GOP Leaders Demand Vote on Military Action in Haiti : Congress: Request sent to House, Senate chiefs. Many Democrats also oppose armed intervention.

Republican congressional leaders Monday demanded an immediate debate and yes-or-no votes in the House and Senate on whether the United States should lead an invasion to oust the military dictatorship in Haiti.

The formal request sent to House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) lent a more partisan color to the controversy over the President’s war-making powers and U.S. national security interests. Many Democrats, however, also oppose armed intervention in Haiti, and others have asserted that President Clinton has not made a case for an invasion.

“In our view, there is ample time for the Congress to consider authorization legislation for a potential military action in Haiti,” the GOP leaders wrote.

There was no immediate response from Mitchell or Foley, although the Speaker told reporters earlier Monday that the issue is complicated and that it is not clear to him whether the President should seek advance approval from Congress before sending U.S. troops into Haiti.

A White House official said the Administration hopes to head off a showdown on Capitol Hill by extensive consultation with members of Congress. “Consult, consult, explain, explain,” the official said, noting that there is ample precedent for the President not to seek advance congressional approval before taking military action to restore deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Despite escalating Administration statements that an invasion may be mounted by the end of this month, sentiment on Capitol Hill appears to be running against the President’s policy.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Senate Minority Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) and House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) signed the letter on the first day that Congress returned for the final weeks of this session.

Rebutting arguments by Administration officials, the Republican leaders said there were good reasons for lack of advance congressional approval when GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush invaded Grenada and Panama, respectively.

“Unlike the cases of Grenada in 1983 and Panama in 1989, American citizens in Haiti are not in immediate danger,” the letter said. “Also, unlike the situations in Grenada and Panama, the element of surprise is not a factor in Haiti due to recent Administration statements and actions.”

The Republican leaders also recalled that Bush came to Congress and got approval for use of military force against Iraq to liberate Kuwait.

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a President is required “in every possible instance” to consult Congress before committing U.S. forces to hostilities. The term “consult,” however, does not necessarily mean that a President must submit the issue to a vote. More important, every President since 1973 has refused to acknowledge the resolution as constitutional.

The scope of Clinton’s problem on the issue was indicated by the strong anti-invasion stand taken by Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and usually a strong supporter of the Administration’s foreign policy.

“I find it hard to identify a palpable U.S. interest in expending blood and treasure in restoring democracy in Haiti when we have not done that elsewhere in Latin America over the past 40 years or so,” Pell wrote the President recently.

“I keep asking myself why it is so important to restore democracy in Haiti when we took no such steps in countries such as Chile, Argentina, El Salvador and Bolivia, to cite just a few examples of countries that have experienced anti-democracy coups over the years,” Pell said.