[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 31 (Thursday, February 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  NATIONAL SECURITY REVITALIZATION ACT

                                 ______


                               speech of

                           HON. FLOYD SPENCE

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 15, 1995
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, we are here today considering H.R. 872. This 
legislation responds to the concerns of the American people. We on this 
side of the aisle listen to the American people in many ways. We listen 
and we learn, and we are trying to respond to their concerns.
  The American people want to restore and revitalize our national 
security. They are outraged when they find that we have no defense 
against ballistic missiles, which could do irreparable harm to them and 
their loved ones in our country.
  They cannot understand why we do not have a national missile defense. 
They want to know who is responsible. We are trying to respond to those 
concerns and tell them who is responsible, and we will try to fix this. 
They do not want and do not deserve to be unprotected and naked to 
something that could destroy all their lives.
  I understand that our liberal friends on the other side of the aisle 
have a real problem with what we are about. Because we are trying to 
protect the American people, it is difficult for them not to join in 
with us. So they have to resort to all kind of tactics.
  I have always been amazed at the liberal mind, what it can conjure up 
with a limited vocabulary and fantasize, turn night into day and day 
into night, wrong into right, right into wrong by using words and smoke 
screens.
  They would have you believe, for instance, that what we are doing is 
harmful to national security. People who have dedicated their lives to 
tearing down our national security are now telling us that what we are 
doing is harmful to national security.
  A while ago, I went down in the well, I was sitting back in the back 
of the Chamber, because down home we have got a saying that ``when 
people say outrageous things, don't stand too close to them because 
lightning might strike.'' I don't want to be too close when it strikes.
  Mr. Chairman, we are about doing out duty to protect the American 
people and we are going to do it. We want our colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle, liberal as they might be, and how they play their 
game, I do not care. We want their help in protecting the American 
people. We want them to join us. If they do not want to do it, that is 
their problem. We are going to do it, anyway. And it is going to be 
done here on this floor.


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