Published January 1992 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Investing in America's Future
Since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, America has been in an almost continuous state of defense and military alert. The collapse of communism and the sweeping changes taking place in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have, however, drastically altered the conditions that made America's massive defense posture necessary. While recognizing the continuing need to maintain an adequate national defense in a changed world, the time has come for America to adjust to the new challenges to our national security and standard of living posed by our trade competitors overseas. Above all, we must begin shifting our limited financial resources from the defense budget to the domestic budget so that we can restore, repair, reconstruct, and modernize our long-neglected and crumbling national infrastructure-- our highways, bridges, rail networks, manufacturing plants, water and sewer systems, airports, and other civic facilities, as well as our schools, research and technology programs, and health care services -on which America's productivity and competitive ability depend. One reason that some of our foreign trade competitors have enjoyed so much economic success has been their ability to invest more money in research, technological development, transportation improvements, modernization, and domestic public services while depending on the U.S. defense shield to protect them against foreign attack. By contrast, American investments in our own vital infrastructure have dwindled in recent years to less than I percent per year of our gross national product, compared to 3 percent for Germany and 5 percent for Japan. In part, that explains the lost jobs, closed factories, and declining populations that have beset so many West Virginia communities, and that have forced so many of West Virginia's young people to leave our state to look for opportunities elsewhere. Good transportation and highways, technological development, product research, a well-trained workforce, updated plants and machinery, a good educational system, and adequate health care boost productivity, cut costs, and make countries -more competitive in world markets. America met and faced down the threat of foreign military aggression. The time has come to meet the challenge of foreign economic aggression by shifting our spending priorities, strengthening our own country, and investing more in our own future and the future of our children. January 1, 1992