Sam Farr: “I respect the gentleman's right, the right to object, but this bill that we are dealing with, the underlying bill, is a…”

“I respect the gentleman's right, the right to object, but this bill that we are dealing with, the underlying bill, is a spending bill, an emergency spending bill, and we have a legal emergency that has to be taken care of. They are the families of our constituents who were killed on a United States mission on a United States aircraft while approaching Dubrovnik Airport. The families of the Ron Brown Trade Mission have no place to turn. They cannot use tort law as a remedy, they cannot use the Foreign Claims Act as a remedy, they cannot have any other redress because they were flying on a military aircraft. The Senate has used this supplemental bill on their side to pay for the families affected by the gondola accident at Cavalese, Italy. If the Senate can help the families who lost their loved ones in an accident caused by an U.S. Marine Corps aircraft, then the families of the Ron Brown crash should also have remedy. Mr. Chairman, the only way they can have remedy is for this Congress to authorize the Department of Defense to help those families, and that is what this amendment does. Mr. Chairman, I introduced this amendment for a very simple reason: justice. The bill in an 'emergency appropriation.' We have legal problem that can only be solved by Congress. I think that qualifies as an 'emergency.'”