Political Quotes

“I rise in strong opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York. It is a classic case of overkill to solve a problem that has, in effect, already been solved for universities, and it does so in a manner which threatens the funding of beneficial programs of universities and academic freedom. Current appropriation statute prohibits the use of Federal funds at institutions of higher learning that have a policy barring military recruiters from campus, and that policy is prescribed in DOD directive. Clearly, DOD has become lax in enforcing this statute and in implementing its own directive, but has recently issued new guidance to the services outlining the procedure to follow should recruiters encounter difficulty in obtaining access to college campuses. The Solomon amendment goes far beyond current law, however, in ways that could prove to be very shortsighted from a broader national defense perspective. Current law provides some flexibility to the Secretary of Defense in the case of university-based research and development projects which make a significant contribution to the defense effort. The Solomon amendment would take that flexibility away. Current law is more than adequate to deal with this issue. The Department of Defense opposes the Solomon amendment as unnecessary, duplicative, and potentially harmful to defense research initiatives.”