Cass Ballenger: “H.R. 1561--the American Overseas Interests Act--is the first major step toward reshaping and reorganizing our foreign…”

“H.R. 1561--the American Overseas Interests Act--is the first major step toward reshaping and reorganizing our foreign policy operations since the cold war. It begins by recognizing that--with the end of the long, twilight struggle--we no longer need the specialized agencies that were created to help in the fight against world communism. Nor can we afford them, in a period when we are facing deficits in the range of $200 billion a year. H.R. 1561 begins the necessary task of reordering, by eliminating the Agency for International Development, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency--and transferring their responsibilities to the State Department. Together with cuts in spending of $3 billion over 2 years--that is cuts below current spending--we are on the way toward modernizing and streamlining the way we project American power and influence around the world. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on final passage of the American Overseas Interests Act.”