Tom Lantos: “Mr. Speaker, let me just respond to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul). While I am pleased he is supporting the…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me just respond to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul). While I am pleased he is supporting the resolution, he needs to gain some historical perspective. It was billions and billions of dollars of Marshall aid which resulted in the rebuilding of Western Europe and in creating our allies in NATO, and providing us with a prosperous Europe as our single most important trading partner. So this melancholy call for isolationism is not supported by the historic evidence. The historic evidence shows clearly that in Republican and Democratic administrations, overwhelmingly United States participation in Europe and elsewhere contributed in a major way toward building democratic and prosperous societies. I was present at the end of the Second World War, as my friend knows, when Europe was in ruins, and it was the farsightedness of a group of Republican and Democratic leaders in this country, from Harry Truman to Senator Vandenberg, who created a framework which allowed the countries of Europe to rebuild themselves to become our powerful NATO allies, our democratic friends, and our most significant trading partners. There is no evidence for the statement that the previous administration directed aid to go to the Taliban. This is an unsubstantiated statement. What we voted for and what I think we will vote again is to provide humanitarian assistance to the destitute people of Afghanistan.”