Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional Website.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman,
I would like to yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. PAUL), a
member of our Foreign Affairs Committee.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
2009 Ron Paul 65:1
Mr. PAUL. I thank the gentlewoman
for yielding me these 2 minutes.
2009 Ron Paul 65:2
Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to
this bill. Some are hopeful that this
will be a less militaristic approach to
our foreign policy. Quite frankly, I
don’t see any changes. I wish it were
something that would represent a humble
foreign policy, but when you put an
extra $100 million into the military operations
of the United Nations, I hardly
think this is a change in direction.
Actually, it’s $18 billion that is going
into more meddling, and we don’t have
$18 billion.
2009 Ron Paul 65:3
The President has now asked us here
in the Congress to follow the PAYGO
rules. Well, that might be a good idea
if we had set aside the idea that we
would raise taxes, but we’re not going
to cut any domestic spending for this
foreign spending, so the odds of this
following the PAYGO rule are essentially
nil.
2009 Ron Paul 65:4
I want to call attention to one provision
in this that is rather disturbing to
me, and that is the Civilian Stabilization
Initiative. This is new. It was not
invented by this administration. It was
invented by the last administration.
This is to set up a permanent standing,
nation-building office with an employment
of or with the use of nearly 5,000
individuals.
2009 Ron Paul 65:5
So what is the goal of this new initiative
going to be? It will facilitate
democratic and political transitions in
various countries.
2009 Ron Paul 65:6
Now, if you want to talk about interfering
in the internal affairs of other
nations, that is exactly what this is all
about. Facilitating democratic and political
transitions? Well, of course.
We’ve been doing that for a long time,
but we’ve gotten ourselves into a lot of
trouble doing it. We did it in 1953, and
we’re still suffering the consequences.
This initiative is a little more honest.
It’s up front. We’re actually supporting
and funding a facility that would be involved
in political transitions. The
mandate in this is to “reconstruct” societies.
That sounds wonderful. There
are a lot of societies that need reconstruction,
but so many of the societies
that we have to reconstruct we helped
to destroy or to disrupt.
2009 Ron Paul 65:7
Think of what our troops and our
money have done in Afghanistan as
well as in Iraq. I think this provision,
itself, is enough reason to vote against
this authorization.
