David Obey: “I see things quite differently than the gentleman who just spoke. What I find amazing about this bill is that just the…”

“I see things quite differently than the gentleman who just spoke. What I find amazing about this bill is that just the increase in the budget for the Department of Defense over the last 18 months, just the increase, is larger than the entire foreign aid assistance bill which we are debating today. Foreign aid as a percentage of our national budget is less than 1 percent. This bill fully meets our responsibilities to our national interests in the Middle East. We understand that. The problem is that we are not a third-rate power who only has to worry about one part of the world. We have obligations to our interests in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, as well as the Middle East. While this bill is a full policy for the Middle East, it shreds our ability to defend our interests in Latin America, in Africa, and to a lesser extent, in Asia. For that reason, it would be a horrendous mistake for us to vote for this bill until we have met our responsibilities to ourselves in each of the regions of the world. It would also be a mistake to vote for this bill until we provide a recognition of reality through debt relief. Debt relief is no great gift that we are going to be giving to the Third World, these are debts that are totally uncollectible. They were incurred by governments that were national disgraces and international jokes.”