[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 72 (Friday, June 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            THE D-DAY CELEBRATION--NO PLACE FOR PARTISANSHIP

  (Mr. EDWARDS of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as someone born after World War 
II, it is hard for me to put into words my feeling about the 50th 
anniversary of D-day. As a member of the Committee on Armed Services 
and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I was proud to have been part 
of the congressional delegation representing the United States there.
  To meet the veterans of D-day, to hear their firsthand stories, to 
see the beaches where so much American blood was spilled in the name of 
freedom--all of this gave me a deepened lifelong sense of gratitude and 
respect for the courage and sacrifices of American veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, if there was ever a time to put patriotism above 
partisanship, it should have been in the commemoration of our World War 
II veterans. I am saddened and sickened that some Members of this House 
have chosen to criticize President Clinton for his efforts to ensure 
that the world would never forget D-day. For the world not to have sent 
its leaders there to that historic event would have been 
unconscionable.
  To those Members who would politicize D-day's anniversary for cheap 
partisan political publicity, I say to you that you do a disservice to 
yourself, to this House, and, most importantly, to the men who died on 
the beaches of Normandy 50 years ago.

                          ____________________