[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 119 (Saturday, August 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             A BRIBERY APPROACH IN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

  (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, at an earlier, less cynical point in our 
Nation's history, when the United States was approached by the 
representative of a revolutionary government for extortion money, the 
response was clear and unequivocal: ``Millions for defense, but not one 
cent for tribute''--Charles Cotesworth Pinkney to Talleyrand, 1797.
  This response reflected a basic and commonsense belief that 
international outlaws cannot be bought off, and that American security 
problems cannot be resolved by paying off potential adversaries. Giving 
in to demands for U.S. financial assistance rarely addresses the 
underlying problems, and only generates even greater demands for 
American dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, this Member has been a strong supporter of international 
assistance for humanitarian and basic developmental purposes. But 
increasingly it is proposed that our foreign assistance program be used 
to ``buy off'' the bad guys. And this body should not be mislead: 
International thugs and opportunists know a sucker when they see one. 
Regrettably, it is becoming painfully clear that, as a result of the 
Clinton administration's failed foreign policy, Uncle Sam has become 
``Uncle Sucker.'' We are increasingly seen as a nation with a fat 
checkbook. Unwilling to pay for a strong and robust defense capability, 
the Clinton administration is nonetheless willing to dole out the 
dollars to bribe nations to behave themselves.

  This Member was deeply concerned when he learned that we are giving 
Russian officers as much as $25,000 each if they leave the Baltic 
States. It is entirely appropriate for the United States to be pressing 
the Russian Army to leave the Baltic. Indeed, this Member has long been 
a vocal opponent of a continued presence of the Russian Army in Latvia, 
Lithuania, and Estonia. But the notion of paying the Russian Army, 
which illegally occupied the Baltic for five decades, to leave is both 
unseemly and shortsighted--it violates American traditive and 
principles.
  Likewise, after repeated shifts and reversals in U.S. policy toward 
North Korea, the United States appears on the verge of pulling out its 
checkbook in hopes that the North Korean nuclear problem will go away--
at least temporarily. After months and flagrantly violating its 
international treaty commitments, North Korea may be given both 
diplomatic recognition and a massive assistance program including a 
U.S. commitment to help build light-water reactors. For its part, the 
North has not agreed even to give up the 8,000 spent fuel rods nor will 
they be forced to allow inspections on the nuclear fuel that was 
diverted in earlier years. In short, the North keeps its nuclear 
capability and receives U.S. largesse.
  Mr. Speaker, this Member is fully aware that statecraft is a complex 
and delicate matter. Problems among nations often seem intractable. But 
it is wrong and truly un-American to bribe nations to do what is right. 
You don't achieve long-term stability by agreeing to payoffs to 
international outlaws. It's just plain wrong and contrary to America's 
first principles, Mr. Speaker, and the Clinton administration should 
wake up to that fact.

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