[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 1, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8268-H8269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              AMERICA'S VETERANS VERSUS TOBACCO COMPANIES

  (Mr. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, in the next hour this House will have a 
clear choice. It is a choice between America's veterans versus tobacco 
companies. It is a choice between veterans versus partisanship.
  As someone who represents over 40,000 Army soldiers and 60,000 
veterans

[[Page H8269]]

in my district, I am disappointed and outraged that a Republican leader 
in the other body would add language to the foreign aid bill that 
actually gives tobacco companies precedence over Desert Storm veterans 
regarding claims against frozen Iraqi assets. What a slap in the face 
to every Desert Storm veteran and all veterans everywhere.
  Desert Storm veterans were first in combat. They should not be last 
in line regarding legitimate claims against the Iraqis.
  Mr. Speaker, I did not see tobacco companies fighting in Desert 
Storm. But I did see American service men and women fighting there, and 
I did have constituents who died on the sands of Kuwait in service to 
their Nation.

                              {time}  1015

  Those people, not tobacco companies, should be put first in line. 
They stood up for us; today we should stand up for them, and I hope my 
Republican colleagues will join the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett] 
and the Democrats, and will work together to defeat the Helms amendment 
to the foreign aid bill.

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