Brian Bilbray: “I think there is an issue there, and I would ask everybody that would love to vote for this amendment to recognize that…”

“I think there is an issue there, and I would ask everybody that would love to vote for this amendment to recognize that if they want to try to kill this technology in this research, then be ready to go back to their district and say, ``I don't think the issue of our military-grade plutonium, the hundred tons that is going to exist between Russia and the United States, is an issue that we really need to worry about right now.'' This technology takes a problem and creates an answer to it, and for those of us that have been involved in environmental issues, we use a term called appropriate technology, and this is the appropriate technology for the use of an existing system, and it is probably the best example, Mr. Chairman, of military conversion. I say to my colleagues, ``Let's take that military equipment, the plutonium, and let's convert it into power so the civilian use can help our economic prosperity built on past military expenditures.''”