Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3
minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 53:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the
gentlewoman for yielding me this time.
I would like to point out that this is a
rule of which I do not believe the authors
should be proud. This rule, I believe,
strictly limits a serious debate
with regards to our national defense
and our involvement in war at this particular
time.
1999 Ron Paul 53:2 Today, the International War Crimes
Tribunal decided to indict Milosevic.
Milosevic is obviously a character that
deserves severe criticism, but at this
particular junction in the debate over
this erroneous and ill-gotten war in
Yugoslavia, this indicates to most of
the world that there is no attempt
whatsoever on the part of NATO to attempt
any peace negotiations. This is a
guarantee of the perpetuation of war.
1999 Ron Paul 53:3 Milosevic is going to be further
strengthened by this. He will not be
weakened. It was said the bombing
would weaken Milosevic, and yet he
was strengthened. This same move,
this pretense that this kangaroo court
can indict Milosevic and carry this to
fruition indicates only that there are
some who will enjoy perpetuating this
war, because there is no way this can
enhance peace. This is a sign of total
hypocrisy, I believe, on the part of
NATO. NATO, eventually, by history,
will be indicted.
1999 Ron Paul 53:4 But today we are dealing with this
process, and this is related to the bill
that is about to be brought to the floor
because, specifically, as this bill came
out of committee, it said that monies
in this bill should be used for defense,
not for aggressive warfare in Kosovo,
and yet that was struck in the Committee
on Rules. That is a serious
change in the bill. I think all our colleagues
must remember this when it
comes time to vote for the final passage.
1999 Ron Paul 53:5 We could have had a bill that made a
statement against spending this money
to perpetuate this illegal NATO war,
and yet it was explicitly removed from
the bill. I think this is reason to question
the efforts on this rule. Certainly
it should challenge all of us on the
final passage of this bill, because much
of this money will not be spent on the
national defense, but to perpetuate
war, which is a direct distraction from
our national defense because it involves
increasing threats to our national
security. It does not protect our
national security.
1999 Ron Paul 53:6 It might be well to also note that
this bill does not do much more for fiscal
conservatives. The President asked
for a certain amount for the defense of
this country, but we have seen fit to
raise him more than $8 billion, spend
more money, more money that is so
often not spent in our national defense.
At the same time, we must also remember
that when we vote on this bill,
and this rule allows it, more than $10
billion will be in excess of the budget
agreement of 1997.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 53:1
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. Here, Ron Paul thanks The Honorable Sue Myrick of North Carolina.
