Speech #940056991

I thank the chairman for yielding this time to me. I really am outraged that this Congress is put in the position of having to vote on this legislation because John Foster Dulles. in 1954. sabotaged the Geneva accords that ended the FrenchIndochinese war. Had this Nation let the accords be implemented. we would have had a Communist government in Vietnam. as we do today. but we would not have lost 55.000 Americans. wasted $165 billion. or been confronted with the problem of the refugees and the spending of a half billion dollars for their support. I also resent being asked to appropriate $405 million to resettle refugees when we are denying people in this country even very meager existences. I resent the fact that if this Congress does not appropriate the money. local property taxpayers and State treasuries will have to absorb the funds for the refugees in local welfare costs. The burden that falls upon us today is the result of a stupid policy made by John Foster Dulles in 1954. There was no meaningful program to get the Americans out of South Vietnam by Ambassador Martin. Such a program could have forstalled the number of refugees who are here. some of whom fled with valid reason. and others out of sheer panic. created partially because Graham Martin refused to have an orderly evacuation program. I do not know how I will vote on this bill. I will probably vote for the money because it is in effect a fait accompli. but I will resent having to pay for John Foster Dulles sabotaging the 1954 Geneva accords.