NATION : House Will Vote on Gulf Policy
WASHINGTON — The House will meet today to begin consideration of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf and will vote on the issue by Saturday, Speaker Thomas S. Foley said today.
Intensive meetings were going on behind the scenes to set up a framework for the debate, but Foley said he expected as many as three votes on different resolutions dealing with whether the United States should go to war against Iraq.
Foley (D-Wash.) said he personally opposes early resort to force and supports the original policy espoused by President Bush: the deployment of troops to defend Saudi Arabia and the use of sanctions and diplomacy to force Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait.
But he said “individual members are going to vote their conscience and their judgment on this matter, and they should.”
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