Dan Burton: “I am happy to cosponsor this amendment with the gentleman, because I feel this is the wrong place to put this $1.2…”

“I am happy to cosponsor this amendment with the gentleman, because I feel this is the wrong place to put this $1.2 billion. This is an earthquake disaster relief bill designed to help the people who are going through a terrible ordeal in California. At the last minute this $1.2 billion was stuck into this bill for military operations in various parts of the world. Now, I have great admiration for Mr. Murtha. I support almost everything the gentleman says about defense. I am one of the strongest defense advocates and supporters in the House of Representatives. This is the wrong place to be doing this. In addition to that, there should be a full and thorough debate on these moneys being spent in these areas. Some people may believe we should spend more money in Somalia, some people may believe we should spend more money in Bosnia, some people believe we should spend more money in Haiti, and some people believe we should spend more money imposing the Iraq no-fly zone. But many people have differences of opinion on some of these issues, and they should have a full and thorough debate, and it should take place in another vehicle besides this particular piece of legislation.”