[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             VOTE ``NO'' ON THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

  (Mr. SANDERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SANDERS. Madam Speaker, communism is dead, and the cold war is 
over. The major enemy that we face today, the major threat to our 
national security, is not the Soviet Union, not China, not North 
Vietnam. The major crisis that our country is facing is the declining 
standard of living of our workers, 22 percent of our children who live 
in poverty, the millions of elderly who are struggling to stay alive on 
meager Social Security payments.
  Madam Speaker, I will vote against the Department of Defense 
authorization because we have got our priorities all wrong and because 
we do not need to spend $250 billion a year on defense. We do not need 
more research and development on nuclear weapons, we do not need more 
money for ballistic missile defense, and we do not need to spend $100 
billion a year defending Europe and Asia against a nonexistent enemy.
  Madam Speaker, let us get our priorities right; let us vote for our 
workers, our children, and the elderly.
  Please vote ``no'' on the defense budget.

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