[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 90 (Thursday, June 30, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House in the State of 
     the Union and under consideration the bill (H.R. 3057) making 
     appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and 
     related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2006, and for other purposes:

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Foreign 
Operations Appropriations Act for FY 2006.
  The United States should be the world's leading peace broker rather 
than its largest arms dealer. Unfortunately, about one-quarter, or 
about $5 billion, of the funding for this foreign operations 
appropriations bill is direct military aid and more than $2.5 billion 
are ``Economic Support Funds,'' which are often used for security 
operations. Supplying so many weapons to other nations does more to 
promote war than it does to enable peace.
  To be fair, there are positive provisions in this bill. For example, 
it increases funding for family planning programs and the United 
Nations Population Fund, UNFPA. Regrettably, this good news is 
tarnished by another provision in the bill that gives President Bush 
the power to unilaterally withhold funding from the UNFPA initiative. 
For several years, President Bush has withheld these funds claiming 
that UNFPA plays a role in the coercive abortion practices of the 
Chinese.
  Despite that rhetoric, UNFPA does not provide funding for abortions 
or abortion services. It works to prevent the need for abortions by 
educating women in other countries on the many advantages to services 
such as contraception and disease prevention. UNFPA is the largest 
internationally funded source of population assistance to developing 
countries. For over three decades, the UNFPA has provided billions of 
dollars of assistance to more than 150 countries for voluntary family 
planning and maternal and child health care.
  I am also disappointed that the bill fails to fund the Global 
Environmental Facility, GEF. The GEF is the largest single funding 
source for projects to improve our global environment.
  I also oppose provisions in this bill that have removed all 
conditionality on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia and Guatemala. 
Indonesia continues to abuse the human rights of its people and 
Guatemala has violated numerous agreements stipulated in its domestic 
peace accords.
  What message is this Republican Congress sending the world? On the 
one hand, President Bush sends Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a 
tour of the Middle East touting democracy. On the other hand, this 
Republican Congress is allowing brutal regimes to get military aid 
without any restrictions.
  I cannot vote for this legislation. The large amount of military aid 
and the lack of commitment to promoting democracy and international 
family planning initiatives force me to vote against it. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in voting against this ill-conceived legislation.

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