Date: 1987-05-05
Speaker: STENY HOYER (democrat)
Chamber: H

for his remarks. It is true that both the gentleman from Texas. MICKEY LELAND. and the gentleman from Maryland. STENY HOYER. were two of those whom we can be very proud of as they exemplified the true statesmen in the Soviet Union trying to convince those people that our way of life is one that we enjoy and we wish others could share. Yet. we were not constantly critical of their way of life. There were times as we discussed human rights and arms control and regional issues such as Afghanistan. and Nicaragua. and other issues that we were questioning their intentions and motives and criticizing their actions. But for the most part. as House Speaker JIM WRIGHT urged us to do. we were trying to build bridges while we were there so there can be more dialog between the two superpowers of the world: The United States and the Soviet Union. instead of us constantly bickering and distrusting each other. Mr. Speaker. it was my privilege to be among 20 Members of the House of Representatives to visit the Soviet Union the week of April 12 for 6 days. We were in Kiev and Moscow from Monday. April 13. through Saturday. Our delegation was headed by our House Speaker. JIM WRIGHT of Fort Worth. TX. Accompanying us on the trip to the Soviet Union were several congressional spouses. including my wife Carol. In Moscow. our delegation met with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. the Communist Partys No. 2 man. Yegor Ligachev. the Soviet President. Andrei Gromyko. and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. These Soviet officials met with us for more than 2 hours each. As a result of these meetings in Moscow. and as a result of the meetings held just before we arrived led by Secretary of State George Shultz. the members of our congressional delegation. both Democrats and Republicans. sincerely believe that we now have the best chance for an arms control agreement with the Soviet Union on a verifiable basis at any time since World War II. The American people can be very grateful to and proud of our tremendous House Speaker. JIM WRIGHT. The highlight of our visit to the Soviet Union surely was the 20 minutes of prime television time allotted JIM WRIGHT. reaching an estimated 180 million people across the Soviet Union from 10:10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. April 18. House Speaker JIM WRIGHTS Administrative Assistant Marshall Lynam. and the Chief Counsel of our House Foreign Affairs. Committee. Spencer Oliver. who were an efficient advance team for us before we arrived in the Soviet Union. can be highly complimented by the American people for what they have accomplished during the last few weeks. JIM WRIGHT. our House Speaker. was and is articulate. personable. intelligent. yet warm and witty. as observed by the Soviets. Mikhail Gorbachev was also articulate. personable. intelligent. yet warm and witty. as we from the United States noted during our visit with him for more than 2 hours. The two men. House Speaker JIM WRIGHT and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. obviously enjoyed good rapport and mixed in an extremely good way. It was obvious that Mikhail Gorbachev liked and admired JIM WRIGHT. Let us hope that the efforts of our House Speaker and those Members of Congress who had the privilege of accompanying him to the Soviet Union can be beneficial and truly historic in nature and lead us to spending less money in the Soviet Union and the United States for arms and more for programs that help the people of these two world superpowers. My wife Carol and I are very grateful for the opportunity to have visited the Soviet Union for the first time. One accomplishment of this visit to Russia to build important bridges for the future. The second sentence which Mr. Gorbachev said in his meeting with 20 Members of this House of Representatives was: "Thank God we can meet here to talk about arms control." Let us work toward more dialog between the leaders of the two world superpowers in order that the people of this world can somedaysoon as possibleenjoy peace. Then the United States and the Soviet Union can spend more of its government moneys upon education. health care. transportation facilities. housing and other worth.while programs and less moneys on the stockpiling of arms and defending geographical borders.