[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5387-H5388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          THE FOREIGN AID BILL

  (Mr. LINDER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, today and through tomorrow and the next day, 
the House takes up a historic foreign affairs bill that for the first 
time in many, many years actually authorizes the spending that we take 
on behalf of the interests of the U.S. policies in respect to foreign 
lands.
  There will be much debate as to whether we are doing it the way other 
people wish us to do it or we are cutting too deeply, but the fact of 
the matter is that less than 1 percent of our entire budget is invested 
in foreign affairs. That is the issue we need to begin to take to the 
American people.
  It surprises me when you ask Americans what they think is the largest 
item in the Federal budget and they consistently say foreign affairs, 
and indeed it is perhaps the smallest. When [[Page H5388]] you ask 
people if we spend too much on foreign affairs, in one recent poll, 79 
percent said yes. The second question was, how much do you think we 
should be spending, and they consistently said about 5 percent, and 
indeed we are spending 1 percent.
  There will be honest debates as to whether we are giving too much 
support for one country or another, but the fact of the matter is it is 
cheaper to support nations in peace than it is to buy more bombers and 
missiles, and I believe that we are on the right track.

                          ____________________