Harry Johnston: “I know that I am chasing windmills when it comes to this particular bill because it has a degree of unanimity in this…”

“I know that I am chasing windmills when it comes to this particular bill because it has a degree of unanimity in this body, the State Department and the President. But, probably for cathartic reasons, I must oppose the bill. For the past 36 months, I have heard a chorus from this body, both Democrats and Republicans, that we must cut foreign aid and foreign assistance, notwithstanding the fact that the United States is the lowest per capita contributor of foreign aid of all of the industrialized countries in the world. I have also heard from this podium that no American troops should be sent to Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, or Bosnia. How many times have you heard that the United States cannot be the policeman of the world? Well, how many of you have read this bill? How many of you have read the NATO Charter? How many of you have any idea what the expansion of our military obligation will be when we expand NATO? Do you have any idea of the cost of equipping these armies to bring them up to NATO standards? You're talking about billions of dollars. The Marshall plan will look like petty cash compared to this expansion.”