March 18, 1992 the PRESIDING OFFICER
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March 18,1992 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE 5943 court of last resort when it comes to starts making a heart-wringing speech friendly country with some loan guar- Presidential vetoes. about his or her concern for the unem- antees, for example. Maybe one of us In just a few minutes, we are going to ployed, ask that Senator how he or she will think back to the good initiative up that record to 25 and 0. voted on this issue, to put 300,000 of the Senator from Delaware, and call Whenever we have one of these two Americans out of work. for a closed session to talk about that veto votes, we also hear about stories Because this is not just a China bill; country's arms exports. Maybe we will attributing votes, one way or the a foreign policy bill. start conditioning loan guarantees, or other, to horse-trading and arm-twist- In a very concrete way, this is a jobs di:ect aid, or any other aid to any ing. But the simple fact is that George bill, too. And we are kidding ourselves, other country, or continued implemen- Bush has won every one of these and kidding our constituents, if we do tation of a free trade agreement, or showdowns because the bills he has ve- not face up to that. even MFN on that country, maintain- toed have been bad bills. And let me list one last way enacting ing a simon-pure policy on arms sales. And this is a bad bill, too. The Presi- this bill will do real damage. If we are going to start down the road dent was right to veto it. And we are Just before we voted on the con- on arms sales and start reviewing going to do the right thing in sustain- ference report in late February, we had every country that is involved in arms ing his veto. a closed session of the Senate, to de- sales and say you ought to loose your It is a bad bill because it will not bate reports of Chinese sales of ad- MFN, that is a debate we ought to work. It will not do what the pro- vanced weapons and technology to have. That is a debate we ought to ponents of the bill say they want to other countries. The distinguished Sen- have. If we want to change the law we achieve. ator from Delaware [Mr. BIDEN] pro- ought to have that debate, but that It will not lead to the release of a posed that session. I commend him for should not be the debate here. single political prisoner. It will not making that suggestion, because I be- Mr. President, President Bush has a open up China's markets. It will not lieve we benefited from our discussion strategy for advancing America's inter- stop arms sale. of this critical issue. We were able to There is not the slightest ests in every one of these areas we have bit of evi- separate some facts from speculation, discussed. We are making progress, dence, or logic, or history that sug- and put some other facts in the proper substantial in some areas like trade gests enactment of this bill will accom- context. plish any and arms proliferation; less substan- of the goals laid out by the No doubt about it, we all deplore tial, but still significant, in human proponents. the Chinese have done in But what is even worse than that. some things rights. this area. And we are unanimous in de- We are going to keep the heat on Overriding the President's veto-put- manding that China cease and desist in ting this bill in law-will not only do China. We are going to stay engaged. no good; it will do a great deal of harm. some of its irresponsible arms sales We are not going to turn our backs to It will harm China's young, entre- policies. 1 billion 100 million people. preneurial class-the country's strong- But lot us analyze this. Why do the It seems to me if wewant to have an est advocates of reform-far more than Chinese do these deals? We heard it in impact on 1.1 billion people and the it will harm the old men in Beijing. the closed session, and in private brief- leaders of the People's Republic of It will be a devastating blow to the ings. But it is not a classified matter. China we ought to be seated at the economy of Hong Kong, dramatically It is just common sense. They sell arms table, not outside. Not locked out be- reducing the chances it can survive as for the same reason we sell wheat, and cause we have taken some action, or an enclave of freedom and free markets airplanes, and computers, and, yes, the Senate has taken some action. It after 1997. arms. They sell arms to make money- seems to me we are in a better posi- It will hit home in every wallet and desperately needed hard currency. tion, if we have a difference of opinion, pocketbook in this country. The fact But here is the logic of the support- if we want to influence their policy, to is, we import billions of dollars of low- ers of this legislation. We want China be inside the tent and not outside the cost, good quality products from China to stop selling arms, so-to pressure tent. which we simply cannot got anywhere them to do that-we close down one of So, in my view that is the way to get else at anywhere near those prices. the most lucrative markets they have the job done. Not by mounting some Let me give you just one example. for earning hard currency from non- high moral perch and firing our moral Ending MFN for China will raise the military exports, the United States Scuds. price of a pair of inexpensive shoes- market. Mr. President, I urge every Senator the kind that typically sell for $10- We just shut down the United States to vote to sustain President Bush's $25-$1 to $2. If you are in a low-paying market to the Chinese. veto on this bad legislation. job or have a fixed income, or are liv- What do you think the Chinese will This is an important vote. It is an ing on unemployment compensation, do? They still need the hard currency. important vote to agriculture; it is an and you have three or four kids who They are suddenly getting a lot less of important vote to consumers in Amer- need shoes-that hurts. it, at least in the short run, from sell- ica; it is an important vote to a lot of Most damaging of all, enacting this ing nonmilitary goods to the United other people who do business in the legislation will wipe out many, many States. The only other thing they have People's Republic of China and create American jobs. One reputable economic to sell, that anyone wants to buy, is American jobs. Make no mistake about research organization has put the toll military equipment and technology. it. If President Bush finds the Chinese at 300,000 jobs. In those circumstances, are they are engaged in some unlawful conduct There has been a lot of genuine an- likely to sell more arms, or fewer with reference to arms sales or every- guish-and some crocodile tears-over arms? It does not take a genius or a thing else, he can stop it in a minute. the plight of our Nation's unemployed. rocket scientist to figure that one out. He can stop it in a minute. And he will There have been a lot of partisan pot- Mr. President, if we are going to use do that in a minute. shots at George Bush, saying he does MFN to bludgeon the Chinese on mat- But I am prepared, if anybody has not care about the unemployed. ters like arms proliferation, we are cre- any doubts, to give the President the Well, he does care. And he does not ating an interesting linkage-in fact it benefit of the doubt in this very impor- want to put tens and tens of thousands was just referred to by the Senator tant issue. I hope the President's vote of Americans on the unemployment from Oregon-and setting an interest- would be sustained. roles so a few politicians can feel good ing precedent. MFN is based on emigra- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who about taking a high moral stance on tion policies. It has never been linked yields time? China. to anything else. Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I yield And let me urge the American voters, Maybe one of these days we will have such time as he may consume to the the next time one of their Senators a proposal on the floor to provide some Senator from Georgia. 5944 C:ONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE March 18, 1992 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- now, I can tell you again from evidence We have a trade surplus with the Eco- ator from Georgia [Mr. FOWLER] has in my own State, China is cheating on nomic Community of Europe. Is that the floor. its textile quotas and hurting jobs, in- evil? And should we in a throes of guilt PRIVIIEGE OF TIlHFLOOR-II.R. 2212 dustrial jobs all over Georgia and decide that we should not be selling Mr. FOWLER. Mr. President, before I throughout the southern textile pro- more to Australia than we buy; there is begin I ask unanimous consent that ducing States.