[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H1484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




UNNECESSARY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND UNWISE MILITARY ADVENTURISM 
                              IN COLOMBIA

  (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, the current budget this year authorizes an 
expenditure of $1.789 trillion. We would think that would be enough. 
The President has asked for an additional $4 billion. After the House 
leadership thought about this, they decided to give him $9 billion.
  Quite frankly, I think there is enough waste and fraud in the current 
budget that we could find the $4 billion if this expenditure were 
necessary. If we ever considered cutting back on some unconstitutional 
spending, we would have plenty of funds to take care of additional 
expenditures and have a lot left over.
  But we should be very cautious about what we are doing today by 
expanding our involvement in Colombia. We are now moving into Colombia 
and spending a lot of money and expanding our war in this area. We 
should not be spending our money on military adventurism. We should be 
taking this money and spending it to build up our military defenses. We 
should be using this money to pay our military personnel more money, 
give them better housing and better education and better medical care.
  What we are doing today, if we pass this bill, is we are going to 
move into an another area of the world where we have no constitutional 
interest.

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