Cass Ballenger: “I'd like to first praise the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] on his fine leadership in producing a bill that…”

“I'd like to first praise the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] on his fine leadership in producing a bill that reduces our foreign aid spending in a responsible manner. The collapse of the Soviet empire has eradicated the threat of Communist aggression worldwide leaving only one superpower, the United States. With this end to the cold war, in turn, came radical changes in the political and social landscape of the world and therefore, strategies to keep stability in the world need drastic reforms. We can no longer depend on the ``for us or against us'' formula of foreign aid. With the rise of new regional conflicts posing new threats to world peace and leaving us with new challenges for our foreign policy, we must develop new strategies to meet the demands of the new world order. Unfortunately, many of the antiquated foreign aid programs that existed during the cold war are still in use, and paid for by American taxpayers. While I understand that foreign aid cannot and should not be cut out completely, it must be reformed and reduced to meet the demands of the post-cold-war world. H.R. 1561, the American Overseas Interests Act of 1995, does just that.”