[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 35 (Thursday, March 14, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1561, FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, 
                       FISCAL YEARS 1996 AND 1997

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                               speech of

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 12, 1996

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my disappointment in the 
conference report on H.R. 1561. I support many of the provisions in the 
bill and I had hoped that the conferees might fix H.R. 1561 so that I 
could support the conference report. For example: I believe that it is 
important to show, particularly at this time, our support for Taiwan; 
to support initiatives which require that organizations receiving 
United States assistance in Ireland abide by the MacBride principles; 
to continue to condemn China for its human rights record; and to 
prohibit assistance to any county that bars or obstructs delivery of 
United States humanitarian aid.
  Despite these favorable provisions in H.R. 1561, I cannot support the 
conference report. This bill seeks to consolidate the State Department 
and its related agencies. However, the House leadership decided to 
impose its reconfiguration instead of working in conjunction with the 
administration. The result is legislation that is very poorly draft as 
to how to achieve consolidation. In addition, this bill fails to 
authorize international family planning assistance spending which was 
required by the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The 
appropriations bill stated that no monies for international family 
planning would be released unless authorized to do so in H.R. 1561. The 
failure to include such authorization is disastrous. Because of the 
lack of authorization language, it is projected that over 5,000 women 
will die over the next year from either self-induced abortions or 
unplanned pregnancies.
  Mr. Speaker, I voted ``no'' on the foreign relations authorization 
conference report. I hope that Congress will begin to work in 
cooperation with the administration regarding agency consolidation and 
pass on appropriate Foreign Relations Revitalization Act.

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