[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-420. A concurrent resolution adopted by the General 
     Assembly of the State of Iowa relative to appropriations for 
     the United States Naval Fleet and the United States Flag 
     Merchant Marine Fleet; to the Committee on Appropriations.

                  House Concurrent Resolution No. 108

       Whereas, the continuing reduction of the United States 
     armed forces is dangerously straining the ability of the 
     United States to respond adequately to regional threats, with 
     the United States Naval Fleet shrinking from nearly 600 ships 
     in 1987 to less than 325 ships today; and
       Whereas, the United States is currently building military 
     ships at half the rate needed to maintain even a modest 
     fleet, while the demands on the United States sea power 
     forces have increased significantly since the end of the Cold 
     War; and
       Whereas, the United States is presently deploying its Navy 
     and Marines three times as often as the United States did 
     before the fall of the Soviet Union, while procuring fewer 
     ships than at anytime since 1932, with the current fleet 
     being the smallest since 1917; and
       Whereas, the safety and economic prosperity of the United 
     States are tied to the political stability of every part of 
     the globe, and the United States faces a dangerous and 
     challenging situation where, as the only superpower, it has 
     an obligation to ensure that conflicts do not escalate into 
     major military or humanitarian disasters; and
       Whereas, the United States has a different and far more 
     complex duty now than during the Cold War, and must be 
     prepared to deploy air and sea power as well as ground 
     troops, upon short notice; and
       Whereas, because the United States has closed many military 
     bases in the past decade, only the Naval Fleet can transport 
     large numbers of Army and Air Force equipment, troops, and 
     supplies around the world to support military operations that 
     deal with threats to national security of the United States; 
     and
       Whereas, nations engaging in terrorist activities have vast 
     supplies of chemical and biological agents, with several 
     nations developing their own nuclear weapons; and
       Whereas, the health of the economy of the United States 
     depends on international stability as vast markets for the 
     agricultural and manufactured products of the United States 
     and the world's investment markets are intertwined; now 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
     concurring, That the Iowa General Assembly requests that the 
     Congress of the United States, committed to the safety and 
     economic security of the United States, authorize and 
     appropriate sufficient funding to build at least 10 ships per 
     year for the next decade; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Iowa General Assembly call upon the 
     Presidential candidates to express their commitment to 
     rebuilding the United States Naval Fleet and the United 
     States Flag Merchant Marine Fleet; and be it further
       Resolved, That official copies of this Resolution be 
     transmitted to the President of the United States, the 
     President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the 
     United States House of Representatives, and the members of 
     Iowa's congressional delegation.

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