[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 20, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H10517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  FOREIGN AID SHOULD NOT BE INCREASED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Isakson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, if I might ask the 
gentleman, because, again, I took his time and I apologize, but if he 
would please respond and help me explain to the people in my district.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, let me say to the distinguished gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), he has a genuine problem. I represent 
coastal Georgia and we were scared to death. I and my family and loved 
ones and all of my friends participated in one of the largest peacetime 
evacuations in the history of the country. In fact, I think it was the 
largest. I know what the hurricane and the floods have done to North 
Carolina, and I know that the gentleman does have towns that are under 
water. I know that hog farms have floated away, and I know that one 
million chickens have been drowned and there has been a huge dent in 
the food supply, the personal suffering of people. I understand that 
that damage, although no one has a real grip on it, may be as high as 
$2.2 billion.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Yet the President wants to increase foreign aid $2.2 
billion.
  Those people have not paid taxes. The good people in North Carolina 
have paid taxes.
  What are we doing? We have a flood, a major disaster in one of our 
own States, and it is going to be about $2 billion; but the President 
has chosen, instead, to veto foreign aid and wants to spend an extra $2 
billion of hard-working taxpayer monies and send it to Communist 
countries like North Korea.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I will say that the 
gentleman is right on target because the people of eastern North 
Carolina have been devastated. They keep telling me that they want this 
Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, to understand that the 
American people, when they have a need, should come first. To try to 
expand this foreign aid bill by $2 billion to $3 billion is 
unacceptable to the people of my district and the district of the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), I can assure the 
gentleman.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I think that it is the intention of the House that 
before we increase foreign aid, we want to take care of the good people 
of North Carolina.
  Again, I want to emphasize, Mr. Speaker, we want 100 percent of the 
Social Security Trust Fund protected and kept for Social Security. We 
do not want to increase taxes and we showed that yesterday by a vote of 
419 to 0, no tax increase. The only place to get the money is to reduce 
spending, create some savings within the existing budget so that we can 
distribute it fairly and evenly and use common sense as the rule of 
thumb.

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