[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 81 (Monday, May 23, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2883-H2884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HELP FIND OUR MISSING VETS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. Mulvaney) for 5 minutes.
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Hanoi, under a giant bronze
statue of Ho Chi Minh, the President of the United States announced
that he was formally rescinding our country's decades-long prohibition
on the sale of military equipment to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Without input from Congress, in one grand, unilateral action, the
President decided to reward Vietnam for its egregious record on human
rights and its continuing crackdown on religious freedoms. But worse
than that, he has surrendered a diplomatic opportunity to find out what
happened to the 1,500 Americans still unaccounted for in Vietnam and
Southeast Asia.
It was unfortunate to see where this President's priorities lie, but
there is still time to correct that wrong.
Before he leaves Vietnam, I have a message to the President, a
message from the Rolling Thunder vets, Chapter
[[Page H2884]]
1, of South Carolina. They asked me to ask him this: Instead of using
this opportunity to reward Vietnam or to apologize for what he sees as
past American wrongs, please, please, please, Mr. President, use this
time instead to do something productive and positive and patriotic--
help find our missing vets and help bring them home.
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