[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    FUNDING FOR POPULATION PLANNING

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 2, 1994

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, it was encouraging to learn that the Clinton 
administration plans to increase U.S. international population 
assistance next year.
  As the ranking Republican member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
I fully recognize the impact of rapid population growth on the 
development process. Rapid population growth exacerbates many other 
global problems, including hunger, child health, strains on the 
environment, migration and rapid urbanization, and political 
instability.
  Some issues need merit increases even in an era of tight budgets and 
emphasis on deficit reduction. International population assistance is 
one of them. Dollars spent now to stabilize the world's population in 
developing countries will save substantial funds over the longer term 
that would have been otherwise spent on emergency relief.
  There has always been bipartisan support in Congress for population 
and family planning programs for the poor countries of the world. We 
must continue this spirit of bipartisan in an effort to prevent our 
human numbers from continuing to erode and cancel out any development 
gains.
  Mr. Speaker, to encourage my colleagues to give this issue thoughtful 
consideration as we work on the fiscal year 1995 foreign assistance 
budget and the new Foreign Assistance Act, I submit for the record an 
article summarizing the Clinton administration's policy on 
international population which appeared recently in the New York Times:

                [From the New York Times, Jan. 22, 1994]

 U.S. to Spend More on Birth Control--White House Sees Population Plan 
               As Means to Progress on Other Main Issues

                         (By Steven Greenhouse)

       Washington, Jan. 22--The Clinton Administration is seeking 
     a substantial increase in spending next year on population 
     control programs with the goal of providing birth control to 
     every women in the developing world who wants it by the end 
     of the decade.
       The emerging policy a sharp departure from the approach 
     taken by the Reagan and Bush Administrations, emphasizes not 
     only family planning but also education for women, which by 
     boosting their living standards and independence ultimately 
     increases their power to decide how many children they will 
     bear.
       In revamping American foreign policy to take account of the 
     passing of the cold war, the Clinton Administration has 
     concluded that slowing population growth is crucial because 
     it promotes so many goals at once; reducing political 
     instability, hunger, migration and strains on the 
     environment.
       ``When we think about what factors are going to affect the 
     future of the world, population is absolutely at the top of 
     the list,'' said Timothy E. Wirth, the State Department 
     Counselor and the Administration's main spokesman on 
     population policy.
       ``Everything that we would think of doing to further our 
     goals of increasing political stability and living standards 
     around the world can be compromised and destroyed by 
     unchecked population growth.''


                          request $585 million

       To back up the new policy, President Clinton plans to 
     request $585 million in spending on population programs in 
     his budget for fiscal 1995, up from $502 million this year 
     and almost double the amount spent in fiscal 1992, the year 
     before he took office
       Mr. Wirth talks of raising annual spending to $1.2 billion 
     by the year 2000 to meet his goal of providing family 
     planning services to the more than 600 million women of 
     childbearing age in developing countries.
       Population experts predict that if present trends continue 
     unchecked the world's current population of 5.5 billion will 
     double in 40 years and reach between 13 to 15 billion by the 
     year 2050.
       With the efforts proposed by Washington, other governments 
     and the World Bank, Mr. Wirth said, world population could 
     stabilize near 10 billion around 2050.


                           influence of gore

       Administration officials said the population strategy was 
     perhaps the most concrete sign of Vice President Al Gore's 
     influence on foreign policy. Mr. Gore argues that unbridled 
     population growth will severely tax the environment by, for 
     example, speeding up deforestation of the planet.
       Patrick J. Leahy, who as chairman of the Senate 
     appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations spent years 
     asking the Bush Administration for more spending on 
     population control, praised President Clinton's approach. In 
     the long run, the Vermont Democrat predicted, the effort will 
     save governments money.
       ``If you don't do something on population, you really can't 
     do anything effective for the rights of women, for economic 
     development, for children's health, and for hunger programs, 
     all to which we have contributed tens of billions dollars to 
     over the years,'' he said.
       The Reagan and Bush Administrations fought spending 
     increases for population control largely because many 
     conservative supporters opposed the idea of the Government 
     paying for abortions and contraceptives.


                     more money for health services

       As part of its strategy, the Administration wants the 
     Agency for International Development to channel money into 
     health services for women in developing countries. If women 
     in poor African, Asian or Latin American regions come to rely 
     on such clinics for their care, the reasoning goes, they will 
     more readily take advantage of assistance on birth control.
       The Administration is also emphasizing the link between 
     higher rates of child survival and lower fertility rates. If 
     women know that more of their children will survive, 
     demographic statistics suggest, they tend to have fewer 
     children.
       Population experts say the introduction of programs 
     emphasizing survival, a strategy that involves child 
     immunizations and improved nutrition, initially accelerate 
     the rate of population growth but ultimately reduce it 
     because fertility rates fall as a result.
       For population experts, one of the most intriguing aspects 
     of the Administration's broader approach is the effort to 
     improve women's education. In Columbia, for example, women 
     with no education bear an average of 5.4 children, while 
     those with some primary schooling average 4.0 children and 
     women who have completed secondary school average 3.2.
       ``The purpose of these population policies is to improve 
     people's well-being, not simply to control some nebulous idea 
     such as population growth,'' said Joan Dunlop, president of 
     the International Women's Health Coalition.

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