[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 103 (Monday, June 25, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1401-E1402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. BILL SALI

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 21, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2764) making 
     appropriations for the Department of State, foreign 
     operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2008, and for other purposes:

  Mr. SALI. Mr. Chairman, I am dismayed by last week's votes on issues 
related to abortion and foreign aid.
  I joined with all but 12 of my colleagues on my side of the aisle and 
25 Members of the Majority in voting against legislation that would 
overturn what commonly is known as the ``Mexico City'' policy.
  First enacted by President Reagan and sustained by the first 
President Bush, this policy has been, for the past 6 years, the policy 
of our country under our current President. Put simply, the policy says 
this: Federal resources provided to international family planning 
organizations cannot be used by them to pay for abortion or efforts to 
overturn pro-life laws in the countries where such groups operate.

[[Page E1402]]

  This is entirely consistent with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits 
the use of American taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions in our own 
country.
  Yet now, only 6 months into the new Congress, the majority has 
decided that tying federal funding of abortions in other countries to 
family planning assistance is somehow acceptable.
  Moreover, my friends across the aisle have enacted within the Foreign 
Operations Appropriations bill a provision that would make optional the 
requirement that 33 percent of all prevention funding be used for 
abstinence and marital fidelity programs.
  Mr. Chairman, abstinence and faithfulness to your spouse are the only 
sure ways of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and a large number of 
sexually transmitted diseases. Yet now we are giving programs and 
groups that work against such diseases the opportunity to rely more on 
condoms than common sense and commitment to sexual probity.
  Additionally troubling is that the State/Foreign Operations bill 
contained $2.4 billion for the State of Israel. This funding is 
especially imperative given the fact that Hamas has just gained control 
of the Gaza Strip.
  I voted against the Foreign Operations bill because of its strange 
insistence that American taxpayers fund overseas abortions. That's 
morally wrong. It affronts the convictions of tens of millions of our 
fellow citizens. It is an expression of ideology, not sound foreign 
policy.
  Mr. Chairman, Israel has no stronger supporter in Congress than me. I 
have cosponsored legislation to counter Iran's efforts to obtain 
nuclear weapons and another measure recognizing the 40th anniversary of 
the reunification of Jerusalem and calling upon the President to begin 
the process of relocating the United States Embassy in Israel to 
Jerusalem. I have worked closely with my friends in Idahoans United for 
Israel and am proud of my association with supporters of Israel across 
the political spectrum.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge you to bring a clean bill to the House floor so 
that my colleagues and I can vote for Israel and for funding for our 
State Department and its vital mission and for so many other important 
foreign relations-related programs.
  The American people are weary of the legislative process being used 
to score political points. Both sides are guilty of this kind of 
maneuver and it needs to change. Support for Israel is too important 
for it to be held up by the vagaries of domestic politics. Let's have a 
clean bill and a clean vote.

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