Barney Frank: “I rise reluctantly in support of this amendment, not because in the current context I have any hesitations about it, but…”

“I rise reluctantly in support of this amendment, not because in the current context I have any hesitations about it, but because I would rather that we have been having the fuller debate on this issue that a few weeks ago it looked like we could have. Obviously, we regret, all of us terribly, the circumstances that have compressed this. I believe that the continued expenditure on missile defense is gravely mistaken. I understand that to have a debate under these circumstances would not be in our interests on the broader aspects of this, because, frankly, given the impulse, the understandable and laudable impulse to show our unity and support, I think the project would get more votes than it might get in a calmer atmosphere. I look forward to our being able to debate this at a future time, because I think the leadership on our side, on the committee and on the Committee on Appropriations subcommittee, has done an excellent job of vetting this project. So I am going to vote for this amendment because it is the most reasonable thing to do in this context. But I want to repeat again what I think is a very important point to the President: there is an accommodation going forward here. There is less of a debate on this issue and less of an attempt to reduce it than would otherwise have happened in the interests of showing national unity.”