No Need Yet for Congress’ OK on Haiti, Clinton Says : Caribbean: Senators vote 100-0 for a resolution calling on him to seek lawmakers’ endorsement for use of force.

President Clinton sought to calm Congress’ invasion jitters Wednesday night, saying it was “premature” to ask for its authorization to use military force to restore democracy in Haiti.

Responding to a unanimous roll-call vote in the Senate earlier in the day on a non-binding resolution calling on him to obtain congressional approval before launching an invasion, Clinton indicated he would probably seek lawmakers’ endorsement of American military action in Haiti. But he stopped short of making a firm promise.

“I would welcome the support of the Congress, and I hope that I will have that,” he said at a nationally televised news conference. “Like my predecessors of both parties, I have not agreed that I am constitutionally mandated to get it. I think we have done all we need to do (right now) because I don’t want to cross that bridge before we come to it.”

The Senate approved the Haiti resolution, sponsored by Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) on a 100-0 roll call. The measure reminded Clinton that U.N. Security Council approval--voted Sunday--was no substitute for authorization by Congress.

“I agree with the Senate that the action of the U.N. should not be interpreted as an approval by Congress,” Clinton said. But he said it was important to keep the option of using force to depose Haiti’s military-led government to clear the way for a return of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted by a coup in September, 1991.

In explaining his resolution, Dole said: “If the President wants to seek authorization (for invading Haiti), now would be the time to come to Congress and ask for it. Authorization in the United Nations is a poor substitute for authorization by Congress.”

But Democratic lawmakers who support a strong policy against Haiti’s military rulers said the resolution only restates the reality that Congress retains its constitutional power to declare war.

“If it’s warranted, the President will come before this body” and seek permission to use U.S. troops to topple the Haitian regime, said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), noting that former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush did not seek congressional approval before invading Grenada and Panama, respectively.

Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.N. resolution does not imply in any way that Clinton has decided to use force in Haiti. “In fact, I have advised him not to use force,” Pell added.

Several Republicans criticized the President for even seeking a Security Council resolution authorizing military action in Haiti, contending it had set a bad precedent.

“It’s an abrogation of the Monroe Doctrine,” argued Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), referring to the traditional American policy of asserting special U.S. interests in hemispheric affairs and opposition to European influence in the region.

Dole asked: “Why do we need the permission of these (other) countries to act in our hemisphere?”

The sense-of-the-Senate resolution was preceded by two similar resolutions urging the President to seek congressional approval before using military force in Haiti. They were adopted after the Clinton Administration sent warships and a contingent of U.S. Marines to the waters off Haiti.

In Port-au-Prince, the bodies of two men were found Wednesday in a busy street, the apparent victims of rising political violence. The men, who news service reports said appeared in their 20s, had been shot and their necks cinched with straps.