By Steve La Rocque
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - When President George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, decided to overturn Iraq's August 2, 1990 invasion of Kuwait, he sought and obtained the support of Congress.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed resolutions authorizing the use of force -- House Joint Resolution 77 and Senate Joint Resolution 2 -- on January 12, 1991. President Bush signed the resolution on January 14, and two days later Desert Shield turned into Desert Storm. One hundred hours later the shattered Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein was expelled from Kuwait, and sent reeling back to Baghdad.

When Bush sought Congressional backing for using force, he had to face a Congress where the Democratic Party controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate by substantial margins.

House Joint Resolution 77 (H. J. Res. 77) and Senate Joint Resolution 2 (S. J. Res. 2) were identical resolutions which authorized the use of "U.S. armed forces against Iraq pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678" to implement a series of earlier UN resolutions regarding Iraq's invasion of its neighbor.

H. J. Res. 77 and S. J. Res. 2 said 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."

The Senate and House 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."

The congressional resolutions also cited Baghdad's "illegal occupation of, and brutal aggression against Kuwait."

The congressional resolutions, "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolutions," sanctioned using the U.S. Armed Forces "pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) in order to achieve implementation of Security Council Resolutions 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677."

The congressional authorizations did provide the following conditions on the use of force - before exercising the use of force, the President was called upon to "make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that the United States has used all appropriate diplomatic and other peaceful means to obtain compliance by Iraq" with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, and that "those efforts have not been and would not be successful in obtaining such compliance."

H. J. Res. 77 and S. J. Res. 2 also cited the War Powers Resolution as constituting "specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution."

H. J. Res. 77 was passed by a 250 to 183 vote, with two abstentions, in mid-afternoon, while the Senate passed S. J. Res. 2 in a 52-47 vote later that day, with then-Senator Alan Cranston (Democrat of California) abstaining.

The close Senate vote reflected the fact that the Democrats controlled the Senate by a 56 to 44 majority, and the strong partisan sentiment in both parties.

Among Republicans, 42 of 44 voted for the resolution, including Senators Trent Lott (Republican of Mississippi), the current Senate Minority Leader, and Senator James Jeffords, then a Republican from Vermont who in 2001 would change his party affiliation to Independent and cause the control of the Senate to change from Republican to Democratic.

Senator Charles Grassley (Republican of Iowa) and one other Republican failed to back the resolution.

Among Democrats, ten backed the resolution, while 45 voted against S. J. Res. 2.

Democrats who supported the resolution included Senator Al Gore (Democrat of Tennessee), who would later run for Vice President on the Democratic ticket, defeating President Bush in 1992, and, later still, be beaten in his own run for the presidency by the son of the 41st President.

Also voting yes on that resolution were Senators Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut), Gore's running mate in the 2000 election, and Robert Graham (Democrat of Florida), the current chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Democrats voting against the resolution included Senators Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware), the current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tom Daschle (Democrat of South Dakota), the current Senate Majority Leader, Carl Levin (Democrat of Michigan), the current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Patrick Leahy (Democrat of Vermont), the current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the House of Representatives, Democrats also held an overwhelming majority, with 267 Democrats and one Independent who voted Democratic, while the Republicans only numbered 167.

Republican lawmakers backed the House Joint Resolution 77 by a margin of 164 to three.

Democratic votes split with 179 voting against the resolution, 86 backing it, and two legislators abstaining. The one Independent joined the majority of Democrats in opposing the resolution.

Among Republicans backing H. J. Res. 77 were current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Representative Dennis Hastert (Republican of Illinois), current House Majority Leader, Representative Richard Armey (Republican of Texas) and current Majority Whip, Representative Tom DeLay (Republican of Texas), current chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Representative Henry Hyde (Republican of Illinois), and Representative Frank Wolf (Republican of Virginia), current co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Democrats who backed the resolution included the late Representative Les Aspin (Democrat of Wisconsin), who would later be President Clinton's first Secretary of Defense, the late Representative Dante Fascell (Democrat of Florida), then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Representative Tom Lantos (Democrat of California), current co-chairman of the Congressional Human Right Caucus and ranking minority member of the House International Relations Committee.

Democrats who opposed the resolution included current House Minority Leader, Representative Richard Gephardt (Democrat of Missouri), current House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi (Democrat of California), and then-Representative Norman Mineta (Democrat of California), the current Secretary of Transportation, and then-Representative Charles Schumer (Democrat of New York), the current senior senator from that state.

Representative Constance Morella (Republican of Maryland) was one of three Republicans to vote no on the resolution.