[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 149 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12648-S12651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
              APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006--CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Under the previous order, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of conference report 
to accompany H.R. 3057, the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. I 
further ask that there now be 5 minutes of debate, and that following 
the next vote on the Defense authorization bill the Senate proceed to a 
vote on adoption of the conference report with no intervening action or 
debate.

[[Page S12649]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object--I, of 
course, will not--in terms of sequence, it is possible there may be two 
amendments relating to the first-degree amendments relating to the same 
subject. If that were true, it may be wiser that this not intervene 
those two amendments.
  Have amendments been scheduled for votes?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. No amendments are scheduled at this time.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in other words, the Senator from 
Michigan is suggesting this simply be at the end of the next sequence 
and, therefore, not in the middle.
  Mr. LEVIN. I think that may be better.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I so modify my request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the modification?
  Mr. KERRY. Reserving the right to object.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I understand I have the floor, but I am 
perfectly willing to yield for a question.
  Mr. KERRY. I do not object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Committee of Conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to 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, having met, have 
     agreed that the House recede from its disagreement to the 
     amendment of the Senate to the text, and agree to the same 
     with an amendment, and the Senate agree to the same; that the 
     Senate recede from its amendment to the title of the bill, 
     signed by all of the conferees on the part of both Houses.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will proceed to the consideration 
of the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the proceedings of the House in 
the Record of November 2, 2005.)
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I want to take a moment before the 
Senate completes consideration of the fiscal year 2006 foreign 
operations and related programs conference report to thank Chairman 
Kolbe and Ranking Member Lowey in the House, and their staffs, and my 
friend from Vermont and his staff for the hard work and compromise that 
went into this legislation.
  Although the bill we send to the President is more than $1.8 billion 
below the budget request--and more than $1.1 billion below the Senate 
mark--we did our best to fund our Nation's foreign assistance 
priorities, whether countering terrorism, combating HIV/AIDS, TB and 
malaria or advancing democracy abroad. I am also pleased we were able 
to provide significant funding for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and 
Sudan.
  Given bipartisan support for several accounts, we were able to 
provide modest increases over last year's enacted levels for the Child 
Survival and Health Programs Fund, Development Assistance, 
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, Migration and 
Refugee Assistance, and Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and 
Related Programs.
  For HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, we provided a total of $2.8 billion 
from all accounts in the bill, an increase of $268 million above the 
budget request. There is $450 million available for a U.S. contribution 
to the Global Fund. We also include a provision, for the first time in 
the bill, designating $100 million to combat malaria.
  Finally, the bill includes a new appropriations account entitled 
``Democracy Fund'' that will help ensure America's activities to 
promote democracy, good governance, human rights and the rule of law 
abroad are conducted in a more efficient and effective manner.
  Let me close with a brief word of thanks to my staff--but especially 
to their families. It takes a long time to produce a foreign aid bill, 
and I appreciate the dedication of Tom Hawkins, Harry Christy, Bob 
Lester, LaShawnda Smith and Paul Grove to this task. But to their 
families, I offer a special thanks for their understanding and support 
as the midnight oil was burned and weekends were spent at the office.
  I hope we can move quickly to a vote on the conference report.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I support the Foreign Operations Conference 
Report for fiscal year 2006 and urge all Senators to vote its passage.
  Like every appropriations bill, there are things in this conference 
report that I disagree with. There are programs which I, as do many 
here, believe need substantially more funding than we were able to 
provide. A good example is our migration and refugee programs. This 
conference report provides less than the President requested and far 
less than the Senate bill. The suffering of refugees and displaced 
people that we are able to relieve but will not because of the scant 
resources in this bill is shameful and inexcusable. We and other 
industrialized nations could and should do far more to help them.
  Another problem is HIV/AIDS, although we were able to provide $268 
million more than the President requested. I am disappointed that the 
amount of our contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and 
Malaria was $50 million less than in the Senate bill. There are few 
more compelling needs for those funds than fighting these insidious 
diseases.
  I had hoped we would have enough to fully fund the Non-Proliferation, 
Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs account. It is a mistake 
to cut funding for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty International 
Monitoring System, for which the President did not request sufficient 
funds. The amount in this conference report represents a cut of $4.498 
million below the fiscal year 2005 level, and is at least $6 million 
less than the amount of the U.S. share for this vitally important 
monitoring system.
  The fact is, despite the help we got from Chairman Cochran and 
Senator Byrd with our allocation, for which we are very grateful, this 
conference report does not provide nearly enough resources to respond 
adequately to the multitude of threats we face across the globe. We had 
to make the kind of peevish choices that the world's wealthiest, most 
powerful country should not be making.
  There are other funding problems in this conference report, but on 
the whole it strikes the right balance for the bipartisan support it 
needs, and for that I commend Chairman McConnell, Chairman Kolbe, and 
Congresswoman Lowey. We have worked very cooperatively as is our 
practice, and I think we did about the best we could with an allocation 
that was almost $2 billion below the President's budget request.
  I want to mention a few other issues.
  First, Colombia. I was pleased that the conferees agreed to my 
request to provide an additional $6 million for economic and social 
programs. Despite assurances by the administration that they would 
increase funding for these programs as the security situation in 
Colombia improves, they have done the opposite. Military programs have 
consistency received a larger share of the budget.
  I was pleased that the conferees included report language I 
requested, directing that $500,000 of our military aid for Colombia be 
used to pay incidental costs relating to the treatment at U.S. 
hospitals of seriously injured Colombian soldiers. Due to the tireless 
work of the nonprofit organization ``United for Colombia,'' these 
hospitals have generously offered to perform this surgery--which 
requires sophisticated technology and expertise that is unavailable in 
Colombia--free of charge. But there are additional expenses such as 
transportation, lodging and medicines. The conferees also included my 
recommendation that additional assistance from the Leahy War Victims 
Fund be made available for civilians who have been injured by landmines 
and other causes relating to the conflict.
  The conference report also includes language concerning the 
demobilization of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in Colombia. We would 
like to support this process, but it has been flawed from the beginning 
and the ``Peace and Justice'' law has been widely criticized by human 
rights experts in Colombia, the United States, Europe, the United 
Nations, and the Organization of American States. There is considerable

[[Page S12650]]

skepticism that the paramilitary leaders will in fact give up narco-
trafficking, surrender their illegally acquired land and other assets, 
or be brought to justice. We want to be sure that the law is being 
implemented in a manner that lives up to its promise of peace and 
justice, that these organizations are dismantled, and that their 
leaders receive the severe punishment they deserve.
  We provide up to $20 million in fiscal year 2006 for the 
demobilization. These are mostly funds that were already requested by 
the Administration for other purposes. We require the Secretary of 
State to first certify that certain conditions have been met and to 
notify the Congress. This reflects the serious concerns that Members of 
Congress have with the demobilization process. Among those conditions 
is that the Government of Colombia is ``providing full cooperation to 
the Government of the United States to extradite the leaders and 
members of [Foreign Terrorist Organizations] who have been indicted in 
the United States.''
  This is very important, and it was included at the insistence of both 
Republican and Democrat Members. When we say ``full cooperation'' we 
mean nothing less. We want to see these people in handcuffs and on an 
airplane to the United States as soon as possible. We do not want 
anything to happen that would interfere with the extradition of the 
leaders of these narcoterrorist organizations--organized 
crime syndicates is what they are--for major crimes for which they have 
been indicted here.

  These are not ordinary criminals. Some of them make Pablo Escobar 
look like an amateur. They are responsible for creating and arming 
their own death squads, for killing thousands of civilians, for 
shipping billions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States, 
and they have infiltrated many sectors of Colombian society including, 
we learned recently, the police intelligence service. We also know they 
have sway with some members of the Colombian Congress.
  Impunity has been the norm throughout Colombia's history. Nothing 
would be worse for the cause of justice, or for democracy in Colombia, 
than for people who are among the most notorious criminals in this 
hemisphere to escape punishment that is proportional to their crimes. 
If that happens, you can be sure that their criminal enterprises will 
not be dismantled, the cocaine will keep flowing across our borders, 
the Colombian people will continue to be plagued by narcotics related 
violence and corruption, and peace and justice will remain out of 
reach.
  Another item in this conference report deals with Indonesia.
  President Yudhoyono, who was democratically elected, has been 
advancing reformist policies that we support, including reducing the 
army's role in the political process. He has also been a reliable ally 
in fighting terrorism in the world's largest Muslim country.
  The conference report provides assistance to the Indonesian Navy in 
the amount requested by the Administration, and it also provides IMET 
assistance for Indonesia without restriction. In addition, our largest 
counterterrorism training program is with Indonesia, and the Defense 
Department regularly conducts joint exercises and other activities with 
the Indonesian military.
  But one area where there has been no discernable progress is 
accountability for crimes by the army. In 1992 the Indonesian army shot 
to death an estimated 200 unarmed protesters in a cemetery in Dili, 
East Timor. A few low-ranking soldiers were punished, but in a 
perversity of justice several of the civilians were sent to jail for 
far longer sentences. Then in 1999, the Indonesian military armed the 
militias who laid waste to East Timor after the independence 
referendum. The U.N. identified the top officers involved and accused 
them of crimes against humanity, but the army sabotaged the 
government's halfhearted efforts to bring them to justice. Thousands of 
innocent people died, and no one has been punished.
  Some have suggested that because these are ``past'' crimes, we should 
look forward, not backward. What crime isn't a past crime? Does that 
make it any less important that justice be done? How do you prevent 
future atrocities if you let those who order and commit murder get away 
with it? What is more fundamental to democracy than justice?
  For many years, the Congress has put conditions on U.S. assistance to 
the Indonesian army. The conditions in our law require nothing more 
than that the army respect the law, yet both Secretary Rumsfeld and 
Secretary Rice asked Congress to eliminate the conditions. I understand 
there are competing concerns and that we and Indonesia have common 
security interests. I would have supported their request if there were 
any sign that the Indonesian army is prepared to be accountable to the 
law for any of these heinous crimes. So far, there is not.
  The conference agreement also requires a report on the status of the 
FBI investigation of the August 2002 murders of two American civilians 
and one Indonesian civilian in Timika, West Papua. Soon after the 
killings the Indonesian military tried to frame an innocent man. Then, 
when the police implicated the military in the attack, the 
investigation abruptly ended. Nothing happened for another year or so 
because the military actively impeded further efforts to investigate. 
Since then, the military has been more cooperative and one West Papuan 
individual has been indicted in the U.S. But he has yet to be indicted 
in Indonesia and responsibility for this heinous crime does not stop 
there. It is now more than three years since this tragedy and no one 
has been brought to justice.
  Finally, the conference report requires a report on the humanitarian 
and human rights situation in West Papua.
  Another item I want to mention is Nepal. We have once again put 
conditions on our military aid because of the King's undemocratic and 
repressive actions on February 1, and the army's continuing involvement 
in human rights violations. We detest the tactics of the Maoists, who 
forcibly recruit children, who engage in extortion, and brutalize 
civilians. But the King's actions have only made a political solution 
to the conflict in Nepal more elusive, and at great cost to democracy 
and the rule of law. The conference agreement provides $2.5 million for 
a U.S. contribution to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights 
Office in Nepal, to monitor and report on human rights violations 
throughout the country.
  The conference agreement also provides another $10 million for 
USAID's new Amazon Basin Conservation Strategy. This is a regional 
initiative that I am personally committed to, and I greatly appreciate 
the efforts that USAID has made to develop this strategy through an 
extensive process of consultations with governments and nongovernmental 
organizations.
  The Amazon Basin encompasses nine countries and has global 
environmental, health and economic importance that dwarfs any other 
forest or river system in the world. We all have a responsibility to 
protect it. Brazil and Colombia are examples of countries that already 
have environmental laws and policies in place and protected areas and 
indigenous reserves. Coordinating with other donors, governments and 
civil society organizations, we can help build the capacity to 
strengthen, enforce, implement, and replicate these laws and policies 
throughout the region.
  On a related matter, the conference report requires USAID to 
establish a new position of ``Advisor for Indigenous Peoples Issues.'' 
Indigenous peoples, from the Kalahari Desert in Botswana to the forests 
of Ecuador, are the most vulnerable people on Earth. Their land and 
traditional ways of life are under siege, and often their own 
governments are part of the problem, as was the case in our own country 
a century and a half ago. USAID, which works in these countries on 
issues that affect indigenous peoples, needs someone who is 
knowledgeable and has the responsibility to consult with indigenous 
peoples, advocate on their behalf in relation to USAID policies, 
programs and activities and coordinate with other federal agencies. I 
look forward to discussing this with USAID.
  I want to mention a provision in this conference report that deals 
with reform at the multilateral development banks. There are several 
parts to this provision, but one that deserves special mention concerns 
the rights of whistleblowers. Too often at these institutions, people 
who complain about

[[Page S12651]]

waste, fraud or abuse are harassed, threatened, silenced, or demoted. 
That is the opposite of what should happen, and it is long overdue for 
whistleblowers to be given the protection and recourse they deserve. 
This provision, among other things, calls for independent adjudicatory 
bodies, including ``external arbitration based on consensus selection 
and shared costs''. I believe that access to external arbitration is 
long overdue, and I urge the World Bank and the other MDBs to act 
expeditiously to implement this and the other reforms called for in 
this provision.
  The conference report provides $1.77 billion for the Millennium 
Challenge Corporation, MCC. While this represents a deep cut from the 
President's request, it reflects the tight budgetary constraints we 
faced. The conference allocation required us to cut nearly $2 billion 
from the President's total request and therefore many programs, 
including the MCC, were not fully funded.
  I support the goals of the MCC, and I look forward to working with 
the new CEO Ambassador Danilovich. We know that foreign aid is most 
effective when governments are committed to fighting corruption and 
addressing the needs of their people, and when public officials, civil 
society and the private sector work together to reduce poverty.
  I am pleased that the conference agreement includes language 
emphasizing the importance of strong participation from indigenous 
civil society organizations to help ensure that the MCC is responsive 
to local people's concerns. It is through the meaningful participation 
of civil society that democracy is strengthened, good governance is 
valued, and open discussions of how best to achieve national priorities 
are accomplished. The conference agreement requires the MCC to submit a 
report that details how contributions of indigenous civil society have 
been incorporated in completed compact negotiations.
  The conference report provides funds above the President's request 
for both the Inter-American Foundation and the African Development 
Foundation. The Congress strongly supports the work of these 
foundations which support local initiatives to increase income for 
Latin America's and Africa's poorest people.
  I was very pleased that the conference report provides additional 
assistance for civilian victims of the military operations in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. We provide $5 million for the Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War 
Victims Fund for assistance for Iraqi families and communities, which 
is named for Marla Ruzicka, the founder of Campaign for Civilian 
Victims of Conflict. Ms. Ruzicka died, at the age of 28, along with her 
colleague Faiz Ali Salim, in a car bombing in Baghdad on April 16, 
2005. We also provide $2 million for assistance for Afghan families and 
communities that have suffered losses as a result of the military 
operations. By providing this assistance the United States is seeking 
to alleviate the suffering, as well as the anger and resentment, 
resulting from tragic mistakes that occur in the military operations.
  I was also pleased that the conference report includes $15 million to 
support an initiative I sponsored to combat certain neglected diseases. 
Lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, intestinal parasites, 
schistosomiasis, leprosy, and trachoma cause terrible suffering and 
disfigurement among hundreds of millions of people in mostly tropical 
countries. In addition to providing additional funds to prevent and 
treat these diseases, this initiative seeks to develop a multilateral, 
integrated approach to coordinate and maximize donor contributions to 
control them. This is important because current efforts are poorly 
coordinated and underfunded. As with the infectious diseases initiative 
I sponsored nearly a decade ago, I look forward to working with USAID, 
other Federal agencies, the World Health Organization, and the relevant 
international technical and nongovernmental organizations to develop 
such an approach that has broad support.
  I was disappointed that the amount provided for the Global 
Environmental Facility, $80 million, fell $27 million short of the U.S. 
pledge. I want to emphasize that this cut does not reflect any 
dissatisfaction on the part of the conferees with the GEF, which had 
taken steps to adopt management and transparency reforms advocated by 
the United States, but instead was due to budgetary constraints. As a 
strong supporter of the GEF I am hopeful that we can make up this 
shortfall in the fiscal year 2007 budget.
  The conference report supports the Extractive Industries Transparency 
Initiative, which aims to improve the capacity of developing countries 
to sustainably manage the extraction of natural resources and to 
monitor revenues generated from such extraction so they are used for 
purposes which benefit their people. This is an anti-corruption, good 
governance initiative spearheaded by the British Government, which 
responds to the longstanding practice in many developing countries of 
exploiting natural resources in a wasteful and environmentally 
destructive manner that benefits only the elites. The conference 
agreement provides $1 million for USAID to support EITI implementation 
and to strengthen the role and capacity of civil society organizations 
in the EITI process. This is another issue I look forward to discussing 
with USAID before funds are obligated.
  Finally, I want to mention the funding in the conference report for 
USAID Operating Expenses, which was cut by $50 million below the 
administration's request. Again, this was the result of the budgetary 
constraints we faced, but it also reflects some concerns with USAID's 
management of appropriated funds. This cut will force USAID to make 
difficult choices, which should be the subject of consultations with 
the Appropriations Committees.
  There are many other provisions in this conference report that I do 
not have time here to recount. I want to again thank my friend from 
Kentucky, Senator McConnell, who has been a pleasure to work with. I 
also thank our counterparts in the House, Congressman Kolbe and 
Congresswoman Lowey, and their capable staffs. I commend the Senate 
majority staff, Paul Grove, Tom Hawkins, Harry Christy, Bob Lester and 
LaShawnda Smith. They put in long hours and they held themselves to the 
highest standards. And for the minority, I thank Tim Rieser, Kate 
Eltrich and Jennifer Park.

                               EAST TIMOR

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to mention one other item in the 
Foreign Operations conference report. It does not earmark Foreign 
Military Financing funds for Timor-Leste, formerly East Timor, the 
world's newest democracy and a friend of the United States. However, we 
do not earmark funding for many of the countries for which FMF was 
requested, but we provide $241.7 million in FMF assistance to cover 
these needs, including for Timor-Leste. The administration's budget 
request included $1.5 million in FMF for East Timor. The fact that we 
did not earmark these funds for Timor-Leste should not be 
misinterpreted as an indication of any disagreement on the part of the 
conferees with the administration's request.
  Mr. McCONNELL. That is correct. We did not earmark FMF for Timor-
Leste but we intend the administration to provide an amount similar to 
the request. We also provided $1.5 million in International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement, INCLE assistance for Timor-Leste, for on the 
ground police training, as well as $19 million in Economic Support Fund 
assistance. The cut in ESF from the fiscal year 2005 level of $22 
million was due, in part, to the earmark in INCLE assistance which had 
not been requested by the administration.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, do I have time under the consent 
agreement?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator does.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded.

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