IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 212

Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning continued use of the United

States Navy training range on the island of Vieques in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 27, 1999

Mr. BUYER (for himself, Mr. SPENCE, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. HYDE, Mr.

STUMP, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr.

HEFLEY, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. MCHUGH, and

Mr. CHAMBLISS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which

was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning continued

use of the United States Navy training range on the

island of Vieques in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Whereas the success or failure of the Nation’s Armed Forces

when sent into combat and the risk of loss of life, both

to United States military personnel and to civilians, are

a direct function of the degree of training received by

members of the Armed Forces before combat;

Whereas from World War II through the most recent crisis

in Kosovo the Nation’s military has been able to meet the

call to arms due to training such as that afforded at the
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United States Navy training range on the island of

Vieques in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;

Whereas in April 1999, following an accident at that training

range that resulted in the death of a Navy civilian employee, training activities at that range were suspended

by direction of the Secretary of the Navy pending a safety review;

Whereas officials of the Department of Defense have testified

before congressional committees that the Vieques training

range is the only range along the Atlantic seaboard that

allows critical combined arms live fire training that includes the coordinated use of naval surface fire support

training, Navy/Marine amphibious combined arms training, Carrier Battle Group strike training and high altitude tactics, and subsurface training;

Whereas officials of the Department of Defense have testified

before congressional committees that the safe conduct of

operations on the island of Vieques has been and will remain the primary concern of the Department of the Navy

and that the recent death of the civilian Navy employee

on the range was the first civilian death on the range

since its purchase in 1941;

Whereas the John F. Kennedy carrier battle group, which

was unable to continue training at Vieques after the

April accident, deployed in September 1999 in degraded

readiness condition and the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier battle group, which is scheduled to deploy in the

spring of 2000, will be forced to deploy in a significantly

degraded readiness condition if not allowed to conduct

training activities at the Vieques training range before

departing on that deployment;
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Whereas the suspension of training activities at the Vieques

training range has resulted in a loss of critical combat

training that is essential to the Nation’s Navy and Marine forces; and

Whereas, given that recently deploying Navy and Marine

Corps battle groups have been sent directly into combat

operations in Kosovo and Iraq, thereby placing service

personnel immediately in harm’s way, it would be unthinkable to knowingly deploy members of the Armed

Forces in the future without this essential training, since

to do so would place American lives, including the lives

of members of the Armed Forces from Puerto Rico, at

high risk: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) calls upon the Secretary of the Navy and

4 the Attorney General of the United States to

5 promptly ensure that the Federal property located at

6 the Vieques training range in the Commonwealth of

7 Puerto Rico is safe and secure and, once the range

8 is safe and secure, for the Secretary of the Navy to

9 resume critical live fire training at that range;

10 (2) calls upon the President, as Commander-in11 Chief, to ensure that United States forces deploy

12 with 100 percent of the combat qualifications needed

13 to meet national security requirements;

14 (3) strongly urges the Department of Defense

15 and the Government of Puerto Rico to reestablish a
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1 mutually supportive relationship, to resolve the

2 issues between the Department of the Navy and the

3 people of Puerto Rico, and to implement a program

4 that addresses the economic and social needs and

5 safety concerns of the residents of Vieques and the

6 citizens of Puerto Rico; and

7 (4) recognizes the significant contribution by

8 the residents of Vieques and the citizens of Puerto

9 Rico to the Nation’s defense.

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