Ronald Dellums: “If they walk into a room of people and say to them ``Did you know we do not have a defense against a ballistic missile…”

“If they walk into a room of people and say to them ``Did you know we do not have a defense against a ballistic missile system,'' I would bet my last dollar they would say, ``Wow, no.'' Then they would say, ``And we don't have one.'' They would say, ``Gee, we don't? Maybe we should.'' However, if I were able to enter the room, I could say several things: One, ``Folks, we are spending $3 billion a year on theater and national ballistic missile defense, $400 million on national missile defense, $120 to $130 million on Brilliant Eyes, a space-based sensor program that my distinguished colleague from Pennsylvania alluded to earlier, and over $2 billion on theater ballistic missile defense.'' The last time I looked that was not chump change. That was a significant commitment of billions of taxpayer dollars. The second point, Mr. Chairman, if I entered that room and said to the American people assembled ``Look, folks, what makes you think that some third world country, even if they had the capacity to spend billions of dollars to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capacity, would launch a missile toward the United States?''”