Congressional Record, Volume 149 Issue 110 (Wednesday, July 23, 2003)

[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 23, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H7377-H7393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

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House of Representatives

FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004--Continued

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I rise as a member of the Committee on
Appropriations that raised the issue of Egypt last year. I have no
amendment to offer, nor will I do so; but as the Committee on
Appropriations notes in its report accompanying the bill: ``Continued
military cooperation between Egypt and the United States remains in the
national security interest of both countries.'' I agree with that
statement.
Egypt, however, has one of the largest and most modern militaries of
the Middle East, with approximately $4 billion in annual defense
spending. Nearly one-quarter, however, of Egypt's people live in
poverty, and the country has per capita income of just $700 per year.
Yet a quarter of their defense budget we pay for.
Half of Egypt's adults are illiterate, and official unemployment
figures for 2001 were 12 percent, although unofficial estimates are as
high as 15 percent. Only 3 percent of Egypt's land is arable, making
the country unable to feed itself and forcing it to import roughly two-
thirds of its food.
In this context, I am concerned about the mix of funding for Egypt,
$1.3 billion in foreign military sales, approximately a third of that
in economic assistance.
Mr. Chairman, I am also concerned by the fact that in Egypt, which is
a controlled government, some of the most virulent anti-Christian,
anti-American, anti-Semitic information and anti-Christian, -U.S. and -
Semitic education occurs in the schools of Egypt, the madrasas.
I believe Egypt has been an important ally of ours in trying to reach
peace in the Middle East; but I also say, Mr. Chairman, as I did last
year, that there needs to be significant focus on the issue of Egypt's
participation in furthering anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian
rhetoric and education within the confines of that country and also in
failing to appropriately assist its population in dire need of a focus
on economic assistance.
I thank the chairman of the full committee for his tolerance, and I
thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding for me to make this
point. I hope my colleagues will continue to focus on it.
Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I would like to share my thoughts on two
programs funded by the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill: the
Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) and the
Inter-American Foundation (IAF). Both of these programs provided
bottom-up development tools for our Latin American neighbors, and as
chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on International
Relations, I am proud and thankful to those members of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus that joined me and Caucus Chairman Ciro
Rodriguez in a letter to appropriators supporting the critical work of
these two programs.
The CASS program, which is funded at $10 million this bill through
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), serves as a
bridge between the United States and our neighbors in Central America,
Mexico and the Caribbean by focusing on education and service to the
community. CASS designs and implements international development
programs to support sustainable socio-economic growth. These programs
include technical training for employment, leadership development,
business education, improving public policy and administration, and
strengthening health and education. The CASS mission is to foster the
direct involvement of disadvantaged populations in the economic and
social development of their countries. The countries that are currently
served include the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
I would like to extend my thanks to the Foreign Operations
Appropriations Subcommittee, especially my friends and colleagues
Chairman Jim Kolbe and Ranking Member Nita Lowey for including language
in the Fiscal Year 2004 Foreign Operations committee report supporting
the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) program.
Through the CASS program, young leaders are given the opportunity to
come to the United States and receive education and training at 1 of 20
participating education institutions, including El Paso Community
College in my own district. Concentration is given to training to
support broad-based economic development and environmental protection
as well as programs focusing on skill enhancement to primary school
teachers and healthcare workers to improve the region's rural schools
and support the fight against infectious diseases. Each participant
must develop a project for their home community and upon completion of
their education and training in the United States return to their
countries and implement their project.

During their time in the United States these young people give back
to the communities where they are residing through service and by
developing close ties with their host families and other American
students, leaving them with a positive and lasting link to the United
States. They also learn to read and speak English. The CASS approach
has led to an exceptionally high rate (98.2 percent average over the
past 6 years) of participants who return to their home countries where
they contribute to economic growth and social progress. Employment
rates among alumni are 90 percent in countries where unemployment rates
are often very high.
Presnelty there are 405 CASS scholars in the United States in 12
States where the network includes community, technical, and junior
colleges, and 4-year universities and colleges. These U.S. community-
based institutions of higher education manage programs in the
designated fields of study and contribute financially through cost
sharing of at least 25 percent of program costs. Though recent state
budget cuts have undermined the ability of some institutions to provide
the cost sharing funds, the program still thrives.
El Paso Community College, located in my district, is one the
Hispanic-serving institutions

[[Page H7378]]

involved in the CASS program. The college focuses on training rural
health workers to deliver desperately needed services to some of the
most poor and remote areas in the hemisphere. The program provides
training and internships in a variety of areas such as infectious
diseases, maternal and child health, environmental health, and
community outreach. Students also spend time volunteering in the local
community at health clinics and other social service and youth
agencies. Upon their return home, they work with other rural healthcare
professionals to improve and expand services in their communities.
I would like to take a moment to share some specific success stories
coming out of the CASS program at El Paso Community College.
Ramona Caceres from the Dominican Republic and a CASS scholar at El
Paso Community College during 2001-2002, has returned to her home
country and is presently actively working in her community teaching
first aid in a local school and has trained some of the teachers to
perform eye exams. The program is known as ``Agudeza Visual''. Further,
Ms. Caceres will soon be presenting her thesis and graduating.
Mr. Carlos Sanchez, also a CASS scholar for 2001-2002 at El Paso
Community College, is a Septima Clark award recipient and since
returning to his home country of Honduras, has been working as a health
promoter and within a year of assuming his job has been advanced to the
position of regional supervisor.
During this year's internship at El Paso Community College, four
students worked on a joint project between the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) and the El Paso City-County Health & Environmental
Health District to prevent rabies in dogs in the county.

These stories are just a few examples of the way which the CASS
program is making a difference not only in Central America and the
Caribbean but also within the United States.
Unfortunately, this bill did not provide as much good news for the
Inter-American Foundation (IAF) as it did for CASS. I am disappointed
that this bill cuts appropriations to the Inter-American Foundation by
about $1 million, to $15,185,000 for fiscal year 2004. I understand
that the chairman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee
is a supporter of the IAF and did the best he could within the
constraints of a low budget allocation.
Established under the 1969 Foreign Assistance Act, the Inter-American
Foundation (IAF) promotes entrepreneurship, self-reliance and
democratic principles as well as economic progress for the poor in
Latin America and the Caribbean. The IAF is one of the many tools we
have to help our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere work their own way
out of poverty. I hope that as this bill moves through the conference
committee, funding for the IAF will be restored to its fiscal year 2003
level.
Mr. Chairman, the economic and social development of countries in the
Western Hemisphere benefits us here at home. Programs such as CASS and
IAF help our neighbors become stable, free, and prosperous. I therefore
urge my colleagues to support these and other such programs in this
bill and in the years to come.
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I was planning to offer an amendment to the
Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill preventing tax dollars from
going to the domestic shrimping industry's major foreign competitors.
However, I have been informed that this amendment would be ruled out of
order by the parliamentarian as legislating on an appropriations bill.
While I am disappointed the House will not consider my amendment, I do
wish to take this opportunity to comment on the merits of my amendment,
which is based on language contained in my Shrimp Importation Financing
Fairness Act.
The United States domestic shrimping industry is a vital social and
economic force in many coastal communities across the United States,
including several in my congressional district. A thriving shrimping
industry benefits not only those who own and operate shrimp boats, but,
also, food processors, hotels and restaurants, grocery stores, and all
those who work in and service these industries. Shrimping also serves
as a key source of safe domestic food at a time when the nation is
engaged in hostilities abroad.
However, the Federal Government is strangling this vital industry
with excessive regulations. For example, the Federal Government has
imposed costly regulations, dealing with usage of items such as by
catch reduction devices and turtle excluder devices (TEDS), on the
industry. The mandatory use of these devices results in a significant
reduction in the amount of shrimp caught by domestic shrimpers, thus
damaging their competitive position and market share.
Seven foreign countries--Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, Ecuador,
Indonesia, and Brazil--have taken advantage of the domestic shrimping
industry's government-created vulnerabilities. These countries have
each exported in excess of 20,000,000 pounds of shrimp to the United
States in the first 6 months of 2002. These seven countries supplied
nearly 70 percent of all shrimp consumed in the United States in the
first 6 months of 2002 and nearly 80 percent of all shrimp imported to
this country in the same period.
Adding insult to injury the Federal Government is forcing American
shrimpers to subsidize their competitors. From 1999-2002, the U.S.
Government provided approximately $2,172,220,000 in financing and
insurance for these foreign countries through the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation (OPIC). Furthermore, the United States' current
exposure relative to these countries through the Export-Import Bank
totals approximately $14,800,000,000. Thus, the United States taxpayer
is providing a subsidy of at least $16,972,220,000 to the home
countries of the leading foreign competitors of American shrimpers!
Many of the countries in question do not have free-market economies.
Thus, the participation of these countries in U.S.-supported
international financial regimes amounts to American shrimpers directly
subsidizing their international competitors. In any case, providing aid
to any of these countries indirectly benefits foreign shrimpers because
of the fungibility of money.
In order to ensure that American shrimpers are not forced to
subsidize their competitors, my amendment forbids taxpayer dollars from
being used to support Export-Import and OPIC subsidies to the countries
that imported more than 20 million pounds of shrimp in the first 6
months of 2002.
Mr. Chairman, it is time for Congress to stop subsidizing the
domestic shrimping industry's leading competitors. Otherwise, the
government-manufactured depression in the price of shrimp will decimate
the domestic shrimping industry and the communities whose economies
depend on this industry. I therefore hope that Congress will soon stand
up for American shrimpers by passing my Shrimp Importation Financing
Fairness Act.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support section 568 of H.R. 2800,
the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004.
Section 568 gives the President the authority to reduce the debts that
poor countries owe the United States as a result of prior loans under
various foreign assistance programs. This authority is included
routinely in foreign operations appropriations bills. The rules
governing the debates on prior foreign operations appropriations bills
always have protected this language from points of order.
Unfortunately, this year, the Rules Committee reported and the House
passed a rule that fails to protect subsection (a) paragraph (3) of
section 568 from points of order against the inclusion of authorizing
language in an appropriations bill. Section 568(a)(3) specifically
gives the President the authority to reduce debts resulting from prior
loans under agricultural programs and food assistance programs. The
rest of section 568 is protected from all points of order, as it should
be.
As a Member of Congress who has been working on the issue of debt
relief for poor countries for many years, I am especially disappointed
that the Rules Committee did not protect section 568 in its entirety
from all points of order. Section 568 is critical to enable the
President to reduce and reschedule poor countries debts. Section 568 is
especially important for poor countries that do not currently qualify
for other debt relief programs, such as the Enhanced HIPC Initiative.
The President recently reduced the Congo's debts using the authority
included in section 568. The Congo is an extremely impoverished country
that is emerging from years of violent conflict. The Congo lacks the
political institutions necessary to develop the detailed economic plans
and poverty reduction strategies, which countries must develop to
qualify for participation in the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. The debt
reduction provided under section 568 will free the Congo from the
burden of substantial debt payments and assist the Congo in developing
the political institutions necessary to qualify for other debt relief
and foreign assistance programs.
If section 568(a)(3) is stricken on a point of order, we will narrow
the President's authority to reduce poor countries' debts significantly
and needlessly. Striking section 568(a)(3) would force poor countries
that receive debt reduction to continue making substantial debt
payments on debts that arise under certain foreign assistance programs
while debts that arise under other foreign assistance programs are
reduced. The President's authority to reduce debts should not depend
upon whether a loan was issued under one foreign assistance program
rather than another.
The President must have the authority to reduce the debts of poor
countries whenever it is appropriate. I urge my colleagues not to
insist on a point of order against section 568(a)(3) and to support
section 568 in its entirety.

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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, I rise in
support of H.R. 2800, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and
Related Programs Appropriation Act, and its general spirit, but I feel
that certain plans do not receive the attention that is required in
light of the pressing needs of the international community at this
time.
The total $17.1 billion recommendation in H.R. 2800 is far below the
fiscal year 2003 spending level of $23 billion for foreign operations
and is $1.7 billion below the President's fiscal year 2004 request. At
the $17.1 billion spending level, H.R. 2800 proposes to devote less
than 1 percent of our GDP to foreign assistance.
I commend the committee's effort to maintain the funding of the
various programs enumerated in Child Survival and Health (CS/H). This
includes an increase in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention and increased
allocation of resources to UNICEF. If H.R. 2800 passes, provisions to
this end should be allocated for immediate relief administration. The
HIV/AIDS pandemic has claimed more than 28 million lives. Current
estimates suggest that 42 million are living with HIV. As a region,
sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of individuals living with
HIV/AIDS in the world. Of the 42 million people infected worldwide, 29
million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. A higher proportion of
women is living with HIV infection or suffer from AIDS than men. As of
2002, women in sub-Saharan Africa represented more than half,
approximately 58 percent, of all adults living with HIV/AIDS.
The infection rate is particularly high among young girls. In some
African nations, infection rates are five times higher in young women
then young men. AIDS now ranks as the number one cause of death in
Africa and the fourth leading cause of death globally. These numbers
are staggering and should strike a nerve in you each time you hear
them. I am also certain that you all have heard these figures before.
However it seems that we must constantly reiterate them in order to
emphasize the dire situation that Africa is in today. AIDS is not only
a threat to the health of populations; it is a threat to the social,
economic, and political stability of nations as a whole. What we have
failed to do, particularly in Africa, is chart a plan of action that
attempts to address HIV/AIDS as a social crisis that affects all
spheres of everyday life. This means that a promise of funds to address
the problem is not good enough; there needs to be a targeted response
that aims to address the multiplicative effects of HIV/AIDS in each
sector. This includes making sure that young girls have access to
educational opportunities and trying to develop methods by which women
do not have to rely on their husbands for their economic stability. It
is time to stop placing old Bandaids on fresh wounds and begin the
process of healing our beloved Africa. Unfortunately, the Amendment
offered by our distinguished colleague Representative Lowey that called
for an additional $1 billion for the Children Survival and Health
Programs Fund, HIV/AIDS programs, and to designate the entire amount as
an emergency requirement did not make it out of Committee due to a
shortage of five votes; nevertheless, I fully support her efforts to
this end. Likewise, I would have supported the Amendment offered by
Representative Kilpatrick that proposed an additional $5 million for
the same items and reducing the ``Millennium Challenge Account'' by the
same amount. Her proposal fell short by only one vote in Committee.
H.R. 2800 contains $1.27 billion, or $30 million above the President's
request. Taken together with funds included in the Labor, Health and
Human Services bill, the House has approved a total of $2.074 billion
for HIV/AIDS for 2004 which exceeds the President's FY 2004 request by
$35 million.
This bill, however, does not propose significant or definitive
spending on war-related needs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such spending
increased the FY 2003 budget to $23 billion with facility in the name
of national security. The committee report as to the need for funding
for post-war reconstruction of Iraq noted the following:

Events and more recent information obtained from the Office
of Management and Budget and the Coalition Provisional
Authority in Baghdad has reinforced the Committee's view that
additional appropriated funds will be needed in fiscal year
2004. No request for Iraq has been received, and no funds are
recommended in this Act.

Given the latest escalation of the United States death toll between
yesterday and today to at least 153 by way of the bombing of two
Humvees near a United States military convoy in North Baghdad and an
ambush, it is very likely that the need for Iraq reconstruction is
certain to require definitive funding. The chief of American and allied
forces in Iraq and Afghanistan GEN John Abizaid, who took over from GEN
Tommy Franks, announced plans to create and install a force of nearly
7,000 Iraqis to work with U.S. soldiers consisting of eight battalions
of armed Iraqi militiamen, each with 850 men. The motivation behind the
creation of this force is to ``lower the profile of American forces''
and to ``put an Iraqi face on things.'' Replacing the faces of deceased
American soldiers with Iraqi faces doesn't solve the problem. The death
of Iraqi soldiers at the hands of Saddam Hussein sympathizers and
dissidents will nevertheless require our attention and resources lest
we allow a situation similar to that in Monrovia to occur.

Furthermore, H.R. 2800 will slightly increase funding allocations
above that of FY 2003; however, the amounts requested will only scratch
the surface of the emergent need due to famine and natural disaster in
areas like Ethiopia. As we speak now, some 11-14 million people will go
hungry in the coming months. Severe drought conditions destroyed over
15 percent of the October-November 2002 harvest in Ethiopia. The
resultant failure of root vegetables and green crops to grow has caused
families that depend on subsistence farming to not only lack food, but
also seeds for replanting next year. This situation makes the
availability of genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds dangerously
attractive to the hungry, inuring them to the host of side affects and
ailments that have yet to be confirmed or denied by the Food and Drug
Administration. As a result of the poor arability of the land and other
adverse conditions, not only are the people's crops suffering, but
their livestock as well. With the mortality rate steadily rising, those
remaining are experiencing a lowered body weight, which results in
reduced traction, power and milk production, which again will lead to
insecure food sources. Unless veterinary services improve, the death
toll will continue to increase as the livestock's immune system grows
weaker resulting from poor conditions and common diseases. The combined
effect of plummeting livestock prices and skyrocketing cereal prices,
the poorer households face an even worse predicament in obtaining food.
Their wage rate is reported to be 3 times lower in the current year
than in the same period last year. According to recent studies, there
were 35,000 people in Ziquala, 34,920 people in Ambassel, 16,300 in
Wadla, 17,455 in Kewet and 156,200 in the three wards of South Gondar
who are and will be in need of external assistance through the upcoming
months. It strikes me as ironic that President Bush and the
Administration took such pains to publicize the recent trip to Africa
only to be followed up by a less-than-sufficient budget proposal by his
House GOP counterparts.
Finally, I would hope that some of the proposed FY 2004 funding can
be channeled to an effort to mobilize women in the peace process. I
propose that women play any and all roles that will give them an
opportunity to use their leadership skills in the peace process. I took
advantage of a unique experience when I served as an Honorary Chair for
the Women's Partnership for Peace in the Middle East in Oslo, Norway in
June of this year. I shared a panel when an unprecedented group of more
than 70 women from Israel, Palestine, the United States, Europe and
Asia met in Oslo, Norway at the Nobel Peace Institute to launch the
Women's Partnership for Peace in the Middle East.
The objective of the Oslo Summit was to set clear goals and devise a
plan of action for achieving a greater role for women in peace
negotiations in the region and in the overall effort to achieve peace,
a movement largely devoid of women's perspectives and participation. I
would like to see women play a more pronounced role not only in the
establishment of business opportunity but also in the peace process,
and this kind of forum offers a platform that is both transnational as
well as international. In devising a plan to fund our foreign
operations, it is critical that we include cost-effective measures of
peacekeeping by deputizing our strong women leaders.
Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, for the reasons stated above, I
support H.R. 2800.
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to express my support for H.R. 2800,
the Fiscal Year 2004 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
While I am deeply disappointed that the bill provides less than half
of the President's request for the Global AIDS Fund and less than two-
thirds of the money requested for the Millennium Challenge Account, I
am encouraged by the launch of these bold new initiatives to provide
vital assistance to the developing world.
I also fully support the bill's bilateral assistance account,
including $2.8 billion in economic and military aid for Israel, $1.9
billion in assistance for Egypt, and $456 million for Jordan, which has
long provided a measure of stability in the Middle East and reinforced
the Camp David Accord and the Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
I have great ambivalence, however, over the bill's acknowledgement of
President Bush's move to provide $20 million in direct aid to the
Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance.
One the one hand, I believe the funds are necessary to reinforce the
Road Map and the

[[Page H7380]]

U.S. commitment to the governance of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmood
Abbas. Deposited to the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), the money will
shore up the work of newly appointed Palestinian Finance Minister Salam
Fayyad and advance his effort to eradicate corruption and put
Palestinian resources to work for development instead of violence.
On the other hand, I am wary of providing direct aid while anti-
Israel incitement continues an the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure
remains in place. What guarantee do we have that this money won't go
into the same black hole as all of the other international aid funds
contributed since the beginning of the Oslo process? How can we be sure
the money won't end up financing terrorism or corruption?

Since the signing of the Oslo Accord the international community has
invested more than $4.5 billion to organize Palestinian infrastructure.
For the past 3 years, Arab and European donors have been transferring
$45 million to the Palestinian treasury every month. Yet, even in the
quietest days of the peace process, the Palestinian economy languished
with high unemployment and stagnant growth.
Palestinian companies created to provide services for the Palestinian
people have done nothing but line the pockets of Arafat's henchmen.
Corporations set up by the Palestinian Authority to manage
telecommunications, energy, and phone service to the Palestinian people
have been proven to be nothing more than fronts for money laundering
and terrorist activity.
At the same time, the results of Finance Minister Fayyad's work has
been impressive. Teamed up with a host of international monitors, the
PIF has undertaken an ambitious and critically important task of
auditing all Palestinian Authority companies, replacing and
reorganizing management, and operating all of the restructured firms
through a centralized and transparent system. The effort has quickly
become a proven method to cut off Palestinian Authority funds that were
being used for nefarious purposes.
Before the PIF was created, there was no way to monitor Palestinian
Authority revenues or expenditures. For example, until recently taken
over and audited by the PIF, the Palestinian petroleum company had been
regularly used to fund the terrorist activities of Fatah and the Al-
Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. Similarly, the PIF has stepped in to stop the
Gaza phone company from cooking its books to write off ``expenses''
while never providing service to its customers.
The steady stream of money for terrorism is finally drying up. The
Israeli Government has already approved the PIF system to deposit
Palestinian tax revenues that were long withheld until appropriate
safeguards were in place to ensure the money did not end up in
terrorist hands.
It is our expectation that the direct aid to the PIF by the United
States should be seen as a tenuous first step, as a confidence building
measure. It is an expression of our commitment to help Prime Minister
Abbas consolidate his mandate for a different Palestinian future. For
too long, the Palestinian people have become dependent on terrorist
organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad because Arafat's
mismanagement denied them basic social services like education, water,
and health.

With this aid package, as instituted by President Bush, the United
States hopes to set an example for the international community to
direct all donations and investments to the PIF and distance themselves
from Arafat's money trail of devastation and murder.
I firmly believe, however, that the aid should not be viewed as a
standing fund or a full resumption of ties to the Palestinian
Authority. The President was only able to extend the grant with a
waiver, which would still be required again before any additional aid
could be considered. It is vitally important that Congress conduct
vigorous oversight to ensure that the money is properly spent.
We must also require clear benchmarks to evaluate when and whether
additional aid should be considered in the future. The most crucial is
that no additional aid should be considered before all security forces
are under a centralized control of Prime Minister Abbas with all
payroll payments to Palestinian Authority officers organized
electronically and transparently through the PIF.
President Bush's June 24, 2002, speech laid out the terms for a new
Palestinian leadership untainted by terror to emerge. Progress can only
be measured through security, cooperation and accountability.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I have no additional speakers in general
debate, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. All time for general debate has expired.
Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment
under the 5-minute rule.
During consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chair may accord
priority in recognition to a Member offering an amendment that he has
printed in the designated place in the Congressional Record. Those
amendments will be considered read.
The Clerk will read.
The Clerk read as follows:

H.R. 2800

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes, namely:

TITLE I--EXPORT AND INVESTMENT ASSISTANCE

export-import bank of the united states

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is authorized
to make such expenditures within the limits of funds and
borrowing authority available to such corporation, and in
accordance with law, and to make such contracts and
commitments without regard to fiscal year limitations, as
provided by section 104 of the Government Corporation Control
Act, as may be necessary in carrying out the program for the
current fiscal year for such corporation: Provided, That none
of the funds available during the current fiscal year may be
used to make expenditures, contracts, or commitments for the
export of nuclear equipment, fuel, or technology to any
country, other than a nuclear-weapon state as defined in
Article IX of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons eligible to receive economic or military assistance
under this Act, that has detonated a nuclear explosive after
the date of the enactment of this Act: Provided further, That
notwithstanding section 1(c) of Public Law 103-428, as
amended, sections 1(a) and (b) of Public Law 103-428 shall
remain in effect through October 1, 2004.

administrative expenses

For administrative expenses to carry out the direct and
guaranteed loan and insurance programs, including hire of
passenger motor vehicles and services as authorized by 5
U.S.C. 3109, and not to exceed $30,000 for official reception
and representation expenses for members of the Board of
Directors, $71,395,000: Provided, That the Export-Import Bank
may accept, and use, payment or services provided by
transaction participants for legal, financial, or technical
services in connection with any transaction for which an
application for a loan, guarantee or insurance commitment has
been made: Provided further, That, notwithstanding subsection
(b) of section 117 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1992,
subsection (a) thereof shall remain in effect until October
1, 2004.

overseas private investment corporation

noncredit account

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is authorized
to make, without regard to fiscal year limitations, as
provided by 31 U.S.C. 9104, such expenditures and commitments
within the limits of funds available to it and in accordance
with law as may be necessary: Provided, That the amount
available for administrative expenses to carry out the credit
and insurance programs (including an amount for official
reception and representation expenses which shall not exceed
$35,000) shall not exceed $41,385,000: Provided further, That
project-specific transaction costs, including direct and
indirect costs incurred in claims settlements, and other
direct costs associated with services provided to specific
investors or potential investors pursuant to section 234 of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, shall not be considered
administrative expenses for the purposes of this heading.

program account

For the cost of direct and guaranteed loans, $24,000,000,
as authorized by section 234 of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961, to be derived by transfer from the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation Non-Credit Account: Provided, That
such costs, including the cost of modifying such loans, shall
be as defined in section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974: Provided further, That such sums shall be available
for direct loan obligations and loan guaranty commitments
incurred or made during fiscal years 2004 and 2005: Provided
further, That such sums shall remain available through fiscal
year 2012 for the disbursement of direct and guaranteed loans
obligated in fiscal year 2004, and through fiscal year 2013
for the disbursement of direct and guaranteed loans obligated
in fiscal year 2005.
In addition, such sums as may be necessary for
administrative expenses to carry out the credit program may
be derived from amounts available for administrative expenses
to carry out the credit and insurance programs in the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation Noncredit Account and
merged with said account.

Funds Appropriated to the President

trade and development agency

For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of
section 661 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,
$50,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2005.

TITLE II--BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE

Funds Appropriated to the President

For expenses necessary to enable the President to carry out
the provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for
other

[[Page H7381]]

purposes, to remain available until September 30, 2004,
unless otherwise specified herein, as follows:

united states agency for international development

child survival and health programs fund

(including transfer of funds)

For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of
chapters 1 and 10 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961, for child survival, health, and family planning/
reproductive health activities, in addition to funds
otherwise available for such purposes, $2,235,830,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2005: Provided, That
this amount shall be made available for such activities as:
(1) programs for the prevention, treatment, control of, and
research on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, polio, malaria, and other
infectious diseases, and for assistance to communities
severely affected by HIV/AIDS, including children displaced
or orphaned by AIDS; (2) family planning/reproductive health;
(3) health, nutrition, water and sanitation programs, and
related education programs, which directly address the needs
of mothers and children; (4) assistance for children
displaced or orphaned by causes other than AIDS; (5)
immunization programs; and (6) oral rehydration programs:
Provided further, That none of the funds appropriated under
this heading may be made available for nonproject assistance,
except that funds may be made available for such assistance
for ongoing health activities: Provided further, That of the
funds appropriated under this heading, not to exceed
$250,000, in addition to funds otherwise available for such
purposes, may be used to monitor and provide oversight of
child survival, maternal and family planning/reproductive
health, and infectious disease programs: Provided further,
That the following amounts should be allocated as follows:
$324,000,000 for child survival and maternal health;
$27,000,000 for vulnerable children; $840,830,000 for HIV/
AIDS; $155,500,000 for other infectious diseases;
$368,500,000 for family planning/reproductive health; and
$120,000,000 for UNICEF: Provided further, That of the funds
appropriated under this heading, and in addition to funds
allocated under the previous proviso, not less than
$400,000,000 shall be made available, not withstanding any
other provision of law, for a United States contribution to
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the
``Global Fund''), and shall be expended at the minimum rate
necessary to make timely payment for projects and activities:
Provided further, That of the funds appropriated and
allocated for HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund under this Act,
not to exceed $870,830,000 may be apportioned to the Office
of the Coordinator of United States Government Activities to
Combat HIV/AIDS Globally (the ``Coordinator''), of which
amount: $400,000,000 shall be made available as a
contribution to the Global Fund; not less than $15,000,000
should be made available as a contribution to the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; not more than
$6,326,000 may be available for administrative expenses; and
not more than $50,000,000 may be made available under the
authority contained in section 1(f)(2)(A)(iii) of the State
Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956: Provided further,
That no United States contribution to the Global Fund may
cause the total amount of United States Government
contributions to the Global Fund to exceed one-half of the
total amount of funds contributed to the Global Fund from all
other sources: Provided further, That if, by June 30, 2004,
the application of the previous proviso prevents a
contribution of the full amount allocated for the Global
Fund, the amount that cannot be made available for the Global
Fund may be made available by the Coordinator, through
relevant executive branch agencies, for activities to combat
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria, subject to prior
consultation with the Committees on Appropriations: Provided
further, That in carrying out the duties specified in section
1(f)(2)(B)(ii)(VII) of the State Department Basic Authorities
Act of 1956, the Coordinator shall ensure that assistance is
provided for activities in not fewer than 15 countries, at
least one of which shall not be in Africa or the Caribbean
region: Provided further, That of the funds appropriated
under this heading, up to $60,000,000 may be made available
for a United States contribution to the Vaccine Fund, and up
to $6,000,000 may be transferred to and merged with funds
appropriated by this Act under the heading ``Operating
Expenses of the United States Agency for International
Development'' for costs directly related to international
health, but funds made available for such costs may not be
derived from amounts made available for contribution under
the preceding provisos: Provided further, That
notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, funds
appropriated under this heading that are available for child
survival and health programs, shall be apportioned to the
Office of the Coordinator, or the United States Agency for
International Development, and the authority of sections
632(a) or 632(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, or
any comparable provision of law, may not be used to transfer
or allocate any part of such funds to the Department of
Health and Human Services including any office of that
agency, except that the authority of those sections may be
used to transfer or allocate up to $35,000,000 of such funds
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Provided
further, That none of the funds made available in this Act
nor any unobligated balances from prior appropriations may be
made available to any organization or program which, as
determined by the President of the United States, supports or
participates in the management of a program of coercive
abortion or involuntary sterilization: Provided further, That
none of the funds made available under this Act may be used
to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family
planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice
abortions: Provided further, That none of the funds made
available under this Act may be used to lobby for or against
abortion: Provided further, That in order to reduce reliance
on abortion in developing nations, funds shall be available
only to voluntary family planning projects which offer,
either directly or through referral to, or information about
access to, a broad range of family planning methods and
services, and that any such voluntary family planning project
shall meet the following requirements: (1) service providers
or referral agents in the project shall not implement or be
subject to quotas, or other numerical targets, of total
number of births, number of family planning acceptors, or
acceptors of a particular method of family planning (this
provision shall not be construed to include the use of
quantitative estimates or indicators for budgeting and
planning purposes); (2) the project shall not include payment
of incentives, bribes, gratuities, or financial reward to:
(A) an individual in exchange for becoming a family planning
acceptor; or (B) program personnel for achieving a numerical
target or quota of total number of births, number of family
planning acceptors, or acceptors of a particular method of
family planning; (3) the project shall not deny any right or
benefit, including the right of access to participate in any
program of general welfare or the right of access to health
care, as a consequence of any individual's decision not to
accept family planning services; (4) the project shall
provide family planning acceptors comprehensible information
on the health benefits and risks of the method chosen,
including those conditions that might render the use of the
method inadvisable and those adverse side effects known to be
consequent to the use of the method; and (5) the project
shall ensure that experimental contraceptive drugs and
devices and medical procedures are provided only in the
context of a scientific study in which participants are
advised of potential risks and benefits; and, not less than
60 days after the date on which the Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development determines
that there has been a violation of the requirements contained
in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (5) of this proviso, or a
pattern or practice of violations of the requirements
contained in paragraph (4) of this proviso, the Administrator
shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations a report
containing a description of such violation and the corrective
action taken by the Agency: Provided further, That in
awarding grants for natural family planning under section 104
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 no applicant shall be
discriminated against because of such applicant's religious
or conscientious commitment to offer only natural family
planning; and, additionally, all such applicants shall comply
with the requirements of the previous proviso: Provided
further, That for purposes of this or any other Act
authorizing or appropriating funds for foreign operations,
export financing, and related programs, the term
``motivate'', as it relates to family planning assistance,
shall not be construed to prohibit the provision, consistent
with local law, of information or counseling about all
pregnancy options: Provided further, That nothing in this
paragraph shall be construed to alter any existing statutory
prohibitions against abortion under section 104 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961: Provided further, That
information provided about the use of condoms as part of
projects or activities that are funded from accounts
appropriated by this Act shall be medically accurate and
shall include the public health benefits and failure rates of
such use.

Amendment Offered by Mr. Jackson of Illinois

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. Jackson of Illinois:
In title II, in the item relating to ``child survival and
health programs fund'', after the aggregate dollar amount,
insert the following: ``(increased by $150,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``child survival and
health programs fund'', insert before the period at the end
the following:
: Provided further, That of the funds appropriated under this
heading, $150,000,000 is designated by the Congress as an
emergency requirement pursuant to section 502 of H. Con. Res.
95 (108th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget
for fiscal year 2004
In title II, in the item relating to ``development
assistance'', after the aggregate dollar amount, insert the
following: ``(increased by $200,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``economic support
fund'', after the aggregate dollar amount, insert the
following: ``(increased by $20,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``economic support
fund'', insert before the period at the end the following:
: Provided further, That of the funds appropriated under this
heading, not less than

[[Page H7382]]

$97,300,000 shall be made available for assistance for sub-
Saharan Africa: Provided further, That of the funds
appropriated under this heading, $20,000,000 is designated by
the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section
502 of H. Con. Res. 95 (108th Congress), the concurrent
resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2004
In title II, in the item relating to ``millennium challenge
account'', after the aggregate dollar amount, insert the
following: ``(reduced by $200,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``debt
restructuring'', after the aggregate dollar amount, insert
the following: ``(increased by $300,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``debt
restructuring'', after the dollar amount in the second
proviso, insert the following: ``(increased by
$300,000,000)''.
In title II, in the item relating to ``debt
restructuring'', at the end of the second proviso, insert the
following:
, of which funds $300,000,000 shall be made available
pursuant to such title for the reduction of debt of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In title II, in the item relating to ``debt
restructuring'', insert before the period at the end the
following:
: Provided further, That of the funds appropriated under this
heading, $300,000,000 is designated by the Congress as an
emergency requirement pursuant to section 502 of H. Con. Res.
95 (108th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget
for fiscal year 2004
In title IV, in the item relating to ``contribution to the
african development fund'', after the aggregate dollar
amount, insert the following: ``(increased by $10,709,970)''.
In title IV, in the item relating to ``contribution to the
african development fund'', insert before the period at the
end the following:
: Provided, That of the funds appropriated under this
heading, $10,709,970 is designated by the Congress as an
emergency requirement pursuant to section 502 of H. Con. Res.
95 (108th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget
for fiscal year 2004

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask
unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed
in the Record.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on this
amendment.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The point of order is reserved.
(Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks.)
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, just before I present my
amendment, I want to make an observation.
The chairman said a few moments ago that this bill represents a $1
billion increase over last year's numbers. The development assistance
account under this bill is down from the fiscal year 2003 numbers, and
it is down from the request in fiscal year 2004. The economic support
fund in this bill is down from the fiscal year 2003 enacted and the
fiscal year 2004 request.

{time} 1715

The African Development Foundation is down from fiscal year 2003; and
under the 2004 request, migration and refugee assistance is down, debt
restructuring is down, peacekeeping operations also down, and the
African Development Bank is also down.
Mr. Chairman, I stand today because Africa is in a state of
emergency. Africa is the poorest region in the world containing a
majority of the world's poorest countries. One in three people in sub-
Saharan Africa do not get enough to eat every day, and only one in two
people have access to clean drinking water. One in three children
completes elementary school, and the average life expectancy in Africa
is just 49 years, and the countries hardest hit by AIDS just 30 years.
President Bush made a promise on March 14, 2002 at the Inter-American
Development Bank. And on March 22, 2002, at the U.N. Financing for
Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, the President said, ``The
United States will lead by example. I have proposed a 50 percent
increase in our core development assistance over the next three budget
years. Eventually this will mean a $5 billion increase over current
levels.'' And the President said further, and I quote, ``This is new
money. This money is above and beyond existing aid requests in the
current budget I submitted to Congress. I carry this commitment in my
soul.''
In other words, the President promised to add to, not take away from
core development assistance accounts. Congress must not now make
President Bush's promises look hollow. But the bill before us today
risks doing that. The President proposed an $18.8 billion budget for
foreign operations, while this bill funds at $17.1 billion. Development
assistance in our bill is $25 million below the President's request and
$60 million below the fiscal year 2003 level. The President's request
for $300 million for bilateral debt relief for the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, a nation in civil war, was not included in this bill.
So my amendment, Mr. Chairman, seeks to restore and increase the
critical development assistance funding for more than 600 million
people in 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It seeks to make good on
the President's commitment. My amendment adds a total of $680 million
to the foreign operations bill. Two hundred million dollars of the $680
million is offset by reducing the Millennium Challenge Account, which
applies to only three countries out of 48 in Africa, from $800 million
to $600 million to pay for development assistance for sub-Saharan
Africa. Four hundred eight million dollars is declared emergency
spending, of which $150 million is added to survival and health
programs; $20 million is added to the Economic Support Fund, and
earmarks $97 million in ESF funds for sub-Saharan Africa. Three hundred
million dollars is added for debt relief in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, restoring the President's request. Eleven million dollars is
added for the Africa Development Fund, again restoring the President's
full request of $118 million.
Mr. Chairman, my amendment is clear and simple. It provides emergency
spending for an emergency. I urge Members to support my amendment, and
I also urge my colleagues to think long and hard about other
emergencies on the African continent other than just AIDS.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I understand that there is a bipartisan agreement
not to call any votes between now and 6:45. I have missed only one vote
in the last 8 years, 3,999 out of 4,000, and that means, Mr. Chairman,
that I have been here through every temper tantrum, every motion to
adjourn, every motion for the Committee to rise, every motion to
recommit, every final passage, and every approval of the Journal for
the last 8 years. And so right around 6:30 or 6:45, for the first time
in the history of the United States Congress, we will have a motion
that the Committee rise to help Africa.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the Jackson amendment to
add $480 million in emergency funds for Africa. This amendment would
add $300 million for debt relief for the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, $150 million for child survival programs in Africa, $20 million
for economic support funds for Africa and $10 million for the African
Development Fund.
This bill underfunds a number of accounts that provide assistance to
the people of sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world. More
than 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa survive on under $1 per
day. Almost half of the continent does not have access to safe water
sources. Only one in three African children completes elementary
school, and one in three people in sub-Saharan Africa does not get
enough to eat every day. Average life expectancy in Africa is just 49
years. In the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, life
expectancy is just 30 years.
As a member who has been working on the issue of debt relief for poor
countries for many years, I am especially concerned about the lack of
funding in this bill for debt relief for the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. The Enhanced HIPC Initiative was developed to free impoverished
countries from the burden of debts and allow them to invest their
resources in AIDS treatment and prevention, health care, education and
poverty reduction programs. Most of the funds necessary to provide debt
relief to the countries that are eligible for participation in the
Enhanced HIPC Initiative were appropriated in the years 1999 through
2002. The President requested $300 million in fiscal year 2004 to
provide debt relief to the Congo, but these funds were eliminated from
this bill. The Jackson amendment would restore the $300 million
included in the President's request and permit the Congo to benefit
from the Enhanced HIPC Initiative.
The President recently returned from a trip to several African
countries. During his trip, he talked about American support for Africa
and American programs that provide assistance for Africa's development.
However, if Congress does not appropriate the funds to implement
African development programs, American support for Africa will be mere
rhetoric. The Jackson amendment would provide funds to these

[[Page H7383]]

critical development programs that promote American goodwill in Africa,
while assisting some of the world's poorest people.
I urge my colleagues to support the Jackson amendment.

Point of Order

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I do make a point of order against the
amendment.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Terry). The gentleman will state his
point of order.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I make the point of order against the
amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes
legislation in an appropriation bill and, therefore, violates clause 2
of rule XXI.
The rule states, in its pertinent part, ``An amendment to a general
appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.''
This amendment directly does change existing law, and I would ask for a
ruling of the Chair.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Does the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Jackson) wish to be heard in rebuttal of the point of order?
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I do wish to be heard in
rebuttal.
My amendment does not offer any changes in existing law. My amendment
simply allows emergency funding under the stated provisions. My
amendment simply moves money around in an existing account, and under
the House budget resolution there is a provision for emergency funding.
And while part of my amendment is offset by a reduction in the
Millennium Challenge Account, the other part of my amendment is
perfectly within order in the context of emergency spending as approved
by the House budget resolutions in the relevant sections of the
legislation.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I would just make the simple comment that it
is an emergency designation and that changes existing law.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Does the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs.
Lowey) wish to address the point of order?
Mrs. LOWEY. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Although I certainly respect the
chairman's point of order, I just wanted to make a few points before
the Chair rules.
I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that the gentleman does stress the
urgency of the request that he has made in this bill. I have tried
repeatedly to get an emergency amendment for $1 billion, which would
match the authorization, bringing the current appropriation from $2
billion to $3 billion for HIV/AIDS, and I certainly applaud the
gentleman for making this point again. And I also want to applaud the
gentleman for talking about the urgency of conditions in Africa.
Certainly the chairman and I would have been delighted to have the
appropriation recommended by the President, which was $18.8 billion,
and it was unfortunate that the leadership cut our appropriation to
$17.1 billion. We know the reality, based upon last year, that $23
billion was the total amount that was appropriated for fiscal year
2003. We know that this bill does not include funding for operations in
Iraq. We know there will be other urgent needs in the year. And I just
want to thank the gentleman from Illinois for again bringing these
issues to our attention.
We have the power of a great Nation to act, and to act and respond to
these urgent situations I think is a moral imperative.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, if I can be recognized further
on the point of order before you rule, I did offer this amendment in
the Committee on Rules but it was not granted a waiver.
And so, unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, I concede the point of order.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The point of order is conceded and
sustained.

Amendment Offered by Ms. Kilpatrick

Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment offered by Ms. Kilpatrick:
Page 5, line 22, after the dollar amount insert
``(increased by $300,000,000)''.
Page 6, line 21, after the second dollar amount insert
``(increased by $300,000,000)''.
Page 30, line 5, after the dollar amount insert ``(reduced
by $300,000,000)''.

Ms. KILPATRICK (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous
consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the
Record.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment that
would begin to meet the President's pledge as he traveled to Africa
less than a week ago. During the time in Africa, President Bush pledged
to five heads of State and millions of people that he would fund the
AIDS initiative at $15 billion over 5 years.
On March 27, this Congress passed an authorization for that $15
billion commitment over 5 years. In that authorization in March it had
$3 billion as the first installment on that $15 billion pledge. My
amendment offers $300 million to begin to meet the pledge, and again
not fully funding the pledge, understanding the restraints that we are
within.
I offer this amendment because, as was mentioned before, the pandemic
in the world and certainly in Africa on that continent, sub-Saharan
Africa, 48 countries, over 700 million people with a high incidence of
HIV and AIDS need the assistance. In addition, in India, with over 1
billion people, China with similar populations, Russia, the Caribbean,
there is a pandemic of enormous proportions all over the world. This is
the number one country in the world. We ought to set the pace. I do not
want our commitments to be taken lightly. The President has seen
firsthand what this illness has done to families, to communities, to
countries of the world, and I urge him to accept our amendment.
We ask that the $300 million be offset, and I fully support the
Millennium Challenge Account and commend the President for beginning
the process of establishing it. The $300 million offset would come from
the $800 million in this foreign operations bill, which would leave
$500 million in the Millennium Challenge Account. And I might add, this
House just passed the MCA account last week. The Senate has yet to act
on this account. We do know that the bills will be sent to the
President soon, he will sign them and he will begin initiating the
administration in setting up the Millennium Challenge Account.
I want to discuss what things have to happen before any of this $500
million can be spent. The President will appoint a CEO, with support
and advice from the Senate, who then will hire a board and put a board
in place to administer the MCA. They will then hire 150 to 200
employees to implement the things that the legislation requires. Twelve
countries will then be identified that meet certain criteria in the
bill. The proposals have to be drawn up, they have to be submitted, the
countries have to respond again, and then the money then has to be
given out. We believe much of that $500 million will not be spent
before the first quarter in this fiscal year.
The pandemic stretches across these countries I have mentioned, over
42 million people living with HIV/AIDS today. UNAIDS has already said
to us that of all the monies coming into the U.N. for the pandemic, we
will be $3 billion short of what we really need to address the
pandemic. Given that situation, given the whole process that the MCA
must go through between now and October 1 when we think it might be
initiated and funded, right through the spring before all those steps
can be taken and fully implemented, we believe that the offset matches
and that there will be enough resources in MCA, which I fully support,
to begin the process of establishing the Millennium Challenge Account.
At the same time, people living with HIV and AIDS are dying as we
speak. The money will not be pilfered, as one Member said earlier
today. These are things happening on the ground in these countries
around the world today. There are proven success stories in many
countries around the world.
So I urge my colleagues to accept the Kilpatrick amendment. It is on
time, it is right now, and it is something that millions of people need
all over this world as we speak. I want everybody to know again that
the $3 billion shortfall that the UNAIDS says is needed is needed today
and can be spent today.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I want to first of all thank the gentlewoman from
Michigan

[[Page H7384]]

for offering this, and I think the debate here is a very good and
healthy one because I think it underscores some important policy
differences and also allows us to have a full airing of this issue.

{time} 1730

She has been a tremendous contributing member to our subcommittee.
She is a passionate advocate for assistance to Africa on HIV/AIDS and
development assistance, and I respect very much the gentlewoman from
Michigan and her position. I do disagree with her position. Let me just
take a moment to explain why.
First of all, I want to just correct one statement that the
gentlewoman made and that is that the Senate has not acted on the
Millennium Challenge Account. They have adopted it as an amendment to
the State Department authorization bill on the floor, the bill is still
pending final action, but it has been adopted on the floor of the
Senate. So I think we are working our way towards approval of it.
This amendment would undermine what the President has laid out as one
of his new initiatives. I am very excited about this. I was with the
President in Monterrey when he talked about the new Millennium
Challenge Account. I believe this is the most innovative and creative
idea in foreign assistance since the Marshall Plan, maybe since
President Kennedy's Partners in Progress program. There is no doubt in
my mind that this is a new way of looking at foreign assistance and one
which gives an opportunity for countries to be a part of our
development of a foreign assistance program.
Most of our traditional foreign assistance is delivered through
contractors. We decide which countries we are going to go into. We go
into those countries. We hire a contractor to help develop training of
nurses, to develop curricula in high schools, but we decide what is
going to be done, and a contractor from the United States does this.
The Millennium Challenge Account says to these countries, if you show
that you have a commitment through transparency, through a lack of
corruption, through openness in the process, we invite you to come and
apply, we invite you to get a substantial part of these new dollars
that are going to be appropriated, and we invite you to show us that
you can spend these in a way that leads to sustained development, that
actually increases the standard of living for the people living in
these countries. I think it is a very exciting way to look at
development assistance.
The President has made a commitment that it will not cut the basic
development assistance that we now have in place. This is going to be
added on, on top of it, so it is new development assistance. I think
that is very important to keep in mind, Mr. Chairman.
Let me just make a couple of other points here. The gentlewoman is
right that this program is in its infancy, it is not even born, in a
sense, yet, since the legislation has not been enacted into law. That
is why we are not including in our appropriation as much as the
President requested. The President asked for $1.3 billion. We are about
40 percent almost underneath that at $800 million. But there is no
doubt in my mind that we can deliver this assistance and really make a
difference during the coming year. To cut it below that, not only do we
have a statement from the White House that senior advisers would
recommend a veto if we cut it below the $800 million amount, but I
think it would be extraordinarily unwise.
Perhaps one of the last points I want to make, Mr. Chairman, is that
this legislation goes hand in hand with what we are trying to do on
HIV/AIDS. You cannot separate development assistance from HIV/AIDS. The
health infrastructure in a country, the basic education of children so
that they can understand about prevention of HIV/AIDS, all of this goes
hand in hand, hand in glove. They go together. So we should not think
as though we are taking something away from HIV/AIDS. This is a
complementary program for HIV/AIDS. It gives us a real opportunity to
do something about it.
I think we are going to hear probably that only three countries in
Africa qualify. I do not know where that statement comes from, but that
is absolutely not true. On the basis of income, which is the only thing
in the bill we have passed, on the basis of income, many of the
countries in Africa do meet that criteria. There is another set of
criteria that is a more subjective one, that they have to get through a
list of criteria before they would qualify; but there is nobody that
yet has said exactly how those criteria are going to be applied. So it
would be absolutely incorrect to say that only three countries in
Africa could qualify. That is absolutely not true.
Mr. Chairman, this is an amendment which would be, I think, very
detrimental to not only HIV/AIDS in Africa but to development
assistance. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.
Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
(Mrs. LOWEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Kilpatrick
amendment. I just want to make a point at the beginning to my
distinguished chairman. Based upon the information I have received and
we have received as a committee from the administration that MCA, and
as you and I know we have received very little information, based upon
the criteria that they have set out, only three African nations would
qualify in 2004 and 2005, an additional three. I welcome additional
information, but the administration has not been over to brief us.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?
Mrs. LOWEY. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.
Mr. KOLBE. That statement does not come from the administration.
There is an individual with one of the think tanks here in town who has
gone through this proposed set of criteria, proposed set, because it is
not in the law, the proposed set of criteria that would be used and
said only three would qualify. But the only thing in the law is the
income. That is the only thing in the law.
Mrs. LOWEY. Reclaiming my time, I understand that. And the reason we
have had to depend upon think tanks for this information is that the
administration, other than developing the criteria, has not responded
to us in a request for specifics. Why do we not leave it at that, and I
will go on and make a few other points. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Chairman, I do support this amendment because the amendment would
add $300 million to the Child Survival Account to fight the scourge of
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and is offset by a corresponding cut
in the Millennium Challenge Account. Along with the $2 billion already
provided in this bill and in the labor-HHS bill, the amendment would
bring the total amount appropriated for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria to
$2.3 billion. I had hoped that my amendment to add $1 billion for HIV/
AIDS would be made in order, but it was not. I believe that this
amendment is a step in the right direction and I urge my colleagues to
support it.
Nearly 3 months ago, the House voted to authorize $3 billion to
fulfill the first year of the President's 5-year, $15 billion global
AIDS initiative. Amendments to cut the $3 billion level were defeated
soundly by the full House. And the President did leave the distinct
impression during his recent trip to Africa that the full $3 billion
would be provided in 2004, despite the fact that he only requested $2
billion in funding. In fact, OMB's statement of administration policy
on this bill, which arrived just a short time ago, threatens to veto
the bill if we move funds from the MCA account for HIV/AIDS programs.
Frankly, I find it outrageous that a veto is threatened over the fact
that funding may be shifted from a proven, up-and-running program to a
brand new initiative that has not yet begun.
This threat does prove one thing, however. Clearly the President has
no intention of reaching a $3 billion level for HIV/AIDS as was
authorized in 2004. The rhetoric that surrounded the signing of the
HIV/AIDS bill was hollow. Today we have an opportunity to prove that
our commitment was real.
HIV/AIDS is not only a humanitarian crisis; it is a grave threat to
global stability. The African continent is being destroyed by this
pandemic. Of the 42 million people infected with HIV, almost three-
quarters live in Africa. Life

[[Page H7385]]

expectancies in Africa are falling rapidly and in some countries people
are not expected to live past their forties. By the year 2010, there
will be 40 million AIDS orphans. There are still many countries in
Africa where condom distribution, access to HIV testing, and education
programs is still not available. More resources are necessary and our
capacity to plan and deliver programs can and must be expanded. The
global AIDS bill recently passed by Congress requires that our HIV/AIDS
programs begin a transition from awareness and comprehensive prevention
to treatment and abstinence promotion programs. This will be an
expensive undertaking, and it should not replace current efforts which
emphasize a balanced approach to prevention and awareness. New efforts
require new resources.
These funds can be spent wisely next year. The most recent United
Nations report, the subject cites the need for $8.3 billion for HIV/
AIDS programs next year, while estimating that only $5.3 billion will
be provided by all donors combined, leaving a gap of $3 billion.
The amendment also leaves open the possibility of an increase above
the $400 million already in the bill for the Global Fund. Having more
U.S. dollars in place for the fund will serve as an incentive for other
donors to do more.
The additional funds can be used next year to: speed expansion of
Mother-to-Child transmission programs; accelerate the creation of
viable treatment programs; establish drug purchase and distribution
programs; expand the President's initiative beyond the 14 countries
currently identified; and expand prevention programs.
I support the offset included in this amendment not because I do not
support the MCA initiative, but because all the funds provided in the
bill cannot be used next year. Legislation setting the parameters for
the new Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has just passed the
House and may not pass the Senate anytime soon. There are many
unresolved issues relating to Congressional oversight and eligibility
criteria. The head of the MCC has not been appointed, no staff are in
place, and no financial or contracting procedures exist. Under the best
circumstances, it will take 12 to 18 months for the Corporation to be
fully functioning. Passage of this amendment leaves the MCC with $500
million for 2004, which I believe is more than enough.
The additional funding for HIV/AIDS can be used wisely next year. It
will make a real difference and save lives, and it will demonstrate to
the world that when the United States makes a promise, we keep it.
I urge support of the Kilpatrick amendment.
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words. I rise in opposition to this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, by opposing this amendment, I do not wish to minimize
our constitutional duty to establish our Nation's spending priorities.
Even when a President invokes national security as the basis for a
funding request, we have the responsibility to scrutinize the
underlying justification, disagreeing where we must.
The fiscal year 2004 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act carefully
balances the foreign policies of Congress and the President.
Regrettably, this amendment alters that equilibrium without sufficient
cause. President Bush has proposed two historic initiatives that will
help win the war on terror through the power of America's compassion
and the strength of America's convictions. By virtue of his plan to
aggressively fight AIDS in the developing world and his Millennium
Challenge Account proposal, the President has presented a comprehensive
vision for a safer, freer, healthier and more prosperous world, a goal
that we all share.
Both of these initiatives deserve our enthusiastic support.
Individually, neither of these proposals can achieve our critical
humanitarian and strategic objectives. By cutting funding to the
Millennium Challenge Account, we would seriously hobble this
comprehensive reform of United States assistance to developing nations
in this critical first year. In particular, we would risk losing this
opportunity to demand action and accountability from recipient
governments rather than mere promises. Nevertheless, this amendment
inexplicably deprives the Millennium Challenge Account of its necessary
funding. The amendment's sponsors have failed to provide us with a
compelling rationale for this approach other than the general vital
importance of fighting AIDS in the developing world. I do not dispute
this basic contention. Yet we must not become so single minded about
this objective that we sacrifice the most revolutionary foreign aid
proposal since the Marshall Plan.
America's ability to win the war on terror depends on how well we use
our economic, diplomatic, and humanitarian tools at our disposal to
relieve suffering, build stability, and promote freedom and prosperity
around the globe. Congress, in agreement with the administration, has
painstakingly allocated the resources necessary to achieve these
objectives. The stakes are simply too high to sacrifice the reward of
sound economic practices and good governance policies in recipient
nations that the MCA would encourage.
I urge my colleagues to preserve the efficacy of the President's
visionary initiative by defeating this amendment.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
Mr. Chairman, it was not long ago here in this Chamber that the
President of the United States stood right at the desk before you and
he mentioned the word ``Africa'' twice in a State of the Union address.
One of those times, well, we will leave that time alone, but the time
that is important to us, the President came to this Congress and he
said, I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next 5 years
including nearly $10 billion in new money to turn the tide against AIDS
in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.
Mr. Chairman, I was sitting right there where the gentlewoman is
sitting, and I stood up and gave the President, along with this
Chamber, the most incredible standing ovation that was sustained by
Members of Congress that I think we have seen in this Chamber in a long
time. We considered the President's initiative to be bold on the
question of AIDS for Africa. Now the rubber meets the road. The
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations is offering a number that falls
significantly below that which the President offered in his State of
the Union address. Again, he mentioned the term Africa twice in that
State of the Union speech.
I stand in support of the gentlewoman's amendment. Make no mistake
about it. The Millennium Challenge Account, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation will benefit only three African countries out of 48. The
chairman said that this is the most creative plan since the Marshall
Plan. But make no mistake about it, the Millennium Challenge Account is
not a Marshall Plan. There is a pandemic in Africa. Are we to assume
that only three countries in Africa are confronting an AIDS pandemic?
Or is the problem in all 48 sub-Saharan African countries? The
gentlewoman seeks to take $300 million from a nontested, experimental
program and move it into time-tested cures, remedy, and education for
AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
And so, Mr. Chairman, let us be clear. Since its discovery 2 decades
ago, more than 18 million Africans have died of AIDS out of 25 million
cases worldwide. Most of the African Americans in this Congress, who
happen to be in the minority party, are supporting the Kilpatrick
amendment.

{time} 1745

A few moments ago we heard members of the Committee on Ways and Means
come to this floor and talk about respecting each other, respecting
people's perspective and respecting their homeland. Certainly when some
of my other colleagues come to the floor and offer great testimonies
about where their ancestors are from and what the Congress should be
doing to offer help for their areas, we tend to listen and give
deference to those Members of Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus
is supporting the gentlewoman from Michigan's amendment, those of us
who are descendants of Africa; so are we asking too much to ask our
colleagues to shift resources from one untested account to a tested
account that we are confident can make a difference in the lives of
people that we care so dearly and so much about, or are we to be told
what the fiscal responsibility of Congress is as it relates to foreign
operations?

[[Page H7386]]

Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman is offering an amendment that is in
order, that has been ruled in order by the Committee on Rules, and I
would encourage my colleagues to support this amendment because it
makes sense for Africa.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment, and I am
going to repeat a point which the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman
Kolbe) has already made and that is yes, the President has repeatedly
said $15 billion over 5 years, but he has also made the point
repeatedly that the first year of that program as we ramp up will be $2
billion, and that is what is in this bill.
Let me make another point. As we throw around the argument in this
Chamber that we will have only three countries qualified for the
Millennium Challenge Account, I am reminded that initially in the
argument over the African Growth and Opportunity Act there was the
argument that not that many countries would qualify. If we look at the
results, there are either 38 or 39 countries today that qualify under
the African Growth and Opportunity Act out of those 48 sub-Saharan
African governments. So what we have seen is a reform, a series of
reforms. We have seen more and more countries qualify as we move
forward. So I do not think we should assume coming out of the gate that
because an NGO argues we think it is only going to be three that that
is necessarily the case. I do not believe that.
I appreciate the gentlewoman's intent with this amendment. I chair
the Subcommittee on Africa, and I think she and others are right. I
think HIV/AIDS is ravaging many parts of the African continent, and I
have seen its devastating impact there, and I think this pandemic is
starting to ravage other regions of the world as well. So HIV/AIDS is a
great challenge for Africa and is a great challenge for the world.
As the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) has noted, the House
has provided over $2 billion this year for fighting HIV/AIDS and
related diseases and we will ramp up in that commitment over the next
few years, and this is more than we have ever provided before, as it
should be.
But we need to be clear on another point. HIV/AIDS prevention and
treatment programs are not done in a vacuum. Other efforts to combat
HIV/AIDS cannot be effective if African and other developing countries
do not have roads or electricity or if family members do not have jobs,
if poverty remains widespread. So we need to use our limited resources
to combat HIV/AIDS and to promote economic development, and our
approach to Africa and the developing world must be comprehensive.
Africa's many problems are, in fact, interrelated.
The Millennium Challenge Account is the most innovative approach to
development aid in years. Its approach of identifying and aiding those
countries committed to economic development promises to ensure that our
resources actually make a difference in promoting development in Africa
and elsewhere and it promises to help create the conditions that allow
for a more effective attack on HIV/AIDS.
Last week the House passed legislation authorizing $1.3 billion for
the Millennium Challenge Account for the upcoming fiscal year. That
bill won strong bipartisan support. The bill that we are considering
today appropriates $800 million. If we are serious about the Millennium
Challenge Account, if we are serious about the most innovative approach
to development aid in years, we should go no lower with its
appropriation level. Those of my colleagues skeptical of development
aid, and the track record for many development aid programs is not
good, should view the Millennium Challenge Account as a critical
undertaking. It promises to revolutionize the business of development
aid. By defeating this amendment, we are supporting a promising
departure from the past, and I ask my colleagues to defeat this
amendment.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Today I rise in support of this amendment, and I would also at this
point like to thank the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) for
introducing it and also for her very bold and committed leadership and
her very hard work over the years in trying to ensure that we increase
the level of assistance to help combat HIV and AIDS. We could not do it
without her. We authorize, she appropriates. And she certainly has
taken lead to ensure that millions of people in Africa have hope. I
thank her.
Over the past 2 months, in fact, it was about 2 months ago, the
President of the United States signed into law H.R. 1298, the United
States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of
2003. This piece of legislation, which passed the House overwhelmingly
last May, provides $15 billion over 5 years. That is $3 billion a year,
which is still not enough but that is all that we could negotiate, for
global AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs in the developing
world, especially in Africa and the Caribbean.
Two weeks ago the President took this promise of money to the
continent of Africa where he attempted to trumpet the compassionate
side of United States foreign policy. For the most part, he was warmly
welcomed by people who believe and expect that when the United States
makes a promise to tackle a problem, particularly something as
devastating as HIV and AIDS, which of course Secretary of State Colin
Powell has repeatedly described as a greater threat than terrorism,
people believe that we will follow through on our commitment.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far, and I was very
surprised and taken aback last week when I learned of a letter
forwarded to the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) from the White
House asking him to keep the overall funding for global AIDS at $2
billion, specifically mentioned that the Global AIDS Fund should only
receive $200 million this year. Actually it was $200 million less than
what was in the bill, so thankfully I am glad that the committee did
not heed this particular advice.
But meanwhile let me just say in Paris, France we learned that our
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, was at the
global AIDS meeting. He of course serves as Chair of the Executive
Board of the Global Fund, and he was attempting to solicit greater
contributions for that organization from other donor nations, which is
a good thing, but we are leading the way.
Let me just ask my colleagues what kind of message do these two
actions really send to the rest of the world? Clearly, the
administration's financial commitment to this issue does not match its
rhetoric. Let me just quote the President's own words when he was in
Nigeria on July 12. The President said, ``This week a committee of the
House of Representatives took an important step to fund the first year
of the authorization bill. The House of Representatives and the United
States Senate must fully fund this initiative for the good of the
people on this continent of Africa.'' The President said that in
Africa. So today we are left to work with the foreign ops appropriation
bill that is woefully underfunded coming in at even $1.8 billion less
than the President requested way back in February. Unfortunately, this
means that a variety of valuable foreign aid programs must compete for
the same pot of money, including foreign aid initiatives that the
President considers to be his own. This scenario could have been
avoided really if the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from New
York (Mrs. Lowey) which provided an extra $1 billion in global AIDS
funding by way of an emergency designation in this bill had been
approved in committee last night, if the Committee on Rules had made
the amendments in order. Ever since the subcommittee allocations came
out, we knew that we were likely to face a $1 billion funding shortfall
for our global AIDS programs. That is why about 2 weeks ago 115 of our
colleagues joined in sending a letter to the President, urging him to
formally request an emergency supplemental appropriations of $1 billion
for our global AIDS program so that we could avoid any potential cuts
to any other foreign aid programs. So we sent this communication.
I am still hopeful that the President will move to save millions of
lives in Africa with the same kind of zeal that he has displayed
earlier in pushing through tax cuts and in pursuing the invasion of
Iraq. But in the meantime we must also do what we can to ensure

[[Page H7387]]

that the promises made by the United States Government towards the
people of Africa and the Caribbean are lived up to.
Mr. Chairman, let me ask that we support the Kilpatrick amendment.
The need for increased funding for HIV and AIDS is now. These
additional funds can be spent to save lives, and we need to put this
money into the account right now. I hope that the Members have heard
the cry of the Congressional Black Caucus today.
As you know the amendment before us would transfer $300 million from
the Millennium Challenge Account to our bilateral AIDS programs within
the Child Survival and Health Account of the Foreign Operations bill.
This would reduce the overall funding level for MCA to $500 million,
while boosting funding for our Global AIDS programs within this bill to
$1.73 billion.
As a co-sponsor and a strong supporter of the Millennium Challenge
Account legislation that we passed last week, I had to make a difficult
decision as to whether we could justifiably pull $300 million away from
the initiative without jeopardizing its ability to get off the ground
in its first year of operation.
After careful consideration of the likely timing for the enactment of
the MCA, the need to operationalize the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, and future funding disbursements, as well as the urgency
of the Global AIDS pandemic, I believe that this amendment is an
acceptable tradeoff.
Nonetheless, this kind of practice is not something we can engage
upon year to year. The administration must back up its so called
Presidential initiatives with more than just rhetoric. It must provide
the funding. Otherwise, the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the
Millennium Challenge Account, and our other initiatives will be nothing
more than empty promises. The need for increased funding for HIV/AIDS
is now. The additional funds can be spent to save lives immediately.
I hope that you will support this amendment.
Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I want to salute the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman
Kolbe) for his great work on the foreign operations bill. I know it is
a difficult task which he undertakes, and I want to commend him for the
hard work and effort he has put in.
I rise in opposition to this amendment, not because I think any less
of the HIV fund. I do not. I care about it passionately. But I rise in
opposition because I think so very much of the Millennium Challenge
Account and the hope that it offers.
Let me relate to the Members briefly an experience that I had not so
many months ago. I had the great privilege of being an election
observer in Kenya this past December. As some of my colleagues know,
Kenya is a country I care about deeply. I once taught high school in
Kenya and worked in an undeveloped region of that country. In the days
right after the election when the new government was sworn in, a
representative of that government in an interview was asked what his
highest priorities would be, and he said that one of the first things
he wanted to do was to try to determine what Kenya had to do to qualify
for the Millennium Challenge Account. And I was overwhelmed by that.
That is the answer. The answer to the problems in Africa and the
underdeveloped world is for us to stand side by side with those
countries that are embracing the values of fighting corruption, of
commitment to education, of commitment to women's health, and that is
what the Millennium Challenge Account is all about.
We heard just a few moments ago that the Millennium Challenge Account
is no Marshall Plan, and I agree. Of course it is no Marshall Plan, but
I say respectfully that it just may be the single most important
development in foreign assistance that we have seen in years, because
what it does is it stands by countries that are willing to take on
their problems. It makes money available for basic education. It makes
money available for health care, for building clinics which will serve
some of the very same people that we all in this body want to help with
the HIV/AIDS fund. And it rewards countries that are committed to
anticorruption.
Just as importantly, it will create a new constituency for foreign
assistance in this country because it is accountable foreign
assistance. It is transparent foreign assistance. It asks for
accountability. It demands results. It requires that countries that
want to tap into this fund take certain steps themselves to show their
commitment.

{time} 1800

That, to me, is a wonderful, wonderful development.
So, Mr. Chairman, I believe that we need to support the Millennium
Challenge Account, because the Millennium Challenge Account is the hope
for the future that we all have for those of us on both sides of the
aisle who care so passionately about the plight of people, of everyday
people, in countries like Kenya and Uganda and throughout the African
continent.
Now, it is true that in the first year only a few countries may
qualify, but it is by design. This is not meant to be something that
every country can qualify for. But what it is is a direction in which
countries can move; and that, to me, is the hope that we have in
foreign assistance, creating clear objectives, setting out those
principles that we wish to reinforce and reinvigorate.
To wrap up, I do believe that HIV/AIDS funds are important, and I am
disappointed that we are not doing more. But, please, do not take money
from the Millennium Challenge Account. It is so vitally important to
American policy. More importantly, it is so vitally important to the
future of Africa and so many places in this world that have been
ignored and left out for all too long.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
Mr. Chairman, we do not want to take money from the Millennium
Challenge Account, but the reality is we are arguing that the money be
spent in a higher priority.
We appreciate the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) making
this amendment, bringing it to the floor. There is no higher priority
right now for the United States.
Many of us would hope that the Nation with the greatest wealth and
power in the world would become the Nation of the greatest generosity.
We may not be the most generous; but certainly if we do not rise to
this challenge, then we will be indicted by the rest of the world, and
rightfully so. We do not have the time to wait for another year.
We know what is happening around the world. We know that every single
day 15,000 more people are being infected with HIV, and it is growing.
We know that 22 million people have lost their lives, over 36 million
people are living with HIV/AIDS, and only 2 percent of them have access
to life-prolonging therapies or basic treatment.
Most troubling is what is happening to the children of the world,
particularly the children in Africa. I know that the gentleman from
Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) was deeply moved in Ethiopia, for example,
when we went to the school that is run by nuns and saw the number of
children, and realized that all of those children, before they become
adults, they are going to join their classmates in the graveyard up the
mountain. The nuns would tell us each morning there would be children
delivered by parents to the door of this school, some by parents, some
by sanitation workers, and those delivered by sanitation workers would
be children who had lost their limbs because they were thrown into a
dumpster, it was known there was no hope for them, and the dogs had
gotten to them. These are things we cannot even imagine in this country
of such wealth and prosperity, with such a high standard of living. But
do we not have some responsibility when we can afford to do something
better?
We are very good at promising the rest of the world what we are going
to do for them. The President has made many promises. He certainly did
on his trip to Africa. Repeatedly he touted the fact he was going to
spend $15 billion over the next 5 years on AIDS.
I did not hear $2 billion; I heard $15 billion. I know in the minds
of the people who heard that, they heard $3 billion a year, $15 billion
divided by five. Somehow they got some hope that we realize what is
happening to them, that we realize that 60 million Africans are either
living with HIV, have died of AIDS, or lost a parent to AIDS.
We are their source of hope. And while it is important to tell people
what we are going to do for them, it is even more important to do what
we say. And we know they expect us to deliver, because we have the
capacity to deliver.

[[Page H7388]]

It is heartbreaking what AIDS has done to the continent of Africa, to
Asia, throughout the world really. And if the only argument that
succeeds today is one of security, AIDS is a global crisis that
threatens the security of every government and every nation, including
the United States. It has destroyed societies, destabilized
governments, and certainly has the potential to topple democracies.
Many militaries are infected throughout the world with AIDS, and they
are infecting the population.
We are the ones who have to take the lead, the lead role. We take the
lead role from a military standpoint, and we are very successful. The
excellence of our military is unquestioned. But should we also not take
the lead role in being the most moral country and using our resources
to make a difference? And where else could we make such an enormous,
profound difference than investing and saving the lives of people, in
changing this fact, that 40 million more children will become orphans
in this decade?
That will happen, if we do not stop it. We can stop it from happening
by acting today. We have no more time; we have no excuses. The
Kilpatrick amendment should be funded.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the Kilpatrick amendment to add $300
million for global HIV/AIDS programs. I thank the gentlewoman for
persevering, despite the fact that the committee did not do what it
should have done in moving forward to get this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to explain to my colleagues what it is
like to be African American in this Congress and have to fight,
scratch, and claw for everything that we get, domestically and
internationally.
Mr. Chairman, to be African American in the Congress of the United
States and to watch the carnage in Liberia, to watch the children who
lost limbs in Sierra Leone, to have watched the genocide up in Rwanda,
with 800,000 bodies floating down the river, to watch a continent in
trouble, not too many years away from just having attained
independence, and a long way to go to perfect this thing called
democracy; to watch them struggle; to see the men and women who die and
the children, and have to come to this Congress and beg my colleagues
to just do the right thing is not easy. It would be easier, Mr.
Chairman, to just walk away and to say, I am tired of trying to
convince my colleagues who claim to be about the same business that I
am about: humanitarian efforts for the world.
It is very difficult. But we continue to do this because we must do
it. If we do not do it, nobody else will do it for us.
So we are here today begging for $300 million to help fulfill the
commitment that this President made for $15 billion over the next 5
years to deal with the pandemic in Africa.
We have got colleagues and Members who travel to Africa all the time.
They come back from a CODEL and they tell us what they have seen and
what they have heard and how they have gone to some clinic and how they
have seen dying and starving children. But then, when they reach the
Congress of the United States, they are willing to forget what they
have seen and not to remember what they experienced and to do some kind
of political maneuvering and compromising to hold back on the promises
that they have made and the words that they have spoken.
Mr. Chairman, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a devastating impact on
Africa and the world. Over 60 million people have been infected by the
AIDS virus since the beginning of the epidemic, and 42 million people
are currently living with this dreadful disease. In sub-Saharan Africa,
more than 29 million people are living with the AIDS virus, 4 million
of whom are in desperate need of treatment.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has already curtailed the economic development
of many countries in Africa. AIDS is responsible for shortages of
skilled workers and teachers, high rates of absenteeism and labor
turnover, and the death of workers and managers throughout business and
government. Teachers and other skilled workers can be very difficult to
replace. Tragically, in some parts of Africa, employers even find it
necessary to hire two workers for every job opening because they expect
one of them to die of AIDS.
On May 1, 2003, the House passed H.R. 1298, the global AIDS bill,
which authorizes appropriations of $3 billion per year over 5 years for
global HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention efforts. This bill, which is
critically needed and long overdue, was signed into law by the
President on May 27.
Unfortunately, the foreign operations appropriations bill for fiscal
year 2004 does not fully fund the global AIDS bill. This bill includes
only $1.4 billion for global AIDS programs. An additional $644 million
was included in the labor-HHS appropriations bill, bringing the total
funding for global AIDS programs to $2 billion, not the $3 billion that
is authorized for fiscal year 2004.
Mr. Chairman, HIV/AIDS has taken the lives of over 3 million people
and newly infected 5 million more in the last year. The President and
the Congress promised the world community that we would spend $3
billion per year to fight this devastating disease.
Mr. Chairman, I am tired of scratching. I am tired of begging. I am
tired of trying to have to leverage everything possible. But I am going
to continue to do it, along with my colleagues, because fair is fair.
We need the money. Our people are dying. We ask you to simply do the
right thing
Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, in 1985 and 1986, Abbott Laboratories and others
invented the AIDS test. It was our first look at the kind of less
expensive ways to find the proteins that identified the HIV virus. In
an unprecedented donation by private industry, Abbott and others
donated the test to the World Health Organization that looked at
whether the popular wisdom at the time was correct: Was this a Haitian-
New York-San Francisco epidemic, or was this something else?
I received a phone call as a staffer for John Porter in this House
giving me the first results of what the test showed. The indications
from the Central Hospital in Kinshasa, Zaire, showed a 10 percent
serial positive rate, which indicated that this was not a Haitian-San
Francisco-New York epidemic. It was an African epidemic and had been
going on for quite some time to get serial positive rates at that
level.
We reached out across the aisle to Congressman Bob Mrazek of Long
Island, and John Porter and Bob Mrazek came together to say we should
earmark a disease fund, the first ever in the foreign operations bill,
to fight AIDS.
Initially the leaders of the committee at the time fought us and said
it would be over their dead body that we would start this program. So
we arranged that. And to their credit, the leaders of the committee
changed their minds. The Global AIDS Program was born in 1987 with an
appropriation of $30 million. It is one of the proudest things I ever
did as a congressional staffer working for John Porter.
Since that time, the program grew considerably. I ran several
hearings for this House on the Committee on International Relations,
sometimes begging Members to actually come to hear the progress of our
fight against AIDS, to hear Dr. Jonathan Mann, the legendary first
director of the Global Program on AIDS.

{time} 1815

He had run the Harvard School of Public Health, and he and his wife
had really set the whole parameters for this battle in 1988 and 1989.
We mourn the loss of Dr. Mann. He was killed when the Swiss Air
explosion happened. And Dr. Peter Piot picked up where he left off to
continue this battle.
Well, it is, as they say, long work in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, long
years until we suddenly became an overnight sensation. And now the
appropriations for this program have exploded. I could not be happier
to see hundreds of millions of dollars spent on this program, which
started out with such small appropriations at the beginning.
Now look at what our United States Congress has done with bipartisan
leadership. We can see, starting from 1999 at under $200 million, a
steady step up in appropriations, in this appropriations bill now
totaling, with a 31 percent increase this year, at over $1.2 billion.
It is very important that these

[[Page H7389]]

appropriations increase; and it is very important that we provide more
resources because, remember, under the enabling law that now governs
this program, half of the resources go to treatment. But remember what
that commitment is. We are making a commitment to treat people with
HIV, and that means that they will depend on us, long term, for their
survival. Once we make that commitment to their treatment, we cannot
back out, because their lives are at stake.
If my colleagues are as experienced as I in watching government-
appropriated programs, my colleagues know that we face a danger. If we
spend money too quickly, too fast, we open ourselves to what I would
call the fleecing-of-America danger, a GAO audit which undermines the
political support for this program. And if the support for this program
is undermined because some contractor in some country has irresponsibly
spent money, lives could be lost.
It is very important here that we honor the commitment in a steady,
well-run way to take care of these patients, and we ramp up the program
in a very responsible way so that each patient the United States takes
responsibility for is one that we will maintain and honor that
responsibility for. Think of what happens if we pull the plug on that
patient. They die. And so in ramping up the appropriations in a
responsible way, we honor that commitment, and for those that we make
the commitment to care for, we will care for.
Mr. Chairman, I urge support for the committee bill and for this
responsible spending profile.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Kilpatrick amendment to
increase HIV/AIDS funding for Africa. I am very pleased that the
committee has seen fit to have already included a total of $1.43
billion in global assistance to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and
malaria.
However, this amendment, and in many ways, it is a meager amendment,
will allow another $300 million to be added to the funding as a way to
get closer to the fulfilling of our country's promise of providing $3
billion in funding for HIV/AIDS in 2004.
According to the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, more than 70 million
people have already become infected since the outbreak of the disease,
with an estimated 5 million new cases this year. The estimated 70
million people infected stretches across borders. They do not stop at
three countries or five countries or 10 countries. No, they include all
of the countries, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic
status.
Eastern Europe and Central Asia now have the world's fastest growing
HIV/AIDS epidemic. In Africa, six southern nations are facing famine
because of the combination of drought and a dramatic decrease in the
labor force due to being infected with HIV. Due to these horrific
conditions, without work or food, there has been an increase of sex
being used to obtain money and food. The Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS
also mentions that if an estimated $10.5 billion is spent each year by
2005, then approximately 29 million new infections could be prevented.
We need to support the international programs that have been
established and that are working.
In the President's recent trip to Africa, he continuously repeated
America's promise of $3 billion per year. Yet our Congress, under this
appropriations bill and the labor-HHS appropriations, is only
appropriating less than $2 billion.
Mr. Chairman, an estimated 3 million people will die from HIV/AIDS
this year. This gives no doubt that the great need for additional
assistance is necessary.
The time is not now to plunder and wonder or talk about what could
possibly happen if we are spending too fast. I would say to my
colleagues who worry about spending too fast that people are dying too
fast. I would much rather be a part of the spending than be a part of
the dying.
Let us support the Kilpatrick amendment.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I just want to make it clear
that these are the countries that are likely to qualify for the
Millennium Challenge Account: Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Senegal, South
Africa, and Swaziland. But the 14 hardest hit countries that are not
likely to qualify are Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia and are not likely to
qualify at a time when the hardest-hit countries need these resources.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for making
that point.
Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise to lend my strong support for the Kilpatrick
amendment of the fiscal year 2004 foreign operations appropriations
bill. This proposal to provide an additional $300 million in funding
for HIV/AIDS is critical, prudent, and timely.
The United States of America has the opportunity to show both the
resources and action and commitment to tackling the AIDS crisis on a
global scale. As has been stated, an estimated 42 million people
worldwide are currently living with the AIDS virus. Last year alone,
over 3 million people died from AIDS, and another 5 million were newly
infected. In selected countries on the African continent, AIDS will
kill, kill one in two young people. Other regions of the world have
been hit hard from AIDS as well. In fact, AIDS is the leading cause of
death in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, with 2 million
people living with HIV. Over 7 million people in Asia and the Pacific
are living with HIV. There is no denying the immediate need for
additional HIV/AIDS assistance.
This international killer is indiscriminate in its targets. It
respects no geographical boundaries and heeds to no race, no age, and
no religion. AIDS has become the number one killer in communities
throughout the world; and we must attack it with the precision, the
determination, and the coordination it requires.
This proposed injection of new funds is offset by using funds
budgeted for the Millennium Challenge Account. We have an opportunity
to put much-needed and available funds toward a dire and critical need.
Mr. Chairman, I have heard from some of my friends on the other side
of the aisle who are opposing this, they say that this will weaken MCA.
I am convinced that when we look at this new foreign assistance
initiative that has yet to be signed into law, that once the President,
once it is signed into law, he will have to appoint a CEO with the
consent of the Senate, he will have to hire 150 to 200 employees, there
will be countries that have to be selected and proposals that will have
to be reviewed and approved before any money starts flowing, which will
probably not be until next spring. This amendment would leave $500
million to fund this new initiative, more than enough money to get the
program operating and to fund proposals from eligible countries.
I firmly believe that we can today make a bold and creative statement
about both our judgment and our commitment to the global AIDS crisis by
taking this bold and creative step. We must show the courage to make
decisions and the wisdom to spend money where it is needed and spend it
now. There are programs on the ground, up and running, ready to engage
the struggle against this disease. There are troopers on the front
lines of the HIV/AIDS battle and they need our assistance, cooperation,
support, and the funds. We should not let even the slightest
opportunity slip by where we could have provided ammunition against
this dreaded disease.
Mr. Chairman, we stand for a lot in America. We spend almost $4
billion a month fighting a war, and we talk about we want to make a
difference in lives. Here is a chance for America to take the lead, to
bring folks together and to say we are going to put our money where our
mouths are. We are going to make sure that we save these lives. These
lives. Because when we talk about trying to fight dictators and we talk
about changing dictators, we want to change them because they are
killing people.
Well, this dreaded disease is killing people quicker than any
dictator. We have the opportunity, if we only have

[[Page H7390]]

the will, to put our money where our mouths are, and with this small
$300 million, to say that we are going to make sure that we eradicate
AIDS wherever it may raise its ugly head. Let us not just speak with
words. Let us speak with deeds, deeds that can be heard around the
world. Because if not, sometimes people say, for whom does the bell
toll, and this is the boomerang. So for whom does the bell toll? It
tolls for thee, if we do not wake up.

{time} 1830

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I stand in support of the Kilpatrick amendment. I just
want to remind Members that we spent $4 billion monthly to rebuild Iraq
and we are quibbling over $300 million to rebuild the lives of people
who surely need them.
Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms.
Kilpatrick).
Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Watson) for yielding to me.
This has been an excellent discussion as we talk about saving lives.
There will be $500 million in the Millennium Challenge Account to
implement for up to 12 countries, 74 of the poorest countries, the
Millennium Challenge Account will probably address 12 of those, and we
are happy for that.
People are dying today. That is why we are here offering this
amendment for $300 million to put into the pandemic that is around the
world, centered in Africa. The epicenter is moving to India, Asia, the
Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America. What better time than now to
stand up?
Our President said 2 weeks ago that this House and this Senate must
fully fund this initiative, $15 billion over 5 years. Unfortunately,
this bill does not do that, does not recommend, does not fund $3
billion, and this Congress and America now knows that the deficit for
America for this year will be $455 billion at least, some predict will
be more than that.
The time is now. We must fund this initiative now. I thank all of my
colleagues who are speaking out in support of this to save lives.
Children are dying every day. People are dying every day.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise to urge all of my colleagues to support this
very important amendment being offered today by the gentlewoman from
Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick). It increases funding for the global HIV/AIDS
program by $300 million.
Mr. Chairman, just 6 months ago in his State of the Union Address,
the President committed to $15 billion in foreign assistance, spending
over 5 years to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. On May 1 this House
authorized this funding level by an overwhelming margin, 375 to 41. And
then during his recent trip to Africa, the President repeatedly
stressed his commitment to fight the disease on that continent and
elsewhere around the world. Regrettably, the amount provided in this
bill falls far short of the $3 billion necessary to begin making good
on our President's commitment, on our commitment, 375 to 41.
Mr. Chairman, the problem of HIV/AIDS is especially acute on the
continent of Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 30
million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Let me repeat that, 30 million
people.
Is there any doubt that if 30 million people in America were
suffering, were at risk of losing their lives, were posing the
incredible economic impact on our country that HIV/AIDS sufferers pose
to America, is there any doubt that we would pass at least this $300
million? Put another way, while the African continent accounts for only
about 10 percent of the world's population, more than 70 percent of the
worldwide total of infected people reside in Africa. And there are
11,000 new infections in Africa every single day, 11,000 additional
infected people every day.
Mr. Chairman, recently I had the opportunity to travel to South
Africa and saw firsthand the extent of this pandemic, the challenges
facing African countries as they battle this scourge, and the dire need
for assistance to implement prevention programs and to provide
treatment for those already infected. We are at a critical stage in the
global war against HIV/AIDS. The human toll is difficult to fathom. The
number of deaths worldwide is expected to double from last year's
estimate of over just 5 million people, double-plus to nearly 12
million next year. In one year, an additional 7 million people.
We ignore the political implications, Mr. Chairman, at our own peril.
Without doubt this is a national security issue because this scourge
only foments instability and unrest.
As Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated, ``No war on the face
of the Earth,'' Colin Powell said, ``is more destructive than the AIDS
pandemic.'' He went on to say, ``I was a soldier but I know of no enemy
in war more insidious or vicious than AIDS. Will history record a
fateful moment in our time, on our watch, when action came too late?''
Today, Mr. Chairman, we must answer that question with an emphatic no
and heed the urgent call to action. We can answer that question with an
emphatic no by an emphatic yes on this amendment. I urge my colleagues,
not just for the people of Africa, not just for the people of the
developing world who are more at risk for more health trauma than we
are here, but for those of us here and our children and their children
as we so dramatically learned in the SARS challenge. There are no
national borders. There are no oceans wide enough to protect us, to
insulate us. It is only in curing those who are afflicted that we can
save ourselves. Vote yes on the Kilpatrick amendment.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Kilpatrick amendment to
provide an additional $3 million in funding to combat the AIDS/HIV
pandemic. I also want to take a moment to commend my colleague, the
gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), for her outstanding
leadership on this issue.
I will acknowledge that the Millennium Challenge Account is
important, but the HIV/AIDS pandemic is lethal and therefore must have
a higher priority. I would also note that we are not attempting to take
all the money from the Millennium Challenge Account. We leave a
substantial amount and we are only asking for a mere $300 million to
fulfill a commitment that this President has made and, by extension,
that this country has made.
Millions of people are dying. We are the world's only superpower. If
we were serious about addressing the problems of this planet, about
creating a better world, about ending human suffering, then we must
proactively combat the HIV/AIDS problem.
Last year more than 3 million people died from the virus. There are
currently 42 million people infected. It is the greatest humanitarian
crisis of our time. HIV/AIDS contributes to decreased economic growth
by often killing the most productive members of society, young adults.
Further, it is estimated that more than 14 million children will become
orphans, a figure that could triple by the year 2010.
If nothing is done, Africa will continue to struggle economically and
we will continue to see unstable regions throughout the continent,
fertile conditions for terrorism.
In fact, recent reports from the World Bank show that the continuance
of the AIDS epidemic in Africa dramatically will reduce economic
growth, perhaps to the point of economic collapse. Millennium Challenge
Funds will be for naught if we do not effectively address the aids
crisis.
The education of youth in Africa and around the world is essential
for the development of African countries. Unfortunately, the virus is a
huge obstacle that prevents young people from getting an education.
Some are infected by the virus and die. However, many others are forced
to take care of their younger siblings when their parents become ill
and die. A vicous cycle is created in terms of a lack of education
caused by the devastation of the disease.
President George Bush returned from Africa after making a host of
commitments and promises that included a plan that calls for $3 billion
in HIV/AIDS funding for this year. This bill falls $1 billion short of
that $3 billion

[[Page H7391]]

commitment. It is, therefore, imperative that we act now to increase
funding for HIV/AIDS to act now. Failing to provide adequate funding
for HIV/AIDS will only result in more devastation. The greatness of
America will not be judged by the extent of our material wealth, but
rather by the extent of our compassion and our actions today to end
human suffering.
I urge support of the Kilpatrick amendment.
Mr. WATT. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Kilpatrick amendment, in
strong support of it in fact. I cannot think of many occasions when I
have had more phone calls than following the President's State of the
Union Address and letters from people throughout my Congressional
district, some of them Republicans and Democrats, applauding the fact
that the President was finally beginning, it appeared, to take some
steps to live out or live up to his commitment to be a compassionate
conservative.
My response to them was, well, I am also delighted by the statements
that the President made in his State of the Union Address about making
a substantial commitment to fight HIV and AIDS, but we should be not
too effervescent about this because I had seen by that time a President
who had gotten all of the rhetorical benefit out of making a pledge to
leave no child behind, and I had seen this House coalesce, Republicans
and Democrats alike, around that commitment to leave no child behind
and to pass an authorization bill only to find the President come back
in the next round appropriations or budget round and not put money into
his budget to honor the commitment that had been made.
I expressed concern to my constituents who called that the same thing
could occur with respect to the commitment to HIV and AIDS. I never
really expected that to happen, but if you look at what is happening
now, the exact same thing seems to have happened. We have gotten a
statement of commitment from the President for a $15 billion fund over
5 years. We have gotten an authorization passed by a bipartisan
coalition in this House to that $15 billion, and now the gamesmanship
starts to be played because straight out of the shute the commitment is
not being funded at the level at which it was made.
Now, I am a big supporter of the Millennium Challenge Fund, and so it
is not an easy vote to talk about taking money from the Millennium
Challenge Account and transferring it to this purpose. But I do
understand that if we do not do this up front and now, we will be
paying more later and more people will be dying later.
I am told that by spending $3 billion in 2004 and 2005, the U.S. can
prevent an additional 2.3 million people from contracting the HIV virus
in those 2 years alone, which means that the U.S. will save
approximately $1.3 billion per year on the anti-retroviral therapies
those individuals would eventually require for their treatment. So even
if ones looks at this as a business proposition rather than as a
compassion proposition, spending money early to save money later is
kind of like making a commitment to preventative medicine as opposed to
reactive treatment, a last ditch method, which is not uncharacteristic
of our policies in this country but I think is very short-sighted on
our part.
Congress has passed the authorization, but the public should know
that an authorization means absolutely nothing without money
appropriated to fund what has been authorized. I think we have got to
live up to it. I encourage my colleagues to support the Kilpatrick
amendment as an important step in that direction.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the
requisite number of words.
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, as we are debating on the
floor of the House the war in Liberia is raging and lives are being
lost.

{time} 1845

The Congo is in political and war conflict. Lives are being lost in
Ethiopia and Eritrea in that region as relates to the famine; and many,
many conflicts are matched with the devastation of HIV/AIDS.
Although the heads of state of the various nations of Africa would
want me also to talk about the vibrant people, the culture, the
intellect, which I celebrate, I think today is important on being
serious, focused, and deadly committed.
I applaud the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) for being so
committed, for realizing that we are in a crisis, and whether or not it
is uncomfortable to move with an amendment that challenges the
Millennium Challenge Account, it is an absolute necessity.
Let me also include my appreciation and support for the Jackson
amendment that focused on debt relief, dollars to the Congo, moneys
with respect to child survival accounts, and as well dealing with the
crisis that we face. Rome is on fire, maybe not literally, but I cannot
take promises to the bank. We cannot eat promises as the famine is
raging. Mothers who are transmitting HIV to babies cannot stop the
transmission with promises.
All of us have gone to the floor and said that we are supporters of
the Millennium Challenge Account because the concept is meaningful, but
the gentlewoman makes a point. The program is authorized, but not up
and running. Five hundred million will be left even after the $300
million is subtracted; and if we take the President at his word on July
12, 2003, just a week or so ago, this week a committee of the House of
Representatives, the President's words, took an important step to fund
the first year of the authorization bill, $3 billion. The House of
Representatives and the United States Senate must fully fund this
initiative for the good of the people on this continent of Africa.
These are not my words. These are the words of the President of the
United States, in a continent that is ravaged with the devastation of
AIDS; and he said it just a little over a week ago, and he said it to
people who are in need, who are basically on their knees.
Frankly, I am in great disagreement that the President has not yet
acted on Liberia, a completely different story from Iraq. The Liberian
people are begging for the President's assistance or the American
people's assistance, peacekeeping and humanitarian troops. How can we
make our promises and be considered of substance if we do not support
the gentlewoman's amendment and the Jackson amendment?
Clearly, if we are going to only fund three nations out of the whole
continent that the Millennium Challenge at this point can seem to
address their needs, then why not address the needs right now of the $3
billion that we need for HIV/AIDS?
Mr. Chairman, we can say many things today; but the truth is that
Africa, the continent, is the poorest region of the world, contains the
majority of the world's poorest countries, and none of us have
experienced the kind of poverty where one in three people do not get
enough to eat in spite of the fight we have for many of our urban
districts. We are talking about a compounded continent that has issues
of famine, along with issues of health, along with issues of housing,
along with issues of water, along with issues of various other diseases
like malaria and tuberculosis who are asking for relief today, and $300
million is fair; and I cannot imagine why my friends on the other side
of the aisle can stand with a straight face and say that we have done
all that we can do in making good on the President's promise.
Today, I do not challenge the President's commitment. I believe the
Millennium Challenge has very good intentions, and there are
constituents of mine who want to work with that particular account; but
we cannot with a straight face accept the mandate of the President and
not vote for the gentlewoman's amendment and the Jackson amendment.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number
of words.
Mr. Chairman, I too join my colleagues in support of the amendment of
my colleague from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) to increase funding for
bilateral assistance for HIV/AIDS under the child survival and health
programs account by $300 million. It is time for this Congress to step
up to the plate and come through with this important pledge to the
developing world.

[[Page H7392]]

Mr. Chairman, the President's AIDS initiative grew out of the efforts
of the AIDS community, the faith-based groups and the Congressional
Black Caucus, all of whom sent letters to the President urging him to
announce the initiative that he did in January of this year.
We have been long pushing for more funding on this issue and for the
plight of Africans. Currently, 29.4 million are infected; 2.4 million
Africans died last year. There are 3.5 million newly infected. The
Caribbean, where my district is located, is second only to sub-Saharan
Africa with over half a million people living with this disease.
This world is in the middle of a monumental, life-and-family-
destroying, economy-breaking, AIDS pandemic. This situation calls out
desperately for us to help. Yet without this amendment, we will fall
short in our promise and our obligation as the richest country in this
world to meet our very first year, the very first year of the
President's promise of $15 billion over 10 years.
Yet today we are far ahead of what the President actually requested
which came to us far short of his commitment that was made, thanks to
the prodding of the CDC and many other Members, but this amendment is
needed today to add the $300 million to fully meet our commitment and
make this country keep its promise.
I attended the international AIDS conference over a year ago. It was
very embarrassing to be an American in Barcelona then and at the
conference hear the dire projections of 45 million new cases within a
few years. As we sat at the plenary among many of the 15,000
participants, up on the screen for all of us to see was the United
States at the rock bottom of the chart in terms of meeting our
commitment of .7 percent of GDP, and we are the richest country in the
world.
Today we can fix that. A recent U.N. report revealed that AIDS will
cause early death in as many as one-half of the young adults in the
hardest-hit countries of southern Africa, causing population imbalances
without precedent. In one country alone, Botswana, it is predicted that
two-thirds of their 15-year-olds will die of AIDS before age 50. As bad
as that impact is now, though, Mr. Chairman, the full blow is still
some years off. The loss of life at a time in their lives when men and
women would be their most productive in these countries which are only
now beginning to come out from the deep effects of colonialism and
tyrannical rules will be disabling.
These communities are bleeding. They are hemorrhaging. This pandemic
needs to be addressed appropriately, and it needs to be done now.
We have an opportunity today to make a difference for our neighbors
in Africa and other countries of the world by supporting the Kilpatrick
amendment. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.
Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I think that some of the things that have been said
need to be responded to. Mostly there has been talk. I am pleased to
have been part of action to deal with the AIDS problem, particularly on
the continent of Africa and around the world.
Part of this Republican Congress, rather than talk, has acted, and
under the direction of our President, rather than talk, who has acted;
but to give complete details in response, I am pleased to yield to the
gentleman from Arizona at this time.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding just a
brief moment.
We have had a number of speakers in a row on the other side speaking
in support of the Kilpatrick amendment, which I appreciate, and I
appreciate the passion and the arguments that have been made; but I do
not want to allow some of the statements that have been made to go
without at least understanding that there is another point of view
here, that the facts are at least a little bit different.
The statement was made that this Congress has not been living up to
the commitment that was made by the President in terms of funding for
HIV/AIDS. If we are looking at the funding in this bill this year, we
are more than meeting the President's request for funding for HIV/AIDS;
and indeed in almost every single year since 1987, the Congress has
exceeded the President's request for money to combat the international
HIV/AIDS problem.
We are again exceeding that amount this year that the President has
requested. It is not the amount that is in the authorization bill; but
let me say it one more time, a plane does not take off at 30,000 feet.
It does not take off at 500 miles an hour. It takes off more slowly. It
gains altitude and it gains speed. This program, this new initiative of
the President needs some time to get up and running.
We are doing everything that I believe should be done this year. Is
it enough? No, it is not enough; but it is what we can do and what is
reasonable to do, given the state of the problem.
Let me just remind folks that in the last decade the enacted levels
of funding for HIV/AIDS, the international HIV/AIDS has increased 2,525
percent. Let me repeat that, a 2,525 percent increase in funding in the
last decade. In the last year, the amount of money enacted by Congress
was 46 percent over the previous year in HIV/AIDS funding. In 2002, it
was 40 percent over the previous year, and in 2001, it was 40 percent
over the previous year. There are not many programs that have received
such an increase.
This year we are looking at a new way of delivering some of this
assistance, and it will take some time to make sure that is up and
running and running correctly; but, Mr. Chairman, I would submit to my
colleagues that we are doing the responsible thing. We recognize, all
of us, Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, Americans all
recognize the moral obligation we have to fight this pandemic around
the world, not just in Africa, but in our own continent; not just in
Africa, but in Asia; not just in Africa, but in Eastern Europe.
This is a pandemic that is worldwide. We need to be sure that we have
the resources to fight HIV/AIDS, and I believe that this bill does
provide these funds, and I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.
Kolbe) for his response and his explanation and also his compassion for
all the people who suffer from this horrible disease, but we do
regretfully recommend that we oppose this amendment.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Chairman, I support the Kilpatrick amendment to add
$300 million to the Global AIDS Fund under the Child Survival and
Health Programs Account of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill
for fiscal year 2004. I applaud my friends Carolyn Kilpatrick and
Barbara Lee for their valiant work on this issue.
There is no denying the need for increasing AIDS and HIV funding in
Africa. AIDS and HIV have reached pandemic proportions--these diseases
are literally killing a continent and leaving a generation of orphans
in their wake. As a global community, we are at a crisis stage with
these diseases, and adequate funding for the prevention and treatment
of infectious disease, especially HIV and AIDS, must come before it is
too late. As the richest and most scientifically advanced nation in the
world, we have both the power and the responsibility to take the
necessary actions to help eradicate HIV/AIDS and other dangerous
infectious diseases worldwide.
Mr. Chairman, today more than 30 million Africans are living with
HIV. Last year, an estimated 2.4 million new infectious occurred, while
3.5 million people lost their lives to the disease. This is a problem
of epidemic proportion. I can only imagine the pain and suffering of
the millions of families, orphaned children and those afflicted with
this disease waiting for relief in any form. The time for action is
now, lives are wasting.
But Mr. Chairman, this is no secret to my colleagues. Just a few
months ago, this House voted overwhelmingly to support the President's
commitment of $15 billion over the next 5 years to help the 30 million
suffering from the horrible pandemic of AIDS in Africa. This meant that
when the appropriations cycle rolled around we should ante up $3
billion. We all coalesced behind this issue on a bipartisan basis, the
CBC lent its support, the President signed it into law and we walked
away saying we were going to help save those suffering and facing more
suffering.
Instead today we're forced to choose between two good programs--the
Millenium Challenge Account and the Global AIDS fund. It seems that
this is always the choice on the great programs--programs that help the
most people--people who need so much and have so little. That fact
notwithstanding, I say to my colleagues that the Global AIDS fund is up
and running and it works. The same cannot be said of the Millenium
Challenge Account, only

[[Page H7393]]

because it is new and not yet up and running. But even with movement of
the $300 million to the Global AIDS account, we're still leaving $500
million in the Millenium Challenge Account. Until this program takes
off, I believe this is more than sufficient funding.
Mr. Chairman, we can give more money next year to the Millenium
Challenge Account when it is ready to do its much needed intended work
in Africa--but the 30 million suffering today on that continent cannot
wait. Each day another 11,000 people are newly infected. Each day
thousands more die.
In Africa, it is estimated that more than 4 million people have a
sufficiently advanced stage of HIV/AIDS to warrant anti-retroviral
treatment. However, currently only 50,000 are receiving it. This is a
statistic that the Global AIDS fund is intended to make better, now.
Lastly, Mr. Chairman, unlike other unfunded mandates, like the No
Child Left Behind Act, the President has said that he supports fully
funding this program at $3 billion. At the urging of the CBC, AIDS
activist groups and the faith-based community, the President devised a
plan to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. He eventually realized
that these diseases know no borders and the U.S. should play a pivotal
role in helping to try to stem the tide of destruction they bring. The
House Republican Leadership should not break its promise to the Global
AIDS fund and the African continent. I urge my compassionate
conservative colleagues to put their money where their rhetoric is and
show compassion by adopting the Kilpatrick amendment.

preferential motion offered by mr. jackson of illinois

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I offer a motion.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The Clerk will report the
motion.
The Clerk read as follows:

Mr. Jackson of Illinois moves that the committee do now
rise.

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
The question was taken; and the Chairman pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.

Recorded Vote

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 63,
noes 342, not voting 29, as follows:

[Roll No. 424]

AYES--63

Ackerman
Alexander
Allen
Andrews
Baca
Baird
Baldwin
Ballance
Bell
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Brown (OH)
Brown, Corrine
Capps
Capuano
Carson (IN)
Clay
Clyburn
Conyers
DeLauro
Dicks
Doggett
Evans
Filner
Frank (MA)
Grijalva
Hastings (FL)
Hinchey
Honda
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Kaptur
Kilpatrick
Kucinich
Larson (CT)
Lewis (GA)
McGovern
Napolitano
Oberstar
Owens
Pallone
Reyes
Ross
Ruppersberger
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sandlin
Schakowsky
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Taylor (MS)
Thompson (MS)
Towns
Van Hollen
Waters
Watson
Watt
Woolsey

NOES--342

Abercrombie
Akin
Bachus
Baker
Ballenger
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Bass
Beauprez
Becerra
Bereuter
Biggert
Bilirakis
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Bradley (NH)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Burgess
Burns
Burr
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Cardin
Cardoza
Carson (OK)
Carter
Case
Castle
Chabot
Chocola
Coble
Cole
Cooper
Costello
Cox
Cramer
Crane
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Culberson
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (TN)
Davis, Jo Ann
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLay
DeMint
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dingell
Doolittle
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Emanuel
Engel
English
Eshoo
Etheridge
Everett
Farr
Fattah
Feeney
Flake
Fletcher
Foley
Forbes
Fossella
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gonzalez
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Goss
Granger
Graves
Green (TX)
Green (WI)
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall
Harman
Harris
Hart
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hensarling
Herger
Hill
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoeffel
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Hooley (OR)
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Inslee
Isakson
Issa
Istook
Janklow
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Kanjorski
Keller
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kleczka
Kline
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas (KY)
Lucas (OK)
Lynch
Majette
Maloney
Manzullo
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCotter
McDermott
McHugh
McInnis
McIntyre
McKeon
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Mica
Michaud
Millender-McDonald
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (KS)
Murphy
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Nadler
Neal (MA)
Nethercutt
Northup
Norwood
Nunes
Nussle
Obey
Ortiz
Osborne
Ose
Otter
Oxley
Pascrell
Paul
Payne
Pearce
Pelosi
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reynolds
Rodriguez
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryun (KS)
Sabo
Sanders
Saxton
Schiff
Schrock
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Souder
Spratt
Stearns
Stenholm
Strickland
Stupak
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (CA)
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Toomey
Turner (OH)
Turner (TX)
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Velazquez
Visclosky
Vitter
Walden (OR)
Walsh
Wamp
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Wu
Young (AK)

NOT VOTING--29

Aderholt
Berkley
Bishop (UT)
Collins
Davis, Tom
Dooley (CA)
Edwards
Emerson
Ferguson
Ford
Gallegly
Gephardt
Hyde
Jones (OH)
McCrery
Miller, George
Moran (VA)
Neugebauer
Ney
Olver
Pastor
Rangel
Rogers (MI)
Ryan (WI)
Smith (TX)
Sullivan
Thornberry
Wynn
Young (FL)

Announcement by the Chairman Pro Tempore

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Bass) (during the vote). Members are
advised that 2 minutes remain in this vote.

{time} 1920

Messrs. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, CALVERT and MEEKS of New York
changed their vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
So the motion was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.
The motion was agreed to.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
LaHood) having assumed the chair, Mr. Bass, Chairman pro tempore of the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2800)
making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and
related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for
other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

____________________