Senator Carl Levin, DEmocrat of Michigan, said he did not see how the Administration could avoid invoking the War Powers Act now that "imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated" by the danger-pay authorization.

The law's most important provision requires the President to report to Congress when United States troops are introduced "into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated."

Camp Chaffee was established in response to the need for more US troops for the imminent involvement in World War II.

The act requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours whenever American forces are in hostilities or in a situation "where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated."

The Administration argued that even amid the Iran-Iraq war, the Persian Gulf did not constitute a situation, as defined by the 1973 law, "where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated."

The President refused, on the ground that current conditions in the gulf did not meet the resolution's description of "situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances."

Its main provision says that the President must report to Congress in all cases when United States troops are introduced "into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated."

The resolution restricts the duration of any involvement of the armed forces in "hostilities" or in "situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances" without a declaration of war.

The resolution, which Mr. Bush and his predecessors have resisted, requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of sending troops where "imminent involvement in hostilities" is possible.

Under the provisions of this 1973 statute, the President must report to the Congress within 48 hours when United States forces are deployed into hostilities or into situations "where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances."