*EPF505 10/04/2002
Democrats Divided as Republicans Rally on Iraq Resolution
(House of Representatives could pass resolution in coming week.) (880)

By Stephen LaRocque
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is moving quickly to debate a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq and pass it next week.

The movement of the bill to the floor of the House follows the October 2 agreement between the White House and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives on language to be used in House Joint Resolution 114 (H. J. Res. 114) and the successful markup of the bill in the House International Relations Committee on October 3.

The markup is the process by which a committee amends a piece of legislation and sends it to the full House or Senate for debate and voting.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans hold a 223-208 majority. One seat is held by an Independent who votes with the Democrats, and three seats are vacant.

In the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow 50-49 majority, with one Independent who votes with the Democrats, Democratic lawmakers are divided on how best to approach the issue of whether to authorize the use of force against Iraq.

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut) and Senator John Warner (Republican of Virginia), submitted to the Senate the text of the proposed House Joint Resolution as Senate Joint Resolution 46 (S. J. Res. 46) October 2.

To date, S. J. Res. 46's cosponsors include Senator Zell Miller (Democrat of Georgia), Senator Mary Landrieu (Democrat of Louisiana), Senator Evan Bayh (Democrat of Indiana), and Senator John Edwards (Democrat of North Carolina).

The number of Democratic co-sponsors of S. J. Res. 46 would suggest that the President should be able to get his resolution on Iraq through the Senate as well as the House.

Senate Majority Leader Daschle told fellow lawmakers that in consultation with the Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (Republican of Mississippi), he looked forward to having "a prompt debate."

"There is a growing appreciation of the role of the United Nations," Daschle said, "There is a growing appreciation of the role of the international community."

Daschle, who as Majority Leader manages and schedules the legislation presented to the Senate, said he expected Senator Carl Levin (Democrat of Michigan) to offer a resolution that would tie U.S. policy on Iraq with United Nations backing.

"We will have a debate and a vote on that resolution sometime next week," he said.

"We would then lay down -- perhaps simultaneously -- the resolution that has been the subject of negotiations and discussions now with the administration over the course of the last couple of weeks," Daschle said.

He added he expected Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana), also a member of that committee, to place before the Senate an amendment "with regard to the need for further clarity" of the administration's resolution.

Their amendment could be offered to that resolution "at some point next week," he said.

"I would hope that at some point we could reach an agreement that we would have those three votes -- a vote on the Levin resolution, a vote on the Biden-Lugar amendment to the administration resolution, and then ultimately a vote on the administration resolution itself," Daschle said.

Both the House and the Senate had set October 4 as the tentative adjournment date to allow lawmakers time to campaign before the November 5 elections. But the need to deal with the President's resolution is pushing back any adjournment date.

While Daschle sought to set the parameters for that debate in the Senate, Democratic lawmakers were setting out their reasons for either backing or opposing the resolution on Iraq.

Senator Zell Miller, a co-sponsor of S. J. Res. 46, explained to fellow lawmakers why he signed on to "the Iraq resolution that our President has proposed". He compared the threat posed by Iraq to that of a nest of poisonous snakes found near a home.

On the other side, Senator Paul Wellstone (Democrat of Minnesota) called the debate on the resolution critical because the Bush administration "seeks our authorization now for military action, including possibly unprecedented, preemptive, go-it-alone military action in Iraq, even as it seeks to garner support from our allies on a new U.N. disarmament resolution."

The United States should unite the world against the Iraqi dictator, Wellstone said, "and not allow him to unite forces against us."

He cautioned against a "go-it-alone approach, allowing a ground invasion of Iraq without the support of other countries," saying such a course of action could give Saddam Hussein the chance to rally others against the United States.

"A preemptive, go-it-alone strategy toward Iraq is wrong," Wellstone said.

"Only a broad coalition of nations, united to disarm Saddam, while preserving our war on terror, is likely to succeed," he said.

"Right now, despite a desire to support our President, I believe many Americans still have profound questions about the wisdom of relying too heavily on a preemptive go-it-alone military approach," Wellstone said.

The U.S. approach toward Iraq "must be consistent with international law and the framework of collective security developed over the last 50 years or more," said the Minnesota Democrat, "It should be sanctioned by the Security Council under the U.N. charter, to which we are a party and by which we are legally bound."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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