Gilbert Gutknecht: “I remember the Cuban missile crisis. I remember fallout shelters. I remember the drills we had to do when I was a child…”

“I remember the Cuban missile crisis. I remember fallout shelters. I remember the drills we had to do when I was a child to protect us from a nuclear attack. During the 1950s, America was practicing for what we thought was the inevitable. I do not want our Nation's children to ever experience that. It is time for us to build a national missile defense to protect our children. The good news is we have the technology to knock missiles right out of the sky. The bad news is the administration does not think it is necessary. That is right. If an enemy missile was launched at the United States, our super-sophisticated computers would pick it up right away and calculate exactly where it was going to hit and when. And then nothing. All we could do is wait for it to hit its target and pray for all of the lives that would be lost. We have the capability to protect ourselves with a national missile defense. We just choose not to build it. Madam Speaker, I remember the 1950s. Let us use our technology to protect our kids. I want our kids to grow up happy and carefree, not practicing what to do when nuclear missiles are launched at us. Let us build a national missile defense. Let us do it for our kids.”