[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]

 
          FOREIGN POLICY IS FOREIGN CONCEPT TO ADMINISTRATION

  (Mr. EVERETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EVERETT. Madam Speaker, is foreign policy a foreign concept to 
the administration? This week's Time magazine includes a quote from an 
unnamed White House staffer who gushed the following about the 
administration's policy toward Haiti: ``The policy wasn't working, and 
we realized, hey, we're the White House; we can change it.'' This 
fickle and sophomoric attitude illustrates the current confusion in 
Washington over the lack of a coherent White House foreign policy.
  The President and his top foreign policy advisers cannot seem to keep 
the car on the road. On one hand, we have the lack of direction in 
Bosnia and Haiti, and on the other the apparent indecision on whether 
to recommend most-favored-nation trading status to China.
  In my view the Clinton administration's foreign policy is functioning 
like a ship without a rudder--it lacks the focus, the ability to stay 
the course and the unified voice necessary to provide the world a clear 
and concise understanding of our Nation's priorities.
  Former Secretary of State James Baker perhaps hit the nail on the 
head when he described the Clinton administration as ``uncomfortable 
with the concept of American power'' and said its foreign policy was 
damaging U.S. credibility in the world.
  The world today is in a changing revolutionary state, demanding 
extraordinary leadership from the United States. And as a nation, Madam 
Speaker, we cannot tolerate amateur foreign policy--the stakes are too 
high.

                          ____________________