Bob Dole: “before we vote on the supplemental appropriation bill before us, I want to thank Chairman Hatfield, Senator Byrd…”

“before we vote on the supplemental appropriation bill before us, I want to thank Chairman Hatfield, Senator Byrd, Chairman Stevens, and Senator Inouye for their hard work in hammering out a bill which will restore $1.9 billion needed for training and readiness of our Armed Forces. I am pleased that this bill is fully off-set in both budget authority and outlays. Additionally, in my view, the committee has done a good job in identifying the defense programs which should fund this supplemental appropriation. However, I am concerned by the fact that the operations and maintenance accounts of our Armed Forces are continually being raided to fund unbudgeted contingencies that have little if anything to do with our national security. The administration requested this supplemental because it diverted 4th quarter O&M funding to pay for operations in Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Kuwait, Korea, and Bosnia. Now, let me be clear, I am not saying that all of these operations do not relate to U.S. interests. Certainly some, such as the deployment to Kuwait and the increased operations in and around the Korean peninsula, were in line with our national security interests. That is the way it is supposed to be. The deployment of U.S. troops should only be considered when the vital interests of the United States are at stake. We simply cannot continue to raid our O&M accounts to pay for every peace-keeping or peace-making operation dreamed up by the United Nations.”