Political Quotes

“I would like to bring one item of concern to the attention of the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Specifically, I am concerned about a provision contained in the House-passed version of this bill which would prohibit expenditure of any funds to expand our Embassy in Vietnam or open new facilities beyond those that were in place on July 11, 1995, unless the President makes a number of certifications relating to the efforts to account for soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam war. Mr. President, this is an unnecessary provision which will do nothing to support our Government's active, successful, on-going efforts to resolve remaining MIA cases. The Senate has not had the opportunity to speak on this particular provision. The Senate last fall did, however, consider a proposal to slow efforts to move forward on relations with Vietnam, and we rejected it by an overwhelming margin. That vote certainly indicates that the majority of the Senate supports moving forward in our relationship with Vietnam. I urge the chairman to recognize that there is strong opposition to this provision in the Senate, and reject it in the House-Senate conference.”