14 September 1998
SENIOR LAWMAKER ON PRESIDENT'S PREDICAMENT, US FOREIGN POLICY
(Public opinion key to impeachment process, Hamilton says) (860) By Rick Marshall USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Lee Hamilton, the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, met with journalists at the Foreign Press Center September 14 to discuss foreign policy matters. He was quickly overwhelmed, however, by questions about how the Monica Lewinsky affair might affect President Clinton's ability to govern. The fear that the President could no longer act "is greatly overstated," said Hamilton. Nonetheless, "there is something to it," he conceded. "There's a diversion of energy and resources." Still, the President retains "awesome powers" as he demonstrated with the airstrikes against Sudan and Afghanistan in August. Further, Hamilton said, with Secretary of State Albright and Defense Secretary Cohen leading it, Clinton has a very good foreign policy team. "I've read a good deal" of the Starr Report, Hamilton said of the document the Special Prosecutor sent to the Congress last week. "It should be seen as an adversarial report" done in a prosecutor's style. "Congress should not rubber stamp" either Starr's report or the President's rebuttal, the 17-term Indiana Democrat said. "My view is that the process has to go forward." Still, the House will probably not decide whether or not to recommend articles of impeachment against the President quickly, Hamilton said. "What will really drive the action of the Congress is public opinion." "It is not conceivable to me" that President Clinton could be impeached if his public approval ratings stay high, the veteran lawmaker said. If they decline dramatically, however, as they did during the House Judiciary Committee's investigations of Richard Nixon, that will be another matter, he added. While the present climate is "not the best of circumstances" for the country or its prosecution of foreign policy, Hamilton assured the journalists that the republic would survive. "This is an enormously resilient country," he said. Turning to specific foreign affairs issues, Hamilton noted that President Clinton has long sought to pay what the U.S. owes the United Nations, but has been prevented from doing so by the Congress, which "is strongly opposed to his point of view." Indeed, he said, offering it as an example of the Republican majority's mood in the Congress, more than 160 members of the House voted recently to withdraw from the U.N. altogether. On the matter of how the Congress would act on the President's request to fund the new U.S. quota for the International Monetary Fund, Hamilton predicted that the House would ultimately go along with the Senate in approving the entire $18 billion package. "We're not going to be providing any additional funding for Russia," he said, however. Asked to comment on the appointment of Yevgeniy Primakov as Russia's prime minister, Hamilton said it brings what Russia "probably needs most -- stability." "On the economic side the news is less encouraging," he added, pointing to the appointment of two top aides closely associated with the old Soviet command and control system. Their appointment probably signals "a rapid increase in inflation." While this may help the economy in the short-run, it can only harm it in the long-run, he said. How this will influence future IMF disbursements is difficult to say. Hamilton then compared the changes in Russia with what occurred in Central and Eastern Europe a few years ago: the first wave of reformers was thrown out by the voters when they could not solve their countries' economic problems and replaced by a number of Communists. These latter were a more reformed variety than had existed during the Soviet era, however. Hence, Hamilton predicted that Russia would "not see a revision back to Communism," but a mixture of views and policies. Asked about the possible replacement of U.S. ambassador to China, James Sasser, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, Hamilton said that he had done a remarkable job, as witnessed by President Clinton's successful trip to China earlier this year. "The U.S.-China relationship is as difficult a bilateral relationship as any in the world." The U.S. ambassador to China, therefore, needs not only great skill, but the President's ear, he commented. On NATO matters, Hamilton said: "I fully expect NATO to be further expanded in the next century," although he refrained from suggesting any specific countries which might be added. Commenting on Africa, Hamilton said he sees "increasing interest in Africa" in Congress -- due in large measure to the influence of the congressional Black Caucus -- but that this interest is largely confined to trade. The U.S. is not in a position where it will put a lot of new resources into the continent. While he said he supported expanding U.S. trade with Africa, it would not fundamentally change Africa in and of itself. For his part, he said he would like to see the United States push harder for debt relief. Asked about "fast-track authority," which would enable the President to pursue free trade agreements with Latin America while limiting the ability of Congress to offer amendments, Hamilton said he believes the matter will probably surface again in 1999.
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