Neil Abercrombie: “there is a bit of acrimony here, and I think we ought to reduce it. People have different views on this. I regret that…”

“there is a bit of acrimony here, and I think we ought to reduce it. People have different views on this. I regret that my good friend from Washington says that we are not wanting to take up the question of the MTOPS and that that is an inadequate measure. I have here before me the GAO report on ``Export Controls: More Thorough Analysis Needed to Justify Changes in High Performance Computer Controls,'' in which it states quite specifically that the inadequacies of the report, that is to say, the President's report on this issue is compounded by the continued use of the flawed measured MTOPS. That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about whether or not this amendment would get done what the advocates say it will do. It will not. What it does is say give the President the opportunity to come up with a system. The reason this should be defeated is that those who wish to have a different kind of measure, those who wish to be able to sell these computers or its components in some other form need to come up with the alternative proposal and have it vetted through the Committee on Armed Services and other relevant committees, and then we will take it up and vote on it. This should be defeated because it is not ready to be passed.”