Doug Bereuter: “as a co-sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 217, this Member rises in strong support for the bill which recognizes…”

“as a co-sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 217, this Member rises in strong support for the bill which recognizes the historic significance of the fiftieth anniversary of the alliance between Australia and the United States under the ANZUS Treaty. The measure also pays tribute to the United States-Australia relationship, reaffirms the importance of economic security cooperation between the United States and Australia, and welcomes the state visit by Australian Prime Minister John Howard. This member would like to commend the efforts of the distinguished gentleman from Illinois and Chairman of the International Relations Committee (Mr. Hyde), and the distinguished gentleman from California and Ranking Minority Member of the International Relations Committee (Mr. Lantos) for introducing and moving forward this legislation. Mr. Speaker, when the ANZUS Treaty was signed on September 1, 1951, no one could have anticipated that 50 years later, Australia would invoke Article 4 of the treaty to assist the U.S. in its efforts against the threat of terrorism.”