Frank Lautenberg: “I want to discuss the report pending that should come over from the House of Representatives in the next while on the…”

“I want to discuss the report pending that should come over from the House of Representatives in the next while on the appropriations bill that relates to the Commerce, State, Justice Departments. And part of what is in this report that we expect to see relates to the importation of surplus military weapons that were manufactured in the United States and, many years ago, were sent abroad as part of our military assistance program. Now, although there was initially no bill or report language on the issue in either the House or the Senate bills before conference, the issue has nevertheless consumed an enormous amount of time over the past few weeks, and it has generated some significant controversy. I have had a deep interest in this subject because I believe that when we load this society of ours up with more guns, we ought to know why we are doing it. It has been the policy of three administrations--Reagan, Bush, and now the current Clinton administration--to ban foreign governments from exporting to our shores and selling these American-made military weapons that we gave or sold them at sharp discounts to help us fight common enemies, and sell these weapons to the U.S. commercial markets.”