Patsy T. Mink: “I must commend my colleague for his great leadership in calling attention, time and time again, to this Chamber of this…”

“I must commend my colleague for his great leadership in calling attention, time and time again, to this Chamber of this egregious conduct on the part of the French Government. Mr. Speaker, this particular special order is especially timely because we are told by the majority leadership that next week we are hosting the President of the French Government, Mr. Chirac himself, in this very hall in a joint session with the House and the Senate. I find it almost intolerable that such an invitation would have been extended on our behalf, in view of the huge protest that has been lodged against the French Government and President Chirac personally for his complete refusal to acknowledge the substantive basis upon which 170 nations have filed their protest and their objections to these tests that have been going on in French Polynesia. I think that this is an example of his almost total refusal to understand the enormity of the human rights questions which this whole testing series exemplifies. The French Government dismisses our objections on the basis that we have absolutely no evidence that any untoward damage could occur or any possible problems with respect to radiation contamination in the area.”