Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional Website.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I
am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas, Dr. PAUL.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
2009 Ron Paul 92:2
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to
this bill. Sometimes I wonder how we
can, with a straight face, bring a bill
up like this with the conditions of this
country, especially financially. I oppose
this bill for two reasons. One, we
don’t have the money. That would be a
pretty good reason not to support it.
And the other reason is I do not believe
it’s in our national security interests. I
know this is being promoted as benefiting
our national security, but I do
not believe it helps us one bit. This bill
was essentially voted on in June, and
the vote was 234–185, which means that
it is assumed at least 56 or more individuals
in the Congress have switched
their votes.
2009 Ron Paul 92:3
Now they say they have tinkered
with the bill and changed it a little bit,
but it’s an authorization that could be
$15 billion. So it hasn’t had that much
of a change. But today it is expected
that these individuals will change and
vote for this bill not really asking the
questions.
2009 Ron Paul 92:4
Now, the bill is defined as fortifying
democratic institutions. That is a good
goal. But it never, never works. We are
in 130 countries, we have 700 bases
around the world, and we pursue this,
and we are bankrupting our country by
trying to maintain this empire. I have
often made the point that the way we
treat our fellow countries around the
world is we tell them what to do, and if
they do it we give them money. If they
don’t do it, we bomb them. Under this
condition, we are doing both. We are
currently dropping bombs in Pakistan.
The CIA is dropping bombs, and innocent
people get killed.
2009 Ron Paul 92:5
If you want to promote our good values
and our democratic process, you
can’t antagonize the people by literally
killing people over there, because if
bombs were falling on this country, we
wouldn’t be all that happy with that.
So this does not improve our conditions
whatsoever.
2009 Ron Paul 92:6
I would suggest another proposal for
our foreign policy, not using bombs and
bribes, but what about neither one?
What about just talking to people?
What about reducing tariffs? What
about trading with them? Instead, it is
this form of foreign policy that will not
serve our interests.
