[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 63 (Thursday, May 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   CLINTON ADMINISTRATION NEEDS COHERENT FOREIGN POLICY AND MILITARY 
                                 POLICY

  (Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming. Mr. Speaker, Harry Truman once said a leader 
has to lead, otherwise he has no business in politics. One wonders 
about the Clinton administration's leadership in international affairs. 
We talked yesterday and will be talking again tomorrow about defense 
authorization, one of the most important issues that we have before us.
  Mr. Speaker, a strong defense is one of the first responsibilities of 
the Federal Government, to defend our citizens and defend our freedom. 
Certainly it is also true that this is not a peaceful world. We have 
problems in Bosnia and in Haiti, and maybe most importantly, in North 
Korea and in the Russian Republics and South Africa, the continent.
  But before we can describe what the new mission of the defense force 
is to be and how then we fund that capacity, we have to have a foreign 
policy. We have to have a foreign policy because the military capacity 
is part of that; it is the big stick; it is what makes foreign policy 
work.
  What is our role in the world now? How do we extend democracy? Are we 
the policemen in the world? We have not made that decision, and it is 
mighty tough to have a military policy without a foreign policy. We 
need leadership in that area.

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