Weekly Radio Report: Foreign Aid

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c031_053.mp3

c031_053_tr.txt

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Extent (Dublin Core)

5 Minutes, 41 Seconds

File Name (Dublin Core)

c031_053

Title (Dublin Core)

Weekly Radio Report: Foreign Aid

Description (Dublin Core)

In this weekly radio report, Congressman Bob Dole discusses foreign aid and the recent House vote to remove $585 billion from the foreign aid authorization bill, which President Kennedy called partisan and irresponsible. Dole explains how this move was backed by several Democrats – including committee chairmen – and then delves into Kennedy’s record in Congress, illustrating that he once also believed cutting foreign aid was essential.

Date (Dublin Core)

1963-08-10

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1963-08-10

Congress (Dublin Core)

88th (1963-1965)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueDebts, Public--United States

See all items with this valueGovernment spending policy--United States

See all items with this valueInternational relief

Policy Area (Curation)

Government Operations and Politics

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

radio programs

Names (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueCannon, Clarence, 1879-1964

See all items with this valueDole, Robert J., 1923-2021

See all items with this valueKennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

See all items with this valueMills, Wilbur D. (Wilbur Daigh), 1909-1992

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=84&q=

Physical Collection (Dublin Core)

Collection 031, Box 1

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Dole Audio Reels Collection, 1960-1979

Full Text (Extract Text)

This is Congressman Bob Dole with my weekly radio report from Washington. First of all, I wish to thank the station for carrying my program as a public service broadcast, and secondly, I do invite your comments and suggestions, if you may be listening. We do feel it is important that if we are to continue our weekly radio programs, that we do it on a non-partisan basis, a non-political basis, and that, too, we say something that might be of interest to the listeners.

I think one thing that I know that has brought about mail to our office — we've had many inquiries when we were home — has been the matter of foreign aid, and just how far this country can go with the national debt we now have and with many other spending programs that seem to be expanding. When will we start to cut foreign aid? Well, I think this is — the answer to this is — rather clearly illustrated in the House about two weeks ago, when we voted 222 to 188, to chop off $585 million in the foreign aid authorization bill. Now, as you may recall, this bought a very angry denunciation from the President; he called those Members who voted for this cut thoughtless, irresponsible, and called it a dangerously partisan action. I note that two of the Members who voted to cut $585 million in the authorization bill were the distinguished Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Wilbur Mills, a Democrat from Arkansas, and also Clarence Cannon, a Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, a Democrat in the state of Missouri. So, I don't think this was irresponsible or thoughtless. I think we must have some faith in the chairman of the very important Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Mills, who now has the tax bills and has been wrestling with this for several weeks and several months. We must have some faith in Mr. Cannon, who served in Congress nearly 40 years — in fact, maybe even more. So, I don't believe the President can call it partisan action when these two well-respected Democrats also join with 64 other Democrats and a balance of Republicans to chop off $585 million.

And I think, too, that it might be well to get the full picture — how did President Kennedy — now President Kennedy — respond when he was a Member of the House and a Member of the Senate? In the Congressional Record on the date of August 17, 1951, Mr. Kennedy stated — he was a Member of the House, “I say it is impossible for us to think of raising the standards of living of all the low-standard countries of the world.” Later that same year, on November 19, 1951, he is quoted in the Boston Globe — and he was a Member of the House at that time — as saying the following quote: “The vision of a bottle of milk for every Hottentot is a nice one, but it's far beyond our reach. There is just not enough money in the world to relieve the poverty of all the millions of this world who may be threatened by communism.”

So now I think we should also look at some of the voting of Mr. Kennedy when a Member of the House and a Member of the Senate. In 1959 — July 7th of that year — on two votes to cut military aid by $500 million and $300 million, Mr. Kennedy was not voting. On July 2nd, on a motion to cut the development loan fund from $2 billion for two years to $700 million for one year, Mr. Kennedy did not vote. On May 30, 1959, on a $100 million cut in the development loan fund, Mr. Kennedy did not vote. In 1960 — the sixth month, and the second day — on approval of the United States gifts to the International Development Association, Mr. Kennedy is recording — [correcting himself] is recorded as not voting. The fifth month in the second day, 1960, on 13 separate votes on the Mutual Security Act — including passage of the act — Mr. Kennedy, then a Member of the Senate, was recorded as not voting.

Now, let's look at the other side of the coin: in 1953, when a Member of the House — the seventh month and the first day — on a vote to cut mutual security funds by $300 million, Mr. Kennedy voted ‘yea.’ The eighth month and third day of 1954, to cut the military security authorization by $500 million, Mr. Kennedy voted ‘yea.’ On July 22, 1955, to restore a $420 million House cut in military aid — to restore the cut, Senator Kennedy voted ‘no.’ On July 22, 1955, to add $50 million to the funds for Asian economic development, Senator Kennedy voted ‘no.’ On the sixth month, the 14th day of 1957, to cut the military security defense support funds by $90 million, Mr. Kennedy voted ‘yea’ — so he voted to cut.

So, I think the record's clear, that he felt at one time it was necessary. I believe the taxpayers have long felt it was necessary to have some rhyme and some reason in our foreign aid program, and I sincerely hope that when the bill comes back from the Senate, it'll go to conference, if there are differences. And I do trust the Senate now will not yield to the pressure of the White House, and the State Department, and others who want to increase foreign aid spending. Let's keep it to a reasonable basis, and I think, frankly, it could be cut another billion or two.

Again, this is Congressman Bob Dole, Washington 25 DC.