[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 125 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H10354-H10355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    MEMBERS SHOULD NOT BRING POLITICS INTO SENSITIVE FOREIGN POLICY 
                               DECISIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of theHouse, the 
gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Hefner] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, I have served for many years on the 
Committee on Appropriations. It is interesting to come here and see 
history rewritten, history changed.
  I remember many years ago when, and the gentleman just made a 
statement, and certainly I do not want to see the blood of one American 
boy lost, made the statement if we lose one person, we are going to 
hold the President of the United States accountable. We lost 240 people 
in Lebanon to a terrorist strike, and we did not hold President Reagan 
responsible for this, because we thought he was working in the best 
interests of the United States.
  But we have had the Republicans absolutely not supporting the 
situation in Bosnia, which is an uneasy peace, but there is peace in 
Bosnia now. There are not grandmothers that are being shot and children 
shot, they are going back to school. In Haiti, they opposed the mission 
in Haiti, and so far it has not been perfect, but it is working.
  This is, in my view, politics at its crassest, and to me, it is 
unbecoming of this body. Certainly Saddam has to be the most ruthless 
dictator in the history of mankind, that would rank right along with 
Genghis Khan and people of that stripe. And certainly the President of 
the United States has an awesome responsibility. I do not know what all 
the problems are in getting cooperation with our allies, but that has 
always been a problem.
  I remember a few years ago when they wanted to close the Persian 
Gulf, they threatened to close the Persian Gulf, the Iranians. We could 
not get permission from the Saudis to even fuel in their ports, but we 
went and unilaterally, unilaterally kept the Persian Gulf open because 
it was a source of oil for the free world.
  So to get into politics on something that is as sensitive as the 
situation in Iraq in my view goes beyond the political arena.


        lauding fema's responsiveness in recent national crises

  Mr. HEFNER. A couple of other things I would just like to mention 
here on my time. I would like to congratulate and thank a government 
agency. They do not get many pats on the back. But FEMA has been one of 
the most responsive agencies in my memory, not only because North 
Carolina was hit so hard with Fran, but all across this country, in 
Oklahoma and all over this country, FEMA has really been an exemplary 
agency of the Federal Government. I think we owe them a real salute 
because of the great work they have done.
  One other area I would just like to touch on. I do not want to get 
into the business of being hostile, but I remember many years ago in 
this House when Jim Wright was Speaker, on a daily basis in this well 
Special Counsel was called for, and the now Speaker of theHouse, on a 
daily basis was in this well making accusations and saying this was the 
most corrupt Speaker in the history of this Congress, calling for a 
Special Counsel and special investigations.
  We got to the bottom of all of these things, the book deals and what 
have you, and we voted. Even Democrats defected, we did not stonewall. 
We voted to support a full investigation. We voted when that 
investigation was finished to bring it before this body.
  We have spent $500,000 for the Independent Counsel to go out and 
supposedly to interview people and get at the facts. I think the thing 
that bothers me is, I do not know what transpired before he went in and 
began to talk to these people in different institutions. What bothers 
me, I guess, and I do not know and I am not making an accusation, but 
if his instructions were, you go and interview these people, find out 
what the facts are, but you do not draw any conclusions, you do not 
make any suggestions, you just get the information and you put it in 
this document and you bring it back and give it to us and we will 
decide, if that is the case, if that be the case, in my view that is an 
absolute tame dog with no teeth, and it is it is an absolute travesty.
  It seems to me that the American people need an explanation.
  I would think that the Speaker of this House would like for his name, 
his

[[Page H10355]]

good name and his reputation to be cleared. I would think that he would 
want us to bring this 100-page document to this House, let us read it, 
and if he has done nothing wrong, we will be done with it, and the 1st 
of November he can go back to his district and say, folks, I have been 
persecuted, they have investigated me, and they have found nothing 
wrong. I stand before you here in Georgia as a pure Speaker. I have 
done nothing wrong. I want you to vote for me because I have been doing 
the things you want me to do.
  But there is going to be a cloud over this, because it is not going 
to go away. There is a 100-page document that languishes in the Ethics 
Committee. We have paid $500,000 of taxpayers' money, and it needs to 
be released and clear the air on this issue.

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