[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 92 (Wednesday, June 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5629]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        A PLEA FOR SUPPORT OF AMER- ICAN OVERSEAS INTERESTS ACT

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1561--the American Overseas 
Interests Act--is the first major step toward reshaping and 
reorganizing our foreign policy operations since the cold war.
  It begins by recognizing that--with the end of the long, twilight 
struggle--we no longer need the specialized agencies that were created 
to help in the fight against world communism.
  Nor can we afford them, in a period when we are facing deficits in 
the range of $200 billion a year. H.R. 1561 begins the necessary task 
of reordering, by eliminating the Agency for International Development, 
the U.S. Information Agency, and the Arms Control and Disarmament 
Agency--and transferring their responsibilities to the State 
Department.
  Together with cuts in spending of $3 billion over 2 years--that is 
cuts below current spending--we are on the way toward modernizing and 
streamlining the way we project American power and influence around the 
world. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on final 
passage of the American Overseas Interests Act.

                          ____________________