April 25th, 2002
Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul voted this week to eliminate regulations that prevent Texas farmers from selling agricultural products to Cuba. Paul, along with more than 270 of his House colleagues, voted for an amendment to a farm bill that will allow private financing by American banks of agricultural sales to Cuba. This private financing is crucial for American farmers seeking to sell farm products in the cash-strapped Cuban marketplace.
“I applaud this important step toward opening the Cuban market to Texas farmers,” Paul stated. “The current financing restrictions limit the practical benefits of a partial repeal of the Cuban trade embargo. Our farmers should not have to seek financing from foreign banks. This vote moves us closer to fully repealing the harmful Cuban trade embargo.”
Paul noted that trade advisory groups estimate U.S. exports of food to Cuba could amount to $400 million within five years. “Trade embargoes simply benefit foreign farmers, who increase their sales in markets closed to American farmers,” Paul stated. “Rather than punishing our farmers with embargoes, Congress should be eliminating barriers so that they can sell farm products to new markets. Over one-third of U.S. agricultural production is exported, so farmers suffer disproportionately when trade restrictions are imposed.”
Paul introduced legislation last year that would allow completely free trade, travel, and communication with Cuba, while banning any federal aid or subsidies to the island nation. “True free trade means no trade restrictions, sanctions, or tariffs, but also no corporate subsidies,” Paul concluded. “Congress should be working toward a true free trade Cuban policy that benefits Texas farmers.”
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April 24th, 2002
Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul yesterday voted to uphold welfare reform laws that revoked the eligibility of most legal immigrants to receive food stamps. Paul joined more than 170 of his House colleagues in opposing legislation that would loosen eligibility requirements and force American taxpayers to fund food stamp programs for recent immigrants.
“The welfare state, not immigration per se, is the real culprit behind many of the social ills attributed to immigration,” Paul stated. “America should welcome immigrants from around the world who want to come to this country, work hard, and create a better life for themselves. The hardworking immigrants who built this nation before any welfare system existed truly exemplified American ideals. Our current welfare state, however, distorts incentives by enabling recent immigrants to obtain taxpayer-funded benefits like food stamps. This system often attracts the wrong kind of immigrants and causes understandable resentment among taxpayers.”
“Only by ending welfare can we insure that immigrants come to America for the right reasons,” Paul concluded. “New immigrants should seek freedom and opportunity, not government handouts. Sensible immigration policies start with sensible welfare reform policies.”
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April 18th, 2002
Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul today joined more than 200 of his colleagues in voting to make permanent the tax cuts championed by President Bush and passed by the House last summer. Today’s vote on the “Tax Relief Guarantee Act” was necessary because the Senate had rewritten the House bill and set the tax cuts to expire in ten years.
“I’m glad the House acted to make these needed tax cuts permanent,” Paul stated. “American taxpayers should not have to worry about a sudden tax increase in 2011 simply because Congress is too afraid of its own spending appetites to pass permanent tax relief. I especially applaud our finally bringing an end to the indefensible death tax, which perversely would have returned to trap those unfortunate enough to die in the wrong year. Every American should demand that the Senate undo its backdoor tax increase and make the Bush tax cuts permanent.”
The Tax Relief Guarantee Act insures the tax cuts passed into law last summer remain in place permanently. Those important cuts include a decrease in marginal income tax rates for all Americans, especially those in lower income brackets, as well as an end to the harmful marriage penalty. The Act also makes permanent increases in child tax credits and increases in tax-free amounts that may be contributed to IRAs and pension plans.
Perhaps the most important provision of the Act, however, repeals the harmful estate tax permanently. “The estate tax is inherently unfair and oppressive,” Paul stated. “Americans should not be taxed simply because they worked hard throughout their lifetimes to save for their children- especially after they paid income taxes while accumulating an estate. Furthermore, the claim that only the rich pay estate taxes is dead wrong. Many family farms, ranches, and small businesses in my district have been affected. The families that own these businesses simply do not have hundred of thousands in liquid cash to pay an estate tax bill, so they are forced to sell the business itself. The federal government should not be destroying family businesses, nor should it be taxing success in the first place.”
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April 11th, 2002
Washington, DC: As UN bureaucrats celebrate the establishment of the illegitimate and unconstitutional International Criminal Court (ICC), Congressman Ron Paul of Texas seized the counteroffensive today by introducing legislation repudiating ICC jurisdiction over American citizens. The “American Servicemember and Citizen Protection Act of 2002″ protects American citizens against the ICC by urging President Bush to rescind the foolish Clinton administration signature of the ICC treaty. It also prohibits the use of US taxpayer funds for the court, and deems ICC actions against US servicemen acts of aggression against America.
“The ICC is completely illegitimate, even under the UN’s own charter,” Paul stated. “That charter gives neither the UN General Assembly nor any other UN agency lawmaking authority. In other words, there cannot be UN ‘laws,’ and there is no valid law authorizing the establishment of the ICC. The ratification of the ICC treaty, whether by 60 nations or 1000, does nothing to give the court any legal authority whatsoever.”
“The more important point, however, is that the ICC cannot exercise legitimate jurisdiction over American citizens,” Paul continued. “The US Senate has not ratified the ICC treaty, as required by our Constitution. Furthermore, the Senate cannot constitutionally ratify any treaty that attempts to surrender the judicial function to an international agency. Our Constitution guarantees every American citizen various rights before, during, and after a criminal arrest and trial, and no valid treaty can deny our citizens those rights. The US Supreme Court, not the ICC, is the court of highest authority for all Americans.”
“The ICC, like the UN itself, will be used for political purposes,” Paul continued. “Far from being neutral, the court will serve as a weapon against disfavored nations and leaders. Given the anti-American sentiment that pervades the UN, we can only assume that the court will be used one day to prosecute Americans who offend our many enemies among UN member states. Only the most naive among us can believe UN claims that the ICC will prosecute only grandiose ‘crimes against humanity.’ Even the Clinton administration expressed concerns that American troops and other Americans overseas might be targeted vindictively or frivolously for prosecution. The UN constantly seeks to expand its power, and the ICC will try to do the same. Only by emphatically denouncing the court can Congress and the administration protect our constitutional rights and our sovereignty.”
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April 11th, 2002
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America’s Entangling Alliances in the Middle East<br />
Mr. Paul. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the “American Servicemember and Civilian Protection Act of 2002.”
This bill expresses the sense of the Congress that President Bush should formally rescind the signature approving the International Criminal Court made on behalf of the United States, and should take necessary steps to prevent the establishment of that Court. It also prohibits funds made available by the United States Government from being used for the establishment or operation of the Court.
Perhaps the most significant part of the bill makes clear that any action taken by or on behalf of the Court against members of the United States Armed Forces shall be considered an act of aggression against the United States; and that any action taken by or on behalf of the Court against a United States citizen or national shall be considered an offense against the law of nations.
Mr. Speaker, today in New York and Rome celebrations are underway to mark the formal establishment of this International Criminal Court. Though the United States has not ratified the treaty establishing the Court, as required by the U.S. Constitution, this body will claim jurisdiction over every American citizen — military personnel and civilian alike.
The Court itself, however, is an illegitimate body even by the United Nations’ own standards. The Statute of the International Criminal Court was enacted by a Conference of Diplomats convened by the United Nations General Assembly, whereas according to the UN Charter, the authority to create such a body lies only in the UN Security Council.
The International Criminal Court was established contrary to the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. It puts United States citizens in jeopardy of unlawful and unconstitutional criminal prosecution.
The International Criminal Court does not provide many of the Constitutional protections guaranteed every American citizen, including the right to trial by jury, the right to face your accuser, and the presumption of innocence, and the protection against double jeopardy.
Members of the United States Armed Forces are particularly at risk for politically motivated arrests, prosecutions, fines, and imprisonment for acts engaged in for the protection of the United States. These are the same brave men and women who place their lives on the line to protect and defend our Constitution. Do they not deserve the full protections of that same Constitution?
Mr. Speaker, I hope all members of this body will join me in opposing this illegitimate and illegal court by co-sponsoring the “American Servicemember and Civilian Protection Act of 2002.”
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April 10th, 2002
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America’s Entangling Alliances in the Middle East<br />
We were warned, and in the early years of our Republic, we heeded that warning. Today, though, we are entangled in everyone’s affairs throughout the world, and we are less safe as a result. The current Middle-East crisis is one that we helped create, and it is typical of how foreign intervention fails to serve our interests. Now we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a fight that will not soon end. No matter what the outcome, we lose.
By trying to support both sides we, in the end, will alienate both sides. We are forced, by domestic politics here at home, to support Israel at all costs, with billions of dollars of aid, sophisticated weapons, and a guarantee that America will do whatever is necessary for Israel’s security.
Political pressure compels us to support Israel, but it is oil that prompts us to guarantee security for the western puppet governments of the oil-rich Arab nations.
Since the Israeli-Arab fight will not soon be resolved, our policy of involving ourselves in a conflict unrelated to our security guarantees that we will suffer the consequences.
What a choice! We must choose between the character of Arafat versus that of Sharon.
The information the average American gets from the major media outlets, with their obvious bias, only makes the problem worse. Who would ever guess that the side that loses seven people to every one on the other side is portrayed as the sole aggressor and condemned as terrorists? We should remember that Palestinian deaths are seen by most Arabs as being American-inspired, since our weapons are being used against them, and they’re the ones whose land has been continuously taken from them.
Yet there are still some in this country who can’t understand why many in the Arab/Muslim world hate America.
Is it any wonder that the grassroots people in Arab nations, even in Kuwait, threaten their own governments that are totally dominated by American power and money?
The arguments against foreign intervention are many. The chaos in the current Middle-East crisis should be evidence enough for all Americans to reconsider our extensive role overseas and reaffirm the foreign policy of our early leaders- a policy that kept us out of the affairs of others.
But here we are in the middle of a war that has no end and serves only to divide us here at home, while the unbalanced slaughter continues with tanks and aircraft tearing up a country that does not even have an army.
It is amazing that the clamor of support for Israel here at home comes from men of deep religious conviction in the Christian faith, who are convinced they are doing the Lord’s work. That, quite frankly, is difficult for me as a Christian to comprehend. We need to remember the young people who will be on the front lines when the big war starts- which is something so many in this body seem intent on provoking.
Ironically, the biggest frustration in Washington, for those who eagerly resort to war to resolve differences, is that the violence in the Middle East has delayed plans for starting another war against Iraq.
Current policy prompts our government on one day to give the go-ahead to Sharon to do what he needs to do to combat terrorism (a term that now has little or no meaning); on the next day, however, our government tells him to quit, for fear that we may overly aggravate our oil pals in the Arab nations and jeopardize our oil supplies. This is an impossible policy that will inevitably lead to chaos.
Foreign interventionism is bad for America. Special interests control our policies, while true national security is ignored. Real defense needs, the defense of our borders, are ignored, and the financial interests of corporations, bankers, and the military-industrial complex gain control- and the American people lose.
It’s costly, to say the least. Already our military budget has sapped domestic spending and caused the deficit to explode. But the greatest danger is that one day these contained conflicts will get out of control. Certainly the stage is set for that to happen in the Middle East and south central Asia. A world war is a possibility that should not be ignored. Our policy of subsidizing both sides is ludicrous. We support Arabs and Jews, Pakistanis and Indians, Chinese and Russians. We have troops in 140 countries around the world just looking for trouble. Our policies have led us to support Al Qaeda in Kosovo and bomb their Serb adversaries. We have, in the past, allied ourselves with bin Laden, as well as Saddam Hussein, only to find out later the seriousness of our mistake. Will this foolishness ever end?
A non-interventionist foreign policy has a lot to say for itself, especially when one looks at the danger and inconsistency of our current policy in the Middle East.
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April 1st, 2002
Washington, DC: For the third year running, Congressman Ron Paul ranked first in the annual “Taxpayers’ Friend” rating issued by the nonpartisan National Taxpayers Union. While average lawmakers voted to reduce federal taxes less than half the time, Paul consistently voted against any and all tax hikes, making him the most pro-taxpayer member in the House of Representatives. No other representative showed a greater commitment to reducing federal spending, taxes, regulations, and debt.
“Congressman Ron Paul’s voting record once again was the best in the entire House for 2001,” stated NTU president John Berthoud. “While many in Congress talk about reducing the size of government, he backed up those words with votes. Ron Paul is one of our most consistent and effective allies in the battle to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington. If every member of Congress voted as responsibly as Ron Paul did in 2001, Americans could enjoy much lower taxes and less waste in government. He truly has earned the title ‘Taxpayers’ Friend.’”
NTU is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, citizen organization that works for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and greater government accountability. Unlike other organizations, NTU does not base its annual rating on a few heavily-weighted key votes. Instead, NTU scores all tax-related votes for the year equally, giving the best overall picture of each lawmaker’s record.
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