and mine.

So let's talk policy. Let's talk about never going into an operation like this again without a contingency plan. Let's talk about the treasure we have spent in this country to try to solve this problem. And let's not stop with Kosovo, because the money and the troops that we have put in harm's way cannot be lost for us to put a Band-Aid on Kosovo. Let's finish this job now.

But when we have stopped the atrocities and when the Serb troops have started leaving Kosovo, and when an international peacekeeping force moves in, let's take the opportunity, let's seize the moment to do something bigger than putting a Band-Aid on Kosovo. Let's look at the Balkans and do what we can to try to help them form areas of government that have to change so that those people will be able to have jobs, start farming their land, to live in security. That is what I want for the Balkans.

But continuing to say we can amalgamate the Balkans as if they were America is not going to have a long-term chance for success, because we don't understand what they have just been through in the last 5 years. We don't understand what it would be like to force people to live next door to each other when their mothers have been raped, when their fathers have been brutally murdered, when their families have had to flee in terror.

Let's start today by supporting our troops. Let's start today by keeping open the glimmer of hope for peace. And then let's take one step at a time to try to help these people become a contributing part of Europe so that they can do what every one of us wants to do; that is, live in peace and freedom, to have jobs, to support our families, and to give our kids a better chance than we have. That is what the Kosovar Albanians want. It is what the Serbs want. They are the good people of Serbia--not President Milosevic. That is what the Moslems in Bosnia want. That is what the Croats want. It is what the Albanians want. And they should be able to have it. That should be our goal.

I am going to support this bill. I am not going to say there are not legitimate differences about certain parts of it. Sure there are. That is why 100 of us are elected independently to represent the views we have--the views of our States. But we are required to come together. I hope the Senate will do the right thing and come together to do what is right for the farmers who are hurting, for the people in Central America who are hurting, for the people in the Balkans who are hurting, to help promote peace in the Middle East, and to continue to appreciate that we live in the greatest nation on Earth. We need to make sure we keep the security and the freedom of our country on our watch.

It is our responsibility to pass this bill and talk about the policy and talk about our differences, and our Constitution that provided that we do this.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.