Lloyd Bentsen: “I am shocked to find that there would be any ambiguity on any legislation considered by this House. But, Mr. Chairman, I…”

“I am shocked to find that there would be any ambiguity on any legislation considered by this House. But, Mr. Chairman, I think this is an honorable compromise. We are going to have disagreements over abortion in this House and in future Congresses. Let us talk about what this really is. This is about whether or not we are going to have an international family planning program sponsored by the United States. And it is about whether or not we, as the last remaining superpower, as the gentleman from Texas just said, we are willing to step up to the plate on this issue, willing to take the lead, as we should as that superpower, on the question of family planning. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Greenwood] was very appropriate in saying that we could stick our head in the sand and ignore these problems. I think that would be a mistake for this country and a mistake for the world. Mr. Chairman, I would ask my colleagues to cut through the ideological purity issues of this and look at pragmatism of the Gilman- Pelosi amendment and adopt it.”