BosNet Article:McCain Motion
Steve Albert
B o s N e t -May 5, 1999
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Washington Post
Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Senate Shelves McCain Proposal on Kosovo
By Helen Dewar
The Senate voted with White House backing yesterday to scuttle a proposal
sanctioning a wider war over Kosovo, prompting an angry Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) to charge that President Clinton is "prepared to lose a war" to
avoid tough choices.
The 78 to 22 vote to shelve a proposal by McCain to authorize "all
necessary force," including ground troops, followed an eight-hour debate
that underscored senators' deep divisions overthe war. While most said
McCain's proposal was premature and overly broad, they could not agree on
whether to escalate the war, continue to rely on airstrikes or pursue a
negotiated settlement.
The vote to "table," or set aside, the McCain proposal without voting on
its merits also demonstrated bipartisan resolve on the part of Senate
leaders to avoid sending another wavering signal just a week after the
House approved conflicting positions on the war.
While White House spokesman Joe Lockhart hailed the Senate vote as an
affirmation of support for the air campaign, the debate revealed strong
misgivings about Clinton's conduct of the war. "Individual feelings about
our commander in chief seem to be influencing votes that have consequences
that are so much more important than any commander in chief," said Sen.
Charles S. Robb (D-Va.).
Yesterday's vote cut across partisan and ideological lines, with nine
Republicans and 13 Democrats supporting McCain's proposal and 46
Republicans and 32 Democrats voting to lay it aside. Some of those who
voted against it said they could support it later. Among Washington area
senators, only Robb voted with McCain.
After the vote, Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said he thought
Clinton would have a"good chance" of winning Senate approval for sending
ground forces to Kosovo if he asked for authorization.
Lott's comment served both to blunt any signal of irresolution from the
vote and to emphasize Clinton's responsibility for the conduct of the
war, making it clear that the decision on ground troops must come from
Clinton, not Congress.
It was Clinton's opposition to McCain's proposal - and active lobbying
against it by Cabinet members - that enraged the Arizonan, who is running
for the GOP presidential nomination and has gained ground in New
Hampshire's critical early primary, apparently because of his high profile
on Kosovo, according to polls.
"The president of the United States is prepared to lose a war rather than
do the hard work, the politically risky work, of fighting it as the leader
of the greatest nation on Earth should fight when our interests and values
are imperiled," said McCain.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner
of war in North Vietnam, has often backed Clinton's authority on military
matters, while criticizing his execution of it. His blistering remarks were
probably the strongest criticism of Clinton's conduct of the war that have
been heard so far in the Senate.
McCain said he pushed for his proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Joseph R.
Biden Jr. (Del.), senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, out of what he described as the "forlorn hope that the president
would take courage from it" and adopt a tougher strategy.
"Shame on the president if he persists in abdicating his
responsibilities," McCain concluded. "But shame on us if we let him."
Nor did Lott escape his ire, although McCain did not mention his party
leader by name. Referring to the "give peace a chance" refrain that Lott
had picked up from Jesse L. Jackson,McCain said "the price of peace" for
Kosovo's Albanians is too high if it means "we abandon them to the cruelty
of their oppressors."
Later, Lott distanced himself from McCain's comments on Clinton, saying he
did not "feel need or a desire to second-guess the president in that way."
Minority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) said McCain's remarks were "unfair
and inaccurate."
In response to McCain's arguments for an escalation of the war, Lott notet
hat the Senate approved the air campaign before it started and that neither
Clinton nor NATO currently wants a ground war. McCain's language, he added,
was too broad. "This is the wrong language; it's the wrong time," he said.
Meanwhile, in a survey of Republican voters by New Hampshire's WMUR
television station, McCain's support doubled to 14 percent, in large
measure because of his role on Kosovo, according to Andy Smith, director of
the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. "He is viewed as
statesmanlike on foreign policy," Smith said, noting that McCain has been
constant presence in the New Hampshire media over the past month.
Another survey, by Franklin Pierce College, showed McCain gaining ground,
although poll coordinator Robin Marra said the growth may also be due to
"the genuine absence of Elizabeth Dole in the state over the last 10
weeks."
Staff writer Ceci Connolly contributed to this report.
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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