Dale Bumpers: “I want to reiterate that I voted for an appropriations bill last year that had language in it saying that this money was…”

“I want to reiterate that I voted for an appropriations bill last year that had language in it saying that this money was going to be rescinded, and the House kept their word and they rescinded it. We are reneging on something we voted to do last year. I just, frankly, cringe when I see us putting $400 million into a program like this. The Senator from Maryland a moment ago listed the people this is designed to help. Can you believe this? Listen: Lockheed, General Electric, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Martin Marietta, Northrup, and Pratt & Whitney. The kids who hang around the pool hall this summer, because we killed summer jobs, can fend for themselves, but we have to put $400 million in this year headed, listen to this, Mr. President, headed from somewhere between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion for wind tunnels to assist seven of the biggest corporations in America. You know, Bob Reich hit a tender spot with me when he started talking about corporate welfare. How in the name of all that is good and holy can the U.S. Senate even consider going down this path toward a $3 billion expenditure because Airbus--because Airbus--is building a good airplane? I heard the same arguments in the early seventies, in the late seventies that I just heard from my good friend and colleague from Maryland when the Japanese were eating the American automobile industry's lunch.”