Speech #960085650

It is not my motivation. That would not be the effect. The gentleman says that my amendment. while aimed at Vietnam to try to help the refugees. would not do a thing to help refugees. Let me suggest there is another side to that argument as well. First of all. in the Housepassed supplemental bill yesterday. and in the bill that we consider today. will be a total of more than $75 million for refugees through the United Nations Commission for Refugees. In those two bills there will be another $130 millionplus for Indochinese refugees. U.S. assistance directly to refugees. So from the standpoint of dollars. this bill is spending a lot of money to help those refugees. But now let me tell my colleagues where. if we can ever get the attention of Vietnam. if we can ever convince them that they ought to become a civilized member of the world community. they will stop making refugees. and that is the best way to solve the refugee problem. Do not have Vietnam pushing more people into the sea to die or to drown or to survive by eating their dead relatives. If we can get Vietnam to stop doing that. we will have done a tremendous service to refugees and prevent future refugees. I say that as long as we continue to allow Vietnam to be rewarded indirectly. we are not doing a thing to convince them that they ought to become civilized. I can guarantee my colleagues that we are going to talk a lot about whether a nation that is as uncivilized as the leaders of that nation. are deserving of any kind of financial assistance from the American taxpayer.