[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14507]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, one of the marks of a good leader is the 
ability to make those he leads feel secure from harm.
  It has now been 2 decades since President Reagan pointed out that we 
have no defense from a missile attack. The American people want to be 
safe from any missile attack, but we still have not deployed a defense 
system.
  President Bush brought implementation of a national missile defense 
system one giant step closer this week. He met with Russian President 
Putin to talk about it. President Putin is now more open-minded about 
that issue, and both leaders will be working hard to reduce the number 
of nuclear missiles in our national arsenals.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a major step forward for our national security. 
America and the world are a little safer today than we were yesterday. 
And when Bush and Putin have come to a final agreement on missile 
arsenals and when we finally have a national missile defense system, 
every American will sleep more soundly each night with the knowledge 
that their President is doing everything possible to keep them safe.

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