[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 106 (Wednesday, July 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1771-E1772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. VIRGINIA FOXX

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 9, 2009

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3081) making 
     appropriations for the Department of State, foreign 
     operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2010, and for other purposes:

  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, the vote that I took this afternoon on H.R. 3081 
was one of the toughest votes that I have had to take in this House 
since I have been here in my 4\1/2\ years. The problem with the bill 
and with the decision that had to be made is because the bill contained 
funding for aid to Israel, our best friend in the world.
  I have always been and will continue to be an extremely strong 
supporter of Israel. Israel has always been a good friend to the United 
States, the people of this country and the people of Israel share the 
same values. However, the bill had so many flaws that it made it very 
difficult for a pro-life, fiscal conservative such as I to vote for the 
bill despite my very strong support for Israel.
  Israel is a vital American ally in the Middle East and deserves our 
full support as it serves as the preeminent democracy in the region. 
Throughout the history of our relations with Israel, the U.S. has stood 
by this nation and supported her even when she seemed hemmed in by 
insurmountable forces.
  Today the very existence of Israel is a testament to the power of 
freedom and democracy, particularly in a region known more for despotic 
regimes than for its beacons of liberty. That is why I am proud to 
stand with our ally Israel and support policies that help maintain our 
strong ties with this critical nation in the Middle East.
  My strong support for Israel is what makes me so disappointed about 
this appropriations bill. This bill, when emergency supplemental funds 
were not taken into account, was still 32 percent more than the regular 
fiscal year 2009

[[Page E1772]]

appropriations. I am taking the liberty of using some of the figures 
from my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price), which were 
also presented today on the floor in terms of explaining the bill that 
we voted on this afternoon.
  We are facing a fiscal crisis in this country. This administration 
and this Congress, led by Speaker Pelosi, are spending this country 
into a terrible, terrible situation. We are mortgaging our children and 
grandchildren's future with excess spending; and it has to stop 
somewhere.
  Had this bill merely contained the funding for Israel, it would have 
been very easy for me to have supported it, although I was quite 
concerned that the bill reduced the funding for Israel by 7.2 percent 
below last year's funding level and 23.3 percent below the request. 
But, as I said earlier, the total bill had an increase of 33.8 percent 
compared to last year. What kind of message does it send when we 
increase overall spending levels in this bill by a third and yet cut 
funding to a critical ally and democratic partner in the Middle East?
  One of the most troubling increases in this bill was a 20 percent 
increase to the United Nations Population Fund and a 19 percent 
increase to International Family Planning. The United Nations 
Population Fund aids China's one-child policy, coercive abortion, and 
sterilization. International Family Planning goes to organizations that 
promote and provide abortion services through International Planned 
Parenthood Federation and Marie Stokes International.
  In addition, the Democrats had rejected four cost-cutting Republican 
amendments that had been presented which could have made this bill a 
lot more palatable to the 97 Republicans who voted against it.
  Another problem with the bill is that there was a false assumption 
that the Obama administration will live up to its promise of no more 
war supplementals for Iraq and Afghanistan. The President has gone back 
on every promise that he made during the campaign. He has already asked 
for a supplemental this year, says it was a carryover from last year, 
but that won't happen again. However, before the ink was dry on the 
amended full committee report of this bill, the chairman of the Defense 
Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressman Murtha, publicly stated that 
another supplemental is necessary to fund the troops because of the low 
fiscal year 2010 Defense allocation.
  So the promise was that all of the money for the war was going to be 
here and we wouldn't have to do more supplementals. That isn't going to 
happen.
  This bill also avoids making hard fiscal choices about spending 
abroad while we face a financial crisis here. This is not the way we 
should be going. We should be funding our friends and our allies. We 
should be helping Israel which is the only true democracy in the Middle 
East and who stands by us year after year, day after day. But funding 
things like abortion and international family planning is not the way 
to go.

                          ____________________