Cliff Stearns: “I rise also against the amendment offered by my distinguished colleague from Indiana, Mr. Burton. As many of you know…”

“I rise also against the amendment offered by my distinguished colleague from Indiana, Mr. Burton. As many of you know, every year I have offered a resolution to recognize India's independence. This year I offered it again. Thanks to Mr. Bereuter, the resolution was made part of legislation, and it has now passed this House; and I am very pleased that after all these years of my offering a recognition amendment, that it has finally passed the House. When I listen to the debate, there have been a lot of people speaking on both sides. I do not really think the debate is one of U.S. foreign assistance. When we think of the $50 million we are giving them relative to the $12.5 billion in the foreign aid bill, it is a very, very small amount. I think the issue is not one of foreign assistance. It comes down basically to this sentence. It comes down to whether we want to stigmatize India with passage of the Burton amendment. We have two great powers. These two great powers are working together. There is another issue I might touch on that was recognized in a Washington Times story on Thursday, July 10, 1997. Let me quote from it: 'New Chinese missiles target all of East Asia.' That includes India. We have had satellite reconnaissance information, and it is all outlined in this article how India itself is being targeted by China. We have great interest in protecting India and working with India.”