[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 105 (Thursday, July 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S9110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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     FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM AND THE TIBETAN EXCHANGE PROGRAM

 Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I am a strong supporter of 
international exchange programs. Americans benefit from an opportunity 
to work and study abroad. Foreigners benefit from time in the United 
States both in their professional development and by exposure to the 
American system and values. Exchanges are a proven way to disperse 
American principals of freedom and democracy around the world. 
Therefore, I am disappointed that the committee report recommends 
reducing funding for several exchange programs, including the funding 
for students, scholars and teachers portion of the Fulbright Program. 
The Fulbright Program has served America and Americans very well for 
many years. It is not in our best interest to reduce funding for it at 
this time. I would hope that all of the programs on the committees 
reprioritization list will be carefully evaluated before any decision 
is made to reduce or eliminate them.
  The Tibetan Fulbright Program touches Vermonters very close to home. 
Ngawang Choephel, a Tibetan exile living in India, was the recipient of 
a Fulbright Scholarship and studied ethnomusicology at Middlebury 
College in Middlebury, Vermont. He was unjustly arrested by the Chinese 
in 1995 in his native Tibet when he returned to document traditional 
Tibetan music. Although this young man's time in Vermont was brief, the 
passion he threw into his work to preserve endangered Tibetan culture 
gained him a large following in my state. His case is of the highest 
priority for me and the other members of Vermont's congressional 
delegation. Senator Leahy has joined me in offering an amendment to 
this legislation to ensure that the Tibetan Exchange Program continues 
in fiscal year 2000.
  I hope that in conference the necessary changes will be made to 
ensure adequate funding for our most important exchange 
programs.

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