Ronald Dellums: “Mr. Chairman, my distinguished colleague from California made a very important statement. He said that there are a…”

“Mr. Chairman, my distinguished colleague from California made a very important statement. He said that there are a number of figures floating around here, so let us hold hearings. Let us talk about that for a moment. When the Secretary of Defense came before the House Committee on Armed Services at this gentleman's request, the Secretary of Defense said that to put in place a limited ground-based system would cost between $5 and $10 billion. That is one figure. My distinguished colleague in the well from southern California said $20 billion for a space-based system. Some of our staff came to the conclusion that it would be in excess of $25 billion. The Pentagon said that to go into space, a system could cost anywhere between $30 and $40 billion. The point is that we do not know. But what does this bill say? This bill says, Mr. Chairman, it 'shall' be the policy. We are able to handle the English language. It does not say it 'may be' the policy. It says it 'shall be' the policy of the United States to deploy at the earliest practicable date a national missile defense system, and it says that within 60 days the Secretary of Defense shall report back to Congress on a plan to implement such a policy. But when asked, are you embracing the present administration's policy with respect to ballistic missile defense, they say no. We want to go beyond that. So let us not be disingenuous with each other.”