Tina Smith: “this is really a very simple amendment. I will not take too much of the Senate's time to discuss it. Oftentimes, little…”

“this is really a very simple amendment. I will not take too much of the Senate's time to discuss it. Oftentimes, little things that seem rather insignificant get tucked inside these bills that ought to be looked at more carefully, and they do cost the taxpayers a considerable amount of money. I think this is an example of one of them. The amendment that I am offering removes a provision that now exists in the committee bill that provides up to $1.5 million in taxpayer assistance for the Communist Government of Vietnam for economic assistance. I want to point out to my colleagues that this is not humanitarian foreign aid. This is economic assistance that is above and beyond what we would call humanitarian aid. Very specifically, the bill language states: Funds appropriated for bilateral economic assistance shall be made available, notwithstanding any other provision of law, to assist Vietnam to reform its trade regime through, among other things, reform of its commercial and investment legal codes.”