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be authorized to be appropriated for the account into which

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SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION TO THE CONGRESS.

(a) REQUIREMENT FOR NOTIFICATION. --Not less than 15 days before exercising the transfer authority provided in this Act, the President shall notify the committees specified in subsection (b) in accordance with the regular reprogramming 8 procedures.

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(b) COMMITTEES TO BE NOTIFIED. --The following committees 10 shall be notified pursuant to subsection (a):

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(1) HOUSE COMMITTEES: The Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of

Representatives.

(2) SENATE COMMITTEES.--The Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate.

Chairman FASCELL. This is an Administration request. The President has urgently requested authority to transfer up to $150 million from available prior-year Department of Defense appropriations. The purpose of this request is to provide the President with necessary budget authority to pay assessed contributions to several new United Nations peacekeeping operations, which could potentially arise after the Congress adjourns.

Now, we have been working very hard to get all of the difficulties ironed out of this so it can move forward. I am not sure yet as to whether or not it has been cleared by the Appropriations Committee. But in any event, in order to get the money, the executive branch will have to have the authority, and will have to have an agreement out of the Appropriations Committee that they can draw out of the DoD account to do this.

I hope we can pass this clean. I know there are a lot of questions that can be laid onto this matter, but this is basically an emergency authority for funds to be available for peacekeeping operations. I would hope that we would not try to lay down any conditions with respect to policy issues, because if you do that, this bill is dead.

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Mr. Chairman. Excuse me. It is obvious that peace is breaking out all over the world, and there are costs involved in sustaining peace that Americans have always been willing to bear.

The Soviets' withdrawal from Afghanistan is proceeding toward its February 15 deadline; a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war may lead to an end of that bloody conflict in the near future. An agreement has been reached between the parties to the conflict in Western Sahara, paving the way for a referendum of the future of that territory.

On September 27, the Administration notified the committee that projected costs to the United States for contributions to international peacekeeping may exceed the level of available resources and existing peacekeeping accounts by as much as $150 million. Rather than requesting an increase in the funding, however, the President is simply requesting from the Foreign Affairs Committee authority to transfer that amount from funds already made available.

The bill before us provides that authority subject to notification 15 days prior to the actual transfer of funds. The source of the funds would be already appropriated, no-year money made available to the Department of Defense. It is not clear whether any or all of this authority will be required, Mr. Chairman, but I think on this committee, we are of one mind on our strong desire to achieve an end to all of these military conflicts.

I urge the adoption of this resolution. I yield to my good friend, Ben Gilman of New York.

Mr. GILMAN. Please bear in mind, my colleagues, this is not new money, we are taking it out of the existing Department of Defense budget, and it is for future peacekeeping initiatives and responsibilities, not for past ones. For example, Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq situation, possibilities in Angola, Cambodia or Kampuchea, these are areas that may need peacekeeping forces.

I urge my colleagues to support this.

Mr. SOLOMON. I understand the thrust of the legislation. I just want to get a clarification. Normally, peacekeeping funds come out of the security assistance budget of Foreign Operations, and this $150 million is coming out of the Defense Department? I don't quite understand. It is not coming out of the 1989 appropriations for the Defense Department?

Chairman FASCELL. You are right.

Mr. SOLOMON. Then, a followup question. Where is it coming from?

Chairman FASCELL. Unobligated 1988 funds.

Mr. SOLOMON. Defense Department funds?

Chairman FASCELL. Only if the Appropriations Committee agrees to it.

Mr. SOLOMON. You mentioned if we pass this legislation, it has to have Appropriations Committee approval, or do they actually have to legislate? Do they have to appropriate these funds by legislation, an Act of Congress, or is it done by some kind of agreement?

Chairman FASCELL. Part of this bill will be transfer authority for that purpose.

Mr. SOLOMON. This is like a joint referral. We have to pass it, and they have to pass it.

Chairman FASCELL. Absolutely.

Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Chairman, one question, on line 10 of page 2, it says, "and the Western Sahara." Now, that is a civil matter within a sovereign country and a very strong ally of ours. I want to make sure that no peacekeeping troops or anything can enter the Sahara or into Morocco without the request of the Government of Morocco; is that correct?

Chairman FASCELL. Well, this bill wouldn't authorize them to do anything.

Mr. SOLOMON. No. I am saying-OK. So, in other words, we are not authorizing anything. Under present procedure, Morocco would have to ask for the peacekeeping forces before any could go in there?

Mr. WOLPE. Would the gentleman yield? No peacekeeping forces can be mobilized without the consent of all the parties.

Mr. SOLOMON. Right. That answers the question. I have no objection to the legislation.

Chairman FASCELL. Mr. Wolpe.

Mr. WOLPE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I, too, want to support the resolution that is before us. I think it implements the long-standing U.S. policy reflected in the number of votes in the United States to support the United Nations peacekeeping plan for Libya embodied in conflict through ceasefire and referendum and self-determination, as well as the other peacekeeping ventures, efforts that are under way.

I want to stress that this is important to pass without additional language, that it passes clean. I could not support if the other body chose to impose any new policies or conditions on the sensitive issues as they come near to the settlement.

I think that would force a very substantial reassessment, and require-support for this kind of effort. But as a clean resolution, I think it is interesting to support on a bipartisan basis.

Chairman FASCELL. Mr. Yatron.

Mr. YATRON. Mr. Chairman, I support this draft bill, which was a product of discussions between the Administration and majority and minority staffs.

As I understand, it would provide the Administration with the authority to transfer up to, but not to exceed, $150 million from the Department of Defense for new U.N.-sponsored peacekeeping activities which may arise between now and March 1 of next year. There are a number of international disputes moving toward peaceful resolutions which may require the involvement of U.N. peacekeeping forces. This transfer authority would be for possible use for peacekeeping activities for Afghanistan, Iran-Iraq, southern Africa, Cambodia, and Western Sahara.

The Congress will be adjourning shortly, and the Administration may need this authority to fulfill U.S. obligations.

The $150 million figure is the Administration's projected estimate for U.S. support for these operations up until March 1. It is pro-rated based on an estimate of $212 million projected for new peacekeeping activities for fiscal year 1989 if these operations are fully implemented.

Reprogramming requirements in current law would apply to any transfer. The bill excludes earmarked funds and authorizes the Administration to notify the relevant committees in the House and Senate, including the Foreign Affairs Committee.

This authority is not for the U.N. assessed account and is not for long-standing peacekeeping operations. It is for new activities which may arise when the Congress is out of session. The cases in which the Administration would need such authority directly serve U.S. interests and are entirely consistent with Congressional mandates promoting negotiated settlements of all these disputes.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to commend Chairman Mica, Ms. Snowe and Mr. Solomon for the leadership they have provided regarding this legislation, and for their bipartisan approach to U.S.U.N. policy and U.N. peacekeeping operations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman FASCELL. I thank the gentleman for his complete explanation in this matter, and reemphasize again that this legislation provides for the usual prior notification to this committee and other appropriate committees of each such expenditure pursuant to the regular reprogramming process.

Without objection, Ms. Snowe's statement on this bill will be inIcluded in the record.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Snowe follows:]

STATEMENT BY

CONGRESSWOMAN OLYMPIA J. SNOWE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

MARK UP OF U.N. PEACEKEEPING AUTHORIZATION

OCTOBER 4, 1988

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased that the committee is moving this legislation expeditiously.

The

Several months ago, few would have anticipated significant new peacekeeping efforts by the U.N: Now, there suddenly is a real prospect for the settlement of long-running regional disputes in the Persian Gulf, Angola, Afghanistan, and the Western Sahara. settlement of these disputes, in turn, might require the establishment of U.N. peacekeeping forces during the time that Congress is out of session.

If progress is made in one or several of these regions, I believe that it will be important for the United States to be able to act quickly to enable the formation of new U.N. peacekeeping

forces.

For this reason, I support the Administration's request for transfer authority for U.N. peacekeeping.