[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       SUPPORT FUNDING FOR UNFPA

  (Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today we consider appropriating $25 
million that would reassure the world about the U.S. commitment to 
saving women's lives.
  The Bush administration has systematically undermined that commitment 
in its continued assault on UNFPA, the U.N. Population Fund. Our allies 
watch in horror as the world's enormous need for family planning goes 
unmet; and meanwhile our government allies itself with Iran, Syria, and 
Afghanistan in opposing voluntary international family planning 
programs.
  Today, we can help to right that wrong by approving a measure that 
would direct $25 million to UNFPA programs to prevent and treat 
obstetric fistula, a devastating condition that afflicts 2 million 
women worldwide. No other agency works in this vital area.
  Let us send a message to the Bush administration that this Congress 
listens to the American people even if it does not. The world is 
waiting for us to act. UNFPA saves women's and children's lives.

                          ____________________