[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

  (Mr. WELDON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the House will be considering the 
authorization bill for NASA next week, which includes funding for the 
international space station.
  You will hear arguments from opponents of the space station. If their 
rhetoric sounds familiar, it should. They are the same arguments used 
last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. In fact, 
they are the same arguments used by opponents of any visionary project 
throughout history.
  Space station opponents are trying to sink our country's investment 
in the future.
  Opponents do not want you to hear that the space station is on 
schedule and on budget, or that nearly 90,000 pounds of hardware have 
been built by the United States and our international partners.
  Opponents of the space station want you to cut it because they claim 
we cannot afford it.
  I tell you now that we can't afford not to build the space station. 
We cannot turn our backs now on the men and women who have worked to 
make the space station and its promising future a reality.
  I urge everyone to support the international space station--a vote 
for the space station is a vote for our children's future.

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