13 September 2002
President Bush's Task to Secure Congressional Support for Iraq Policy
(Republicans control House and Democrats hold narrow majority in Senate) (950) By Steve La Roque Washington File Staff Writer Washington - When the 41st President of the United States, President George Herbert Walker Bush, sought Congressional support in January 1991 for military action against Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, he faced a Congress controlled by Democrats. Should the 43rd President of the United States, President George Walker Bush, seek a Congressional mandate to use force against the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, he will face a Congress where his party controls the House of Representatives, and Democrats hold a slim one-vote majority in the Senate. After Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United Nations issued a series of resolutions condemning the attack on a member state and Baghdad's occupation of its neighbor. The Congress on January 12, 1991 authorized the use of "U.S. armed forces against Iraq pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678" to implement earlier UN resolutions regarding Iraq's invasion of its neighbor. House Joint Resolution 77 (H. J. Res. 77) and Senate Joint Resolution 2 (S. J. Res. 2) stated that the Baghdad regime's "conventional, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and its demonstrated willingness to use weapons of mass destruction pose a grave threat to world peace." In the House of Representatives where the Democrats held a 267 to 167 advantage over the Republicans, with one Independent who voted with the Democrats, H. J. Res. 77 passed by a 250-183 margin, with two representatives not voting. House Republicans backed the resolution by a 164-3 margin. House Democrats voted against the resolution by a 179-86 margin. The one Independent joined the Democrats in opposing the resolution. In the Senate where the Democrats held a 56 to 44 advantage over the Republicans, S. J. Res. 2 passed by a 52-47 margin with one senator not voting. Senate Republicans supported the resolution by a 42-2 margin. Senate Democrats voted against the resolution 45-10, with one senator not voting. The resolutions noted that in the absence of full compliance by the Iraqi government with United Nations resolutions, the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 678 had authorized UN member states "to use all necessary means, after January 15, 1991, to uphold and implement all relevant Security Council resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area." Then President Bush signed the Congressional resolution into law on January 14, 1991, and, one day after the UN's January 15 deadline, launched Operation Desert Storm on January 16, expelling Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait in a hundred hour campaign. Unlike in 1991, Republicans control the House of Representatives with 223 Republicans against 209 Democrats, and one Independent who votes with the Democrats. There are two vacancies in the current House of Representatives. In the Senate, there are 50 Democrats, one Independent who votes with the Democrats, and 49 Republicans. If there is a split vote in the Senate, the Vice President can cast the tie-breaking vote. As the majority party in the House of Representatives, Republicans chair all the House committees and have a majority on every committee; in the Senate, the Democrats chair all committees and have a slimmer majority on every committee. Were a resolution on Iraq to be introduced into the House, the House Rules Committee, where Republicans hold a nine to four majority, could set the terms, including the time, for the specific legislation to be debated and voted on. In the Senate, the Majority Leader is the one who usually offers a Motion to Proceed to Consider, which is the way of bringing a measure to the floor of the Senate to be debated and voted on. According to the Senate's rules, the Majority Leader has the prerogative of arranging the floor schedule of the Senate and making unanimous consent requests and motions to proceed to consider bills and other items of business. Individual senators can request a "hold" on a particular measure, which the Majority Leader may or may not agree to, and senators can attempt a filibuster to prevent a vote from occurring on a bill. It takes a cloture motion, with 60 senators voting for it, to thwart a filibuster, and bring a resolution to a vote. With a narrow 50-49 margin, with one Independent, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in an open vote would need the 100 percent backing of Senate Democrats and the support of either the Senate's lone Independent, or one crossover Republican senator to deny President Bush a resolution on Iraq. Daschle himself voted against the resolution to use force against Iraq in 1991. A review of the 1991 Senate vote on S. J. Res. 2 shows that one of the two Republicans who voted against using military force on Iraq is still in the Senate -- Senator Charles Grassley (Republican of Iowa). The Senate's lone Independent, who caucuses with the Democrats, Senator James Jeffords (Independent of Vermont) voted for the resolution to use force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. Among the ten Democratic senators who backed the 1991 resolution, five remain in the Senate. They include Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. He was a Democrat in 1991 when he cast that vote backing then President Bush. He is a Republican now. The other four remaining Democratic senators include Senator John Breaux (Democrat of Louisiana), the Chief Deputy Whip for the Senate Democratic Majority Leader, and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee; Senator Robert Graham (Democrat of Florida), the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Democratic candidate for Vice President in the 2000 election; and Senator Harry Reid (Democrat of Nevada), the Majority Whip in the Senate for the Democrats, and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (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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