[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 26 (Friday, February 26, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S822-S823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                 CONFRONTING THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I wish to speak about a 
bill that I introduced a year ago with Senator Sam Brownback to 
confront Africa's longest running rebel group, the Lord's Resistance 
Army. This bill was passed unanimously by the Foreign Relations 
Committee in November and it is now cosponsored by 63 members of this 
Chamber, a supermajority. According to the Congressional Research 
Service, no bill specifically on sub-Saharan Africa has had this many 
cosponsors since at least 1973, which is as far back as our online 
records go. This demonstrates an unprecedented bipartisan consensus to 
address an issue that was called ``the world's worst neglected crisis'' 
just a few years ago.
  This historic consensus should not go unnoticed and it must 
ultimately translate into action.
  For two decades, the LRA and its brutal leader Joseph Kony terrorized 
the people of northern Uganda. They filled their ranks by abducting 
children--some estimates suggest over 66,000 of them--and forced them 
to fight as child soldiers. Meanwhile, the people of northern Uganda 
were forced into displacement camps with little protection from their 
own government, where they were vulnerable to attacks, disease and 
starvation. In 2007, I visited those camps and saw first hand the 
terrible conditions people were forced to endure.
  In recent years, the LRA have been pushed out of northern Uganda and 
fortunately many people have been able to leave those camps. But that 
has not meant an end to the LRA's terror; it has just shifted to a new 
theater. Under pressure in 2005 and 2006, the rebels moved into the 
porous border region of northeastern Congo, southern Sudan and the 
Central African Republic, where they have recently resumed their 
attacks and abductions. According to the United Nations, between 
September 2008 and June 2009, the LRA killed some 1300 civilians, 
abducted 1400 more, and displaced 300,000 others. That level of 
violence persists today. The stories are jarring: families locked 
inside huts and burned alive; people having their lips and ears cut 
off; people hacked to death with machetes; villages massacred as they 
gathered for church on Christmas Day.
  This continuing violence is senseless and it is horrific. It shocks 
our collective conscience. That is why Senator Brownback, Senator 
Inhofe, and I, along with 60 of our colleagues, leading human rights 
groups, and thousands of young idealistic Americans have come together 
around this bill. We may not agree on all the specifics of how the 
United States should go about addressing this issue and what role our 
government should play, but we all agree the ongoing atrocities 
committed by the LRA demand more attention, more resources and a more 
proactive strategy.
  Our bill would require the Obama administration to develop such a 
strategy for how the United States will work more actively with 
regional governments, the U.N. and others to bring a lasting end to 
this war. That strategy would need to integrate all elements of U.S. 
policy--economic, political, intelligence and military--and coordinate 
our efforts regarding the LRA across the four affected countries. Our 
bill also authorizes a modest amount of additional funding, $40 million 
over 3 years, so we can better support peace and reconciliation in 
northern Uganda and help meet the humanitarian needs of communities 
outside Uganda that are currently affected by the LRA's violence.
  Unfortunately, one Senator has objected to passage of this bill 
because of the authorization of funds. Now let me be clear: I share 
concerns about our record deficits and believe we have a responsibility 
to our children and our grandchildren to control reckless spending. 
That is why I make a point to include an offset whenever I introduce a 
bill that authorizes funds. This bill was no different. When it was 
introduced, it included an offset to reduce excess secondary inventory 
for the Air Force; inventory that the GAO found wasteful and the Air 
Force acknowledged it didn't need. Unfortunately though, some objected 
to this offset and it was removed in committee.
  Now, I have offered to stipulate that the bill should use already 
authorized funds, rather than authorizing new funds. Apparently that's 
not sufficient. While I am disappointed that the offset was removed 
from this bill, I do not believe it is sufficient cause to stop this 
bill from moving forward. We should keep in mind that passing this 
legislation would not automatically trigger increased spending. This 
bill authorizes funds, but appropriating them is a different matter. I 
am more than willing

[[Page S823]]

to work with lead cosponsors of this bill and others, during the 
appropriations process, to ensure this bill does not increase our 
overall budget. In fact, I'd like to work with all of my colleagues in 
general to eliminate wasteful spending.
  We need to pass this bill. We have a unique opportunity right now as 
members of Congress to make a statement that the mass killing of 
innocent life by the LRA is unacceptable, and that we as a country will 
not stand by as it continues to happen. By passing this bill, we can 
charge our government with looking seriously at how we can do more to 
help bring these atrocities to an end. When we look back at Rwanda in 
April of 1994, I think each and every one of us wishes we had done more 
to save lives. The same can be said about the brutal massacres by the 
RUF in Sierra Leone or by Charles Taylor's army in Liberia. But we need 
to not only acknowledge those regrets; we need to learn from them.
  Mr. President, the LRA's massacres are taking place now. They are on 
our watch. This time, let us not look back and wish we had done more. I 
urge all my colleagues to come together to pass this bill.

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