-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.rollcall.com/newsscoops/leadscoop.html House Group Working to End Kosovo Conflict Abercrombie, Weldon Want To Work With Russia By Jim VandeHei A bipartisan group of House Members, many of whom who feel the White House is feeding Congress and the American people inaccurate information about the war in Kosovo, plans to work with top Russian officials to help end the crisis immediately, according to Members leading the private talks. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) -- with the help of Democratic Reps. Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii) and Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.) -- is organizing a meeting with top Russian officials to "explore the terms and conditions that might be the grounds for successful negotiations" to end the war, according to Abercrombie. Five Republicans and five Democrats are expected to attend talks in Vienna, Austria, on Friday, Weldon said. Private citizens, including Members of Congress, are forbidden by law from directly negotiating with foreign leaders. But the Members are allowed to discuss the framework for a deal, and that's what the bipartisan group intends to do. While Weldon pushes for face-to-face talks with Russian leaders, Abercrombie and Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) are circulating a Sense of Congress resolution to end the military campaign now and find a diplomatic solution before the war escalates. The resolution requests that the Speaker appoint a delegation of House Members to assist in the negotiations, according to a draft copy obtained by Roll Call. Their proposal is far more demanding than the resolution passed yesterday that requires Congressional approval for troop deployment and would inject Congress much deeper into the conflict than many GOP leaders now desire. Hayes and Abercrombie are holding private meetings with about a dozen Republicans and Democrats who believe Russia must be involved in any settlement deal. Weldon, an expert on Russia, is playing a lead role in facilitating the talks with Duma officials in the former Soviet Union. Weldon is the U.S. chairman of the Duma-Congress Working Group and has visited with an eclectic group of Duma leaders during his 18 visits to Russia. Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) spokesman, John Feehery, said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the Speaker yesterday that the administration would not object. Privately, however, the Speaker has serious reservations about Members of Congress playing such a high-profile role in the negotiations, one of his advisers said. If the Speaker does not sign off on the mission, Hayes will not attend, his office said late yesterday. Feehery would only say, "If Members want to go, they get our implicit approval, but not our explicit approval." If they go, the 10 Members would discuss a framework for compromise with five leaders of the Russian Duma who represent everyone from communist hard-liners to pro-Western reformers. Two senior advisers to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will be at the table, but will consult only with the Russian officials, Weldon said. Hayes and Abercrombie, both of whom surveyed the situation in Kosovo during a Congressional CODEL to the Balkan region two weeks ago, feel the crisis is far worse than President Clinton and his national security team concede. Hayes characterized information delivered from the White House to Congress as "incomplete and inaccurate." So, starting Tuesday night, they started holding Members-only meetings to pressure their leadership and colleagues to demand a settlement. More than a dozen Members were expected to attend the second meeting scheduled for last night. "There is general agreement that this is getting out of hand and that [the administration] has no clue where this going except on a disastrous course," said Abercrombie. The Hawaii Democrat said public opinion will "drop out of sight" when voters see the price tag of the mission and fully understand the quagmire into which the administration has sunk the country. "This will be seen as a political disaster regardless of party affiliation and people will look to see who tried to get us out of this." Hayes said interest in the meetings intensified after several Republicans and Democrats left a White House briefing last Thursday feeling they were fed "incomplete and inaccurate" information. "[Abercrombie and I] spoke up jointly and said this is not a true picture of what's going on," Hayes said. Abercrombie said the situation is far worse than Clinton wants Americans to believe and complained that the administration could care less what Congress thinks. "I don't think the administration is much interested in what we think anyway," he said. Hayes and Abercrombie planned to circulate their resolution late yesterday and are lobbying their leadership to allow a vote. While they don't mention Russian involvement in the resolution, that has been the most talked- about solution inside the meetings, the Members said. Several sources said there's no consensus among Republicans or Democrats on how to proceed. The House yesterday passed a bill requiring Congressional approval before troops are withdrawn, but rejected Rep. Tom Campbell's (R-Calif.) proposals to withdraw troops immediately and declare war. So far, about a dozen Members are actively shopping a peaceful solution with Russian assistance, according to Abercrombie. Reps. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) and Hinchey have been involved in the closed-door talks and Hinchey is expected to join Weldon in Vienna. Blagojevich planned to depart last night for Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson to meet with the three U.S. hostages in Yugoslavia. While he has no plans to negotiate with Milosevic or his deputies on the trip, the Illinois Democrat opposes the White House strategy and supports the Congressional efforts to enlist Russia's help in finding a peaceful solution, according to one of his advisers. Reps. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), Jim Turner (D-Texas) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) are expected to attend the peace talks as well, Weldon said. On the Republican side, Rep. Jim Gibbons (Nev.), Jim Saxton (N.J.) and Roscoe Bartlett (Md.) are on board, and numerous others have expressed interest in joining the bipartisan talks, Weldon said. Weldon, who originally planned the joint mission to include talks in Belgrade and a tour of refugee camp with the Duma leaders, is organizing the meeting and is expected to play the most prominent role in the talks. While these Members fly to Vienna for diplomacy, Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Texas) will lead a separate contingent of Members to the Balkans to survey the situation. He will be joined by Reps. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Sue Kelly (R-N.Y.), Don Sherwood (R-Pa.), Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Steve Kuykendall (R-Calif.), Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.), Marge Roukema (R-N.J.), John Cooksey (R-La.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Tony Hall (D-Ohio), William Pascrell (D-N.J.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.). Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, will also travel with the delegation. The Members plans to visit refugee sites in Macedonia and the Apache helicopter unit in Albania, and will attend several private briefings in Italy, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. They will return Sunday to Washington. back to top news scoops � politics � commentary � policy briefings roll call files � classifieds hill directory � let's discuss � about roll call � home Copyright � 1999 Roll Call Inc. All rights reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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