[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 96 (Tuesday, July 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H5546-H5552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 4613, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take 
from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 4613) making appropriations for 
the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
2005, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree 
to the Senate amendment, and agree to the conference asked by the 
Senate.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.


    Motion to Instruct Conferees Offered by Mr. Jackson of Illinois

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Jackson of Illinois moves that the managers on the part 
     of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of 
     the two Houses on the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 
     4613, be instructed to insist on the maximum level within the 
     scope of conference to respond to the humanitarian crisis in 
     the Darfur region of Sudan and in Chad.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule XXII, the proponent of the motion 
and a Member of the opposing party each will control 30 minutes.
  The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) is recognized for 30 
minutes.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on my motion to 
instruct conferees on H.R. 4613.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the tireless work of the gentleman 
from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, 
Justice, State, Judiciary and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations, who has just returned from Sudan. Without the gentleman 
from Virginia's tireless efforts in this area, we simply would not be 
where we are today.
  I want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign 
Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on 
Appropriations, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), and the ranking 
member, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), for their work on 
this issue.
  I want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense of the 
Committee on Appropriations, the gentleman from California (Chairman 
Lewis), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Murtha), and the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, the 
gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young), and the ranking member, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) for all of their efforts and 
continued support.
  Mr. Speaker, I offer this motion to instruct the defense 
appropriations conferees to provide the highest possible funding level 
in the supplemental title of their conference report to help alleviate 
the incredible humanitarian crisis that is unfolding over the last year 
in the Darfur region of Sudan and in eastern Chad.
  Currently, the House version of the defense appropriations bill 
contains $95 million for humanitarian relief in Sudan, $25 million for 
refugees, and $70 million for disaster assistance.
  In 1994, this country, along with rest of the world, stood and 
watched as 800,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered in Rwanda.

[[Page H5547]]

                              {time}  1030

  Two months ago, the world community marked the 10-year anniversary of 
a modern-day genocide in Rwanda and said, Never again.
  In Sudan, by conservative estimates, at least 10,000 people, perhaps 
as many as 30,000, have been killed in the last year in Darfur, in the 
western region of Sudan. More than 1 million black Sudanese have been 
forced from their homes by government-backed militias, and as many as 
200,000 Sudanese reside in makeshift refugee camps in Chad. The lack of 
food and water and the current rainy season will surely wreak havoc on 
the lives of these people.
  The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID Administrator 
Natsios has said that even if relief efforts were accelerated, more 
than 300,000 forced from their homes would die of starvation and 
disease. But the Sudanese government and their militias keep blocking 
aid. If foreign governments hesitate, Natsios said the death rates 
could be dramatically higher, approaching 1 million people. That 
assumes that the conferees, when they meet, if they increase the 
levels, nearly 300,000 people are likely to die. Surely these facts 
merit the highest possible funding levels in the supplemental title of 
the defense conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the 30 minutes of time that this side controls is 30 
minutes that I do not intend to expend, largely because we had a 
thorough discussion of this matter within the committee. As the 
gentleman has indicated, it has very broadly based bipartisan support.
  The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) was the point person on this 
issue. The only reason it is being considered as we go forward with the 
Defense Subcommittee report is because we want to move on this very 
quickly, and it would appear that this bill will go through, work its 
way through conference reasonably quickly, and on the President's desk 
before the break. It is very appropriate that the House be responding 
effectively regarding this matter; and, frankly, it is very important 
that we stand together as Americans reflecting our concern about this 
tragic reality in Sudan.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the cooperation of the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I am now privileged to yield 
such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Pelosi), the distinguished minority leader.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and 
commend him for his leadership on this very important subject.
  The situation in the Sudan challenges the conscience of the world, 
certainly of our country; and I am happy that this Congress is 
responding. I am pleased that the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) 
is not in opposition to this motion to instruct the conferees to 
support the highest level of funding to respond to the crisis in the 
Darfur region of Sudan. Again, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Jackson) for offering the motion. I also want to acknowledge the 
leadership of the ranking member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Murtha), for his leadership in including $95 million in funding for the 
humanitarian crisis in the Sudan in this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the situation in Darfur is truly an emergency; it is a 
crisis. Without immediate and effective international intervention, 
hundreds of thousands of people will die. That is for sure. It is so 
sad.
  The Sudanese government has mobilized militias to carry out a 
scorched-earth policy of indiscriminate attacks on African civilians. 
As many as 30,000 civilians may have already been murdered, and more 
than 1 million driven off their land into unprotected camps in the 
Sudan and neighboring Chad.
  Both USAID and the United Nations have described these atrocities as 
``ethnic cleansing,'' and the Committee on Conscience of our own 
Holocaust Museum has issued a genocide warning for Darfur. Ethnic 
cleansing, genocide. We must act.
  A genocide in the making demands the immediate attention of our 
government.
  I call upon the Bush administration to keep the pressure on the 
Sudanese government. Sudanese officials must know that the United 
States and the international community will not tolerate the 
continuation of the humanitarian tragedy in Darfur.
  Both the House and Senate Defense Appropriations bills contain $95 
million for emergency humanitarian relief in Darfur. As critical as 
these funds are, however, they can only help those whose lives are in 
danger if the Sudanese government cooperates.
  The Sudanese government must fulfill its promises to restrain the 
militias it controls and to remove the bureaucratic barriers that make 
delivery of relief supplies so difficult. That includes facilitating 
visas for providers to enter the country. The evidence to date does not 
suggest that the Sudanese are serious about helping to end the misery 
in Darfur.
  The recent visits of Secretary Powell and U.N. Secretary General 
Annan to Darfur were helpful in focusing attention on this crisis, and 
I commend both of them for the priority they have given to the Sudan, 
but much more needs to be done if we are to avert a catastrophe.
  We spoke so much about the situation in Rwanda and we did not act 
soon enough, and it was horrible. If we ever had the opportunity again, 
we would certainly rise to the occasion. Well, it is happening again; 
and we must rise to the occasion. The Sudanese government is not.
  President Bush must not hesitate to impose sanctions as necessary to 
encourage a much higher degree of cooperation by the Sudanese 
government. Our response to the daily misery in Darfur must not be 
half-measured and delayed. We must act now while there is time to stop 
further slaughter, or our country will look back at lives lost in 
Darfur with the same regret and shame that we feel for other events in 
other parts of Africa, as I mentioned, Rwanda. My colleague, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), pointed out that even if we 
acted now, still about 300,000 people will die. We can hopefully lower 
that number, but it certainly will be higher if we do not act.
  How many times have we heard the public outcry, Why did we not stop 
the killings? This is a crisis. This is an emergency. We must act now 
to stop the slaughter of thousands of innocent people.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend once again the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Jackson), our colleague; and the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. 
Kilpatrick), a member of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export 
Financing, and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations, 
working with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) to get 
additional funding in that bill, in addition to the $95 million.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Let me just say that I very, very much appreciate the gentleman 
raising this question this way. We need to absolutely act together as a 
reflection of the people's body regarding this tragic circumstance in 
the Sudan. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) unfortunately has 
been detained elsewhere or I would have him really leading this portion 
of the discussion.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me once again thank the distinguished gentlewoman, 
the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human 
Services of the Committee on Appropriations, and the minority leader, 
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), for her leadership on 
this issue in working closely with the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker 
Hastert) to truly advance a bipartisan cause in this House.
  Mr. Speaker, if genocide is the deliberate and the systematic 
destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group, then the 
deliberate killings of thousands of black Sudanese happening right now 
certainly qualifies. Sadly, the situation in Sudan is the worst 
humanitarian crisis in the world today, and the gentleman from Virginia

[[Page H5548]]

(Chairman Wolf) is to be congratulated for helping raise the 
consciousness of this Congress, this country, and indeed this world for 
immediate action.
  Obviously, what is happening in Darfur is a genocide, and the U.S. 
Government must call it by that name. The term ``genocide'' not only 
captures the fundamental characteristics of the Khartoum government's 
intent and actions in western Sudan; it also invokes clear 
international obligations.
  As parties to the Genocide Convention, all permanent members of the 
U.N. Security Council, including the United States and more than 130 
countries worldwide, are bound to prevent, to stop, and to punish the 
perpetrators of genocide. Genocide is a unique crime against humanity 
in international law.
  The legal definition of genocide, the international legal definition 
of the crime of genocide is found in articles 2 and 3 of the 1948 
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Article 2 
describes 2 elements of the crime of genocide. The crime must include 
both elements to be called ``genocide.'' They are, one, the mental 
element, meaning the ``intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such''; and, secondly, 
the physical element, which includes five acts described in sections A, 
B, C, D, and E; (a), The killing of members of a group; causing serious 
bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting 
on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical 
destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent 
births within the group; and (e), forcefully transferring children of 
the group to another group.
  When the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) returned from Sudan 
most recently, he approached Members on the floor and he said, in light 
of this definition, there is a genocide taking place in the Sudan. 
There is a genocide in the making in Sudan, and we must stop it.
  While some may argue that the situation in the Sudan does not rise to 
the level of genocide, we cannot be so pedantic or myopic or callous to 
allow legalistic disputes over definitions and terms to prevent us from 
acting now to prevent rape and slaughter and torture. Providing the 
highest possible funding level in this conference report is the first 
step we must take to stop the death and the destruction in Darfur.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. 
Kilpatrick), a member of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export 
Financing, and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations, who 
has been a tireless leader in this effort.
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Jackson), for his leadership on this issue.
  As members of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export 
Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations, I 
first also want to thank our chairman, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Kolbe), as well as the gentleman from California (Chairman Lewis) and 
the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), for letting us work 
together on the problems of the world, or, if you will, the good things 
about the world. Our Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the 
Committee on Appropriations handles much of that. I commend the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for his leadership on this issue.
  The Sudan is an oil-rich country in Africa where the Sudanese 
government, headquartered in Khartoum, I believe is in cahoots with the 
Janjaweed who are wreaking havoc on the geographic areas of Darfur in 
Sudan. As was mentioned by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), 
the elements of genocide are prevalent. Those five things that are 
outlined that define genocide, when members of groups are being killed, 
and they are in Darfur; causes serious bodily harm and injury to any 
member of that group, and they are doing that as well; causes permanent 
impairment of mental faculties to the group through drugs, torture, and 
similar techniques; and they are doing that in that region of the 
Sudan; and it goes on and on.
  I call upon the United Nations, which must act immediately. The 
Security Council today must meet and act immediately. Secretary Powell 
has gone and seen the tragedy. Our member, the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Wolf), has gone to see the tragedy. Also, Kofi Annan, Secretary 
General of the United Nations. We can wait no longer. The Security 
Council must act. There needs to be an international force in the Sudan 
today. There is no need for the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government, 
who we help, by the way, who we also send money to, who we also have 
our NGOs, our nongovernmental organizations working in Sudan. Let us 
cut off the funds if they are not going to save the people; we should 
cut off the funds. These are U.S. tax dollars going into the Sudan; and 
at the same time, they are wreaking genocidal havoc where more than 1 
million Sudanese will die if we do not do something over the next 
month.
  So I call upon the United Nations, Kofi Annan, Secretary General, the 
Security Council, those 17 countries who make the decisions. And, yes, 
oil. No one says it, but there is oil, land-rich oil that is in that 
region of the world. Many international countries are there, like 
Canada, my neighbor from Michigan, like the EU. We call upon you, in 
spite of the oil investments, to save the lives of millions of people 
in Darfur who find themselves being afflicted by genocide in their own 
government.
  I am a mother and I am a grandmother, and I believe that children are 
the basis for which we live. Raising your own children, it is one 
struggle and one thing that you have to do; but it is the grandchildren 
and generations beyond whom we must leave this great world for.
  So again, I commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for his 
leadership, as well as the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman Kolbe), the 
gentleman from California (Chairman Lewis), and the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Lowey.)

                              {time}  1045

  The Sudan must not go unanswered. America is the power of the world, 
and we can determine, America, Mr. President, the United Nations, Mr. 
Kofi Annan, that we must today stop the genocide. Call it what it is. 
Use the genocide term and those things that respond to it that the 
United Nations in an international way can do it. The U.S. could not do 
it alone, but the G-8 countries and the Security Council of the United 
Nations must stand up.
  Genocide is a horrible thing to happen in our lifetime. Too many 
people died that we might have alive today to be leaders, to be 
parents, to be the free world and not speak up one more time.
  So, Mr. Speaker and members of the subcommittees, time has passed for 
many children who are dying as we speak. We have the resources in our 
2005 appropriation. We need the leadership today to stand up, to go to 
the Sudan, as Secretary Powell has already done, to go to the Sudan 
with the resources that they need. You see, they are having problems 
even getting food and supplies to the Darfur region where they need 
them today.
  So, Mr. Annan, Mr. President, please rise up. The children are 
calling.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  By way of a bit of an exchange with the gentlewoman who just spoke 
but also with my friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), is 
it not interesting we could have a crises like this, a crises like this 
that affects so many thousands and thousands of lives, men, women and 
children, a tragic circumstance, and, yet, ofttimes in this country the 
inane things that we see on the front pages of our newspapers, the New 
York Times, the Washington Post, et cetera, hardly a word about this 
crises. Is this not front-page material in this country if we truly 
have concern about the world? I would hope maybe as we go forward in 
this discussion today, we might send that message as well.
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LEWIS of California. I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan.
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, absolutely it is front page. Absolutely 
we have to get it on everyone's radar screen. It is just as important 
as anything else we might do in the world, because we are talking about 
human life, because we are talking about people dying hourly as we 
speak. We must.

[[Page H5549]]

And the news media, print, audio, video, all have a responsibility, and 
the international community, to speak up.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. For those who suggest they care about the 
people of the world, this is more than symbolism. It is very, very 
real; and I would hope they would begin to pay some attention.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield whatever time he may consume to the gentleman 
from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) who helped us focus initially in committee on 
this issue.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this 
time; and I thank his position, too. I want to thank the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for offering this and all the comments that have 
been made.
  Senator Brownback and I were in the Sudan, Darfur, a week and a half 
ago, where we witnessed firsthand the destruction and immense suffering 
taking place at the hand of the Janjaweed militia and the government of 
Sudan.
  I think members of the subcommittees have to know the United Nations 
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
describes genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole 
or in part, national, ethnic, racial or religious groups. Specifically, 
it cited killing members of the group. Thousands of black Africans have 
been killed. I heard a report yesterday from somebody on the scene that 
saw a mass grave, 14 black Africans face down, shot in the back of the 
head.
  It also says, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the 
group. We heard stories of rape and branding. Some women were told that 
they were being raped because they were African. One woman told us 
personally that the Janjaweed told her that she was being raped ``to 
create a lighter-skinned baby.''
  We were given a letter from a group of women who were raped. There 
were 40-some women. This is what the letter says. ``We are 44 raped 
women. As a result of that savagery, some of us are pregnant, some have 
aborted, some took out their wombs, and some are still receiving 
medical treatment. We list the names,'' and all the names of the women 
are on the letter, ``of the raped women and state that we have high 
hopes in you and the international community to stand by us, not to 
forsake us to this tyrannical, brutal and racist regime which wants to 
eliminate us racially, bearing in mind that 90 percent of our sisters 
at this camp are widows.''
  Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 
bring about physical destruction in whole, it is clear that the 
complete eradication of the Darfurian African population will occur if 
people do not return to their homes. We stood in burned-out villages. 
The Janjaweed have systematically ensured the villagers can no longer 
return. Bombing with bombers, Soviet helicopters, Janjaweed come in on 
camels and horses, kill the men, rape the women, brand the women, loot 
the village, put the loot on the helicopters, then torch the place and 
burn it up.
  Darfur is a harsh climate, so when you push people out of the 
villages, they die; and when people are forced to live in crowded IDP 
camps, they continue to die.
  I believe that after seeing with my own eyes, and Senator Brownback 
with his own eyes, that there are indications that what is happening in 
Darfur meets the test of genocide. Now, people may not want to say 
that, but when you see it, no matter what we call it, genocide, ethnic 
cleansing, crimes against humanity, people are dying on a massive 
scale, which is unacceptable, what the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Jackson) said.
  I think what matters now is action. The United Nations Security 
Council needs to take immediate steps to end this crisis. A large 
peacekeeping force made up of troops from the African union is needed 
to allow Darfurians to return to their homes and to verify that the 
government of Sudan is disarming the rebels. Without having a 
verification group in there, there is no way to know if what they say 
they are doing is really, really being done.
  We must remember that the government of Sudan armed the rebels, so we 
need independent monitors to ensure that they are disarmed. We also 
need monitors, including forensic experts on the ground, to preserve 
the evidence for future war crime trials.
  In any event, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) for 
the time, and I, too, thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson). 
And he has been out talking about this for a long time. Every day we 
delay and hesitate, more people die. We are told in the one IDP camp, 
Abu Shouk, nine people die every day. We left Abu Shouk several days 
ago, and by those estimates, if you count, in essence, nine people, so 
the clock runs in that one camp, and then there are many, many other 
camps. And Abu Shouk, where all these people died, is probably the 
best-run camp in that region.
  So I think it is important to adopt this and also to put pressure, 
and I think the Bush administration has done a good job. I think John 
Danforth has to be very aggressive, though. Up at the U.N., some of our 
allies are not with us on the Security Council resolution, and I think 
the more pressure and the more the world faces this and addresses it, 
you will not be able to say when people write stories about this that 
we did not know, because we now know. We have seen it with our own 
eyes. We have talked to people that have seen it, and we now know.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Let me once again congratulate the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman 
Wolf) for his outstanding leadership on this question, including the 
authorizer, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), who has been 
steadfast in this effort.
  The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) of the Committee on 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and 
Related Programs this week will be leading a delegation to Darfur. I 
will participate in that delegation. I also want to congratulate him 
for his outstanding leadership for including and fighting for this 
money in the supplemental bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Wynn) who serves on the Committee on Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and Related 
Agencies with great distinction.
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by thanking the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for his leadership on this issue and allowing me 
to speak briefly this morning.
  Let me also note particularly the role of my Washington area 
colleague, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) who just spoke, who 
has been an outstanding leader on the issue of human rights throughout 
his career but particularly on this issue of the crisis in Darfur. He 
recently visited, he came back and provided all of us with valuable 
information, along with Senator Brownback, who accompanied him.
  And what they said to us is that we have a grave humanitarian crisis 
in the Darfur. People are dying daily. 30,000 people have died. 350,000 
will die. A million people have been displaced. This is an opportunity 
for the United States to play a pivotal role, which is why I strongly 
support the motion to instruct conferees to request the maximum amount 
of U.S. aid possible.
  It is sometimes said, but certainly accurately, that America is great 
because America is good. This is an opportunity for America to do a 
great deal of good. These people are being victimized in what is 
clearly a case of genocide. They are being displaced, and we have an 
opportunity to provide humanitarian aid and to provide a leadership 
role and a model for the world.
  Which brings me to a second point that I would like to make, which is 
to say that part of what we are trying to do in terms of foreign policy 
is to suggest to the world that we are not just militarily the most 
powerful country in the world but that we are morally the most powerful 
country in the world and a country that believes in leadership. And the 
way you demonstrate leadership is providing aid to those who need it. 
This situation in Darfur, clearly a case in which leadership is needed. 
We can provide that leadership. We can show the world that it is not 
just a matter of Iraq or our oil interests or other things. We care 
about humanity. This is the example that we need to set.
  I thank the gentleman. I believe that there is a large consensus of 
support

[[Page H5550]]

for this approach for maximizing aid to Darfur, and I just hope we will 
move this matter as quickly as possible.
  Finally, I would add we do need to go aggressively to the U.N. and 
say this is genocide, call for a declaration of genocide, call for the 
application of peacekeeping troops so that we can address the security 
concerns that are here.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might 
consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) of the Committee 
on Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing 
and Related Programs.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I certainly thank the gentleman from Illinois for bringing 
this matter to the attention of the body with this motion to instruct.
  Both the House and the Senate bills have the same amount of $95 
million, an additional amount beyond what is contained in the foreign 
operations bill for the humanitarian relief and the implementation of 
the peace settlement in Sudan. So the motion to instruct here today is 
simply a way for us to call attention to an enormous problem, and I 
thank the gentleman from Illinois for doing that.
  There is no question that we have a great emergency that has been 
emerging over time over the last several months in Darfur. I think many 
of us had hoped that the kind of genocide that took place in Rwanda a 
few years ago, 10 years ago, was behind us and that we would not see 
that happen again, but here we are a decade later, and once again with 
impunity a government has allowed this kind of terrible tragedy to 
ensue and this kind of genocide to take place in western Sudan.
  The world needs to understand this, the world needs to know about 
what is going on, and the world needs to speak out. Those of us who 
have that responsibility as lawmakers, as policymakers in the Congress, 
in the Executive Branch, in world bodies such as the United Nations, in 
capitals around the world, need to be speaking out about this issue, 
and this is an opportunity for us to do that.
  As the gentleman from Illinois suggested, later this week we will be 
going to Sudan, to the Darfur region, in order to try to see firsthand 
the relief efforts that are taking place there. We will also see the 
efforts to try to stop the ongoing attacks against the people in Darfur 
by the renegade groups that continue to cause the great death and 
destruction of property, the loss of lives, the loss of communities, 
the increase in the misplaced people, and displaced people around the 
region. All of this can only stop if we provide the kind of assistance 
that is needed in that region and if the world calls on the Sudan 
government to provide protection for the people living in that region 
so that these kind of unwarranted attacks do not take place.
  There has been just an enormous amount of brutality that has taken 
place over there, rapes, murders, killing, people that have lost their 
homes, lost their livelihoods, people that are starving to death. We in 
this world, in this Congress, need to take note of that; and we need to 
call an end to that.

                              {time}  1100

  So I am really pleased that the chairman of this committee has 
accepted the amendment which has the $95 million, which will be the 
first money that will be made available because this legislation is 
likely to be the first enacted into law.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KOLBE. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I asked for this time to simply 
express my deep appreciation to the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Foreign Operations of the Committee on Appropriations, my chairman, for 
his leadership on this issue. The responsiveness of both the gentleman 
from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), as 
well as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), is very important 
and the reflection of the reality that from just once in a while the 
House gets its act together and recognizes that human problems are very 
real.
  There is no partisan divide on an issue like this, but rather a 
concern about the picture, the reality of starving children and whole 
families being wiped out senselessly. We are going to respond as a 
country, and it is very important that we come together like this. I 
appreciate the gentleman's leadership.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I 
want to say I appreciate his leadership in this by allowing the money 
to be added to the defense bill because I think it is of such vital 
importance. I think many of us are haunted by the fact that decades ago 
we stood aside when genocide took place in Cambodia. Before that, of 
course, we had the Holocaust in Europe. And just a decade ago we had 
the genocide in Rwanda, and now we are seeing this again in Darfur in 
Sudan. We are convinced and I think committed to making sure that we do 
everything in our power to make sure this genocide does not continue. 
And that is why we are here today with this resolution. And I am very 
grateful to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), who has already 
made his visit there and called the attention of the world to what is 
happening over there. We hope with our visit later this week that we 
will be able to do the same.
  Once again, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) 
for bringing up this motion, and I do hope the House will consider it 
and adopt it.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Let me take this time also to thank the subcommittee chairman for the 
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the Committee on Appropriations, 
the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), for his extraordinary 
leadership on this question. The gentleman knows that I have been 
critical of the committee in the past for its historic support of 
Africa and related issues; but the subcommittee, recognizing a very 
serious crisis under the chairman's leadership, has really stepped 
forward. The gentleman is taking a delegation, which I am anticipating 
this coming Thursday, to Darfur, Sudan. We wish him Godspeed, and we 
wish the delegation a safe trip. I thank the chairman for his 
leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Rush).
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Illinois 
(Mr. Jackson) for not only yielding time to me this morning but also 
for his outstanding leadership that he has displayed on a number of 
issues that come before this Congress and certainly on this issue which 
we are addressing today. I want to also acknowledge and express my 
appreciation to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) and the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Wolf) for their outstanding leadership on this important matter.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise for two reasons today. One, I rise in support of 
this motion to instruct the Defense appropriations to support the 
highest level of funding for the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan. 
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk this morning just for a moment on 
shame.
  Mr. Speaker, what is going on in the Sudan right now is a tragedy. It 
is unconscionable, and it is a shame. Mr. Speaker, what we have today 
in genocide is a shame. It is a shame, Mr. Speaker, when we get on this 
floor and speak in the highest of our voices, cry out from this place 
about terrorism; and yet, Mr. Speaker, we cannot and do not commit or 
do not connect terrorism with genocide.
  Mr. Speaker, terrorism is genocide and genocide is terrorism. It is a 
shame, Mr. Speaker, that nearly 30,000 Sudanese have lost their lives 
and more are dying on a day-to-day basis and there is no immediate 
action taken on our part. It is a shame.
  Mr. Speaker, the international community cannot do this all by 
themselves. They need our help, the help of this Congress, the help of 
this administration, to stop these killings.
  Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago this Congress sat idly by while hundreds of 
thousands of Rwandans were killed and slaughtered in Rwanda. That was a 
shame. Sadly, it seems that history is repeating itself. And if we sit 
by and allow the same kind of genocide to take place in the Sudan as 
took place in Rwanda, that would be a shame. I cannot, Mr. Speaker, in 
good conscience as a Member of this Congress

[[Page H5551]]

sit on the sidelines and not raise my voice and raise the voices of the 
people in my district to deal with and to discuss this tragedy. We have 
a moral obligation to come together, to send a message to Sudan and to 
the rest of the world that genocide and terrorism go hand in hand, that 
genocide is terrorism and that terrorism is genocide.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow the Sudanese killings, we cannot allow 
the blatant killing of innocent lives in the Sudan to continue. We must 
act now. We must act now. Mr. Speaker, to do anything less would be a 
shame, a disgrace, a shame, and a shame.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume. We have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the tireless work of the chairman of 
the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and Related 
Agencies of the Committee on Appropriation, the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Wolf), who has just returned from the Sudan. I wanted to thank the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Program, and the 
ranking member, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), for their 
outstanding work on this issue. I want to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne), who has been a tireless fighter for justice in 
Sudan.
  I want to thank the Subcommittee on Defense chairman, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Lewis), and the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha); and I want to thank the Committee on 
Appropriations chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), and 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking member, for all of 
their support and efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask for an ``aye'' vote on the motion to instruct.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this motion to 
instruct.
  By now we have all seen the pictures and heard the stories that flow 
daily out of Darfur and Chad. Innocent men brutally murdered. Women and 
girls raped and mutilated. Families put on forced marches away from 
their villages, left with no food or shelter.
  We have heard the statistics. According to the World Health 
Organization, 10,000 people will die this month in Darfur if nothing is 
done. We are looking at the possibility of hundreds of thousands of 
deaths, from disease, starvation, violence and, ultimately from the 
inaction of the global community.
  ``Never Again'' is a phrase we have all heard before. We have all 
said it before. It is one of the most powerful expressions of the 
natural human inclination to stop suffering, to end the death and 
destruction that stems from senseless hatred and indifference to human 
life. Never again will we let 6 million Jews perish under the noses of 
the civilized world. Never again will we let Rwandans be rounded up and 
indiscriminately killed because of their tribal affiliation. Never 
again will we allow ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.
  My colleagues, there is problem with the phrase ``never again.'' It 
is usually said after the violence is over--as a rallying cry against 
history repeating itself. We have seen, time and time again, that 
history does repeat itself, and it is simply not enough to say that we 
will take care of it next time. We need to end the genocide in Darfur 
now.
  What will that take? It will take more than the tentative involvement 
of the United States and the international community. It will take the 
pressure we have not yet seen to get the Sudanese Government to stop 
denying a problem exists, acknowledge the role it has played, and take 
concrete actions to stop the brutality and save the lives of the people 
of Darfur. It will take more than 300 African Union peacekeepers to end 
the Janjaweed militia's genocide campaign.
  The funding included in the Defense bill for relief in Darfur and 
Chad, combined with the money we will soon consider in the Foreign 
Operations bill, is a good start. But it is just a start. Money will 
help feed people if they can access that food. Money will help shelter 
people if they are not being driven out of the squatter camps. Money 
will help protect children from violence and exploitation only if 
relief workers can safely access refugee camps.
  We should be proud of what we are doing today, but not too proud. If 
we are serious about ``never again,'' the United States must lead the 
way, using all bilateral and multilateral diplomatic tools at our 
disposal, to stop the Darfur genocide in its tracks.
  I urge my colleagues to support this motion.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago, as bloated corpses floated 
down Rwanda's rivers, the international community debated whether the 
atrocities being committed in Rwanda fit the definition of 
``genocide.'' By the time the world stopped debating, it was too late. 
Millions of men, women and children had been killed. The failure of the 
world to act in Rwanda remains a stain on our collective conscience.
  We must learn from the tragic mistakes of the past. Today, 1,000 
miles north of Rwanda, in the Darfur region of Sudan, more than 30,000 
people have already been killed by the Sudanese military's aerial 
bombardments and the atrocities being committed by their ruthless 
proxies, the Jangaweed militia. Gang rapes, the branding of raped 
women, amputations, and summary killings are widespread. More than a 
million people have been driven from their homes as villages have been 
burned and crops destroyed. The Sudanese Government has deliberately 
blocked the delivery of food, medicine and other humanitarian 
assistance. More than 160,000 Darfurians have become refugees in 
neighboring Chad. Conditions are ripe for the spread of fatal diseases 
such as measles, cholera, dysentery, meningitis and malaria. The U.S. 
Agency for International Development estimates that 350,000 people are 
likely to die in the coming months and that the death toll could reach 
more than a million unless the violence stops and the Sudanese 
Government immediately grants international aid groups better access to 
Darfur.
  Here in Washington and at the United Nations headquarters in New 
York, many officials are again debating whether this unfolding tragedy 
constitutes genocide, ethnic cleansing or something else. This time let 
us not debate until it is too late to stop this human catastrophe. Let 
us not wait until thousands more children are killed before we summon 
the will to stop this horror. America and the international community 
have a moral duty to act. The United States and the 130 other 
signatories to the Genocide Convention also have a legal obligation to 
``undertake to prevent and punish'' the crime of genocide.
  The Convention defines genocide as actions undertaken ``with intent 
to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or 
religious group, as such.'' The actions include ``deliberately 
inflicting on members of the group conditions of life calculated to 
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.'' By all 
accounts, including the reports of U.N. fact finders, it is the African 
peoples in the Darfur region who have been targeted for destruction by 
the Khartoum-backed Arab death squads.

  In the middle of an unfolding crisis like that in Darfur, there will 
always be debate over whether what is happening constitutes genocide. 
But it is important to remember that the Genocide Convention does not 
require absolute proof of genocidal intentions before the international 
community is empowered to intervene. The Convention would offer no 
protection to innocent victims if we had to wait until there were tens 
of thousands more corpses before we act. A key part of the Genocide 
Convention is prevention, not just punishment after the fact.
  The United States has already done more than any other nation to call 
attention to and respond to this tragedy. But our efforts to date have 
not brought an end to the growing crisis. We must take additional 
measures now.
  The May 25 Security Council statement expressing ``grave concern'' 
about the situation in Darfur does not provide any authority for 
international action. The United States should immediately call for an 
emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and introduce and call 
for a vote on a resolution that demands that the Government of Sudan 
take the following steps: First, allow international relief groups and 
human rights groups free and secure access to the Darfur region, 
including access to the camps where thousands are huddled in wretched 
conditions; second, the Government of Sudan must immediately terminate 
its support for the Janjaweed and dispatch its forces to disarm them; 
third, the Sudanese Government must allow the more than one million 
displaced persons to return home. The resolution must include stiff 
sanctions if the Sudanese Government refuses to meet these conditions 
and it must authorize the deployment of peacekeeping forces to Darfur 
to protect civilians and individuals from CARE and other humanitarian 
organizations seeking to provide humanitarian assistance.
  It is critical that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan exhibit strong 
leadership on Darfur. Mukesh Kapila, until recently the top U.N. 
official in Sudan has been outspoken in sounding the alarm. But Kofi--I 
was pleased to join with Congressman Wolf and other members of Congress 
on June 4 in urging Secretary General Annan to go to Sudan to address 
the crisis there. I am encouraged that he will finally be going next 
week. However, this visit must be more than an expression of concern. 
Secretary General Annan must make it clear that if the Sudanese 
Government does not cooperate fully in stopping the killings and 
destruction, he will push for immediate international

[[Page H5552]]

sanctions. He must let the Sudanese Government know that the welcome 
progress made in reaching an accommodation with the South will not 
prevent the world from taking action to stop the horror in Darfur. The 
U.N. ignored warnings of mass murder a decade ago in Rwanda; it must 
not stand by again.

  We should not allow other members of the U.N. Security Council to 
engage in endless negotiations and delay a vote on the resolution. In 
this case, every day that goes by without action means more lives lost. 
Let's vote on the resolution. If the rest of the world refuses to 
authorize collective action, shame on them. Failure to pass such a 
resolution would not represent a failure of American leadership; it 
would be a terrible blot on the world's conscience.
  Whether or not the United Nations acts, the United States should take 
steps on its own. We should make it clear that if the Sudanese 
Government does not meet the demands in the proposed resolution, the 
United States will impose travel restrictions on Sudanese officials and 
move to freeze their assets. Even apart from U.N. action, we can 
immediately urge other nations to join us in taking these and other 
measures.
  I commend Secretary of State Colin Powell for his decision to travel 
to Sudan next week and visit the Darfur region. It is critical that the 
Secretary's visit do more than simply call attention to the tragedy 
unfolding there. He must make it clear that the failure of Khartoum to 
fully cooperate in ending the destruction and killings will result in a 
concerted American effort to punish the Sudanese Government and harness 
international support to intervene in Darfur.
  We must not look back on Darfur 10 years from now and decry the fact 
that the world failed to act to stop the crime of genocide. Rwanda and 
other genocides should have taught us that those who knowingly fail to 
confront such evil are themselves complicit through inaction. We are 
all God's children. These are crimes against humanity. Let us respond 
to this unfolding human disaster with the urgency that it demands.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Without objection, the previous 
question is ordered on the motion.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
  The motion to instruct was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the Chair appoints the 
following conferees: Messrs. Lewis of California, Young of Florida, 
Hobson, Bonilla, Nethercutt, Cunningham, Frelinghuysen, Tiahrt, Wicker, 
Murtha, Dicks, Sabo, Visclosky, Moran of Virginia, and Obey.
  There was no objection.

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