Tom Harkin: “I want to briefly touch on an issue the Senator from Connecticut mentioned, and that is lobbying by defense contractors.…”

“I want to briefly touch on an issue the Senator from Connecticut mentioned, and that is lobbying by defense contractors. At the outset, I want to say that I have not been contacted by any either. I don't know that my staff has; at least they haven't told me that. I respond by reading from an article that appeared in the New York Times on March 30, which I obviously got off the Internet, in which the writer of the article went on to say that ``The chief vehicle of support for NATO expansion is a group called `The U.S. Committee to Expand NATO'.'' The president of that innocent-sounding group is Bruce Jackson, director of strategic planning for Lockheed, a vice president for Lockheed for strategic planning. Mr. President, again, a lot of these people have been championing NATO membership for these countries. He quoted me as saying that ``This may amount to `a Marshall Plan' for defense contractors who are chomping at the bit to sell weapons and make profits.''”