[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 98 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page E1256]]

                AMERICAN OVERSEAS INTERESTS ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. WILLIAM P. LUTHER

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1561), to 
     consolidate the foreign affairs agencies of the United 
     States; to authorize appropriations for the Department of 
     State and related agencies for fiscal year 1996 and 1997; to 
     responsibly reduce the authorizations of appropriations for 
     United States foreign assistance programs for fiscal year 
     1996 and 1997, and for other purposes:

  Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Chairman, I am committed to ensuring that all efforts 
are taken to recover our American POW's and MIA's from the Vietnam and 
Korean wars. After 27 years of families waiting for news and 
information about loved ones, the time has come to renew our national 
commitment to those American soldiers still unaccounted for in 
Southeast Asia.
  We must do all we can to achieve the fullest possible accounting of 
our POW/MIA's. We must reach out to the families of POW/MIA's and 
listen to their stories. We must continue to seek answers to the 
questions that remain, and we must address our past failures and 
develop more positive future solutions.
  One of those stories is the story of Joan O'Brien, a constituent of 
mine and an active member of the Minnesota League of POW/MIA's. Her 
brother, Sgt. Eugene Allen Handrahan has been missing in action since 
October 10, 1968. She is convinced that the POW/MIA's issue has been 
seriously mishandled and is frustrated by our inability to adequately 
address the lack of information available to her family about her 
brother. She feels as though our Government has stopped looking for 
positive solutions. I understand her feelings and am concerned with the 
Department of Defense's unwillingness to provide this family with 
complete information.
  Today we have before us a positive approach. I applaud my colleague, 
Representative Fred Upton for his provision in the American Overseas 
Interest Act, adopted in the manager's amendment, which I voted for and 
fully support. Representative Upton's language enables us to reach out 
to citizens of countries who may have access to information about our 
missing service personnel. This provision grants asylum in the United 
States to any citizen of Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia who personally 
delivers into the custody of the U.S. Government a living American POW 
or MIA of the Vietnam war, and to any citizen of North Korea, South 
Korea, or China who delivers an American POW or MIA from the Korean 
war.
  Mr. Chairman, this is the least we can do to show our support and 
appreciation to those who risk their lives to bring American soldiers 
home. It is the least we can do to answer to the millions of families 
still waiting for positive solutions.


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