[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5135-H5136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LET US RID THE WORLD OF LANDMINES

  (Mr. QUINN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. QUINN. Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful to talk about something that is 
not quite as partisan this morning. As chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Benefits I rise this morning to talk to our colleagues about the 
devastating effect

[[Page H5136]]

of landmines. Throughout the world hundreds of innocent civilians are 
maimed and killed each week by landmines, and I wonder if our 
colleagues know that at the current time there are over 110 million 
landmines buried in the earth. We also know that landmines have wounded 
almost 300 UN and NATO troops in Bosnia alone. It is obvious that these 
weapons extract a terrible toll on all humanity.
  Fortunately the United States has an opportunity to ban these 
menacing weapons. Later this year over 95 countries from around the 
world will meet in Ottawa, Canada to sign a treaty banning these 
landmines forever. In the United States we believe all of us have the 
greatest economic, military, and moral influence of any Nation on 
Earth, and it is imperative we make a commitment to get rid of these 
landmines.
  That is why the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Evans] and I, along with 
over 160 of our colleagues from both sides of the aisle, have asked the 
President to join that Ottawa treaty. Our legislation has the backing 
of the Catholic church's Conference of Bishops, the Vietnam Veterans 
Foundation, and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. We ask our colleagues to join 
us in this important matter.

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