[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14529]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               WE MUST NOT INDEFINITELY SUBSIDIZE TYRANNY

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, today we will debate whether to keep 
pouring money into Egypt just to subsidize its military expansion. For 
the last 25 years we poured billions of dollars into Egypt. Each year 
we give that country about $1.3 billion just in military aid in 
addition to economic aid.
  But all the money seems to do is reinforce a regime that refuses 
change and excuses oppression. It oppresses religious minorities, it 
obstructs democratic reforms, it censors the media. I think that money 
can be better spent elsewhere.

                              {time}  1030

  Today, I will offer an amendment redirecting some of this military 
aid to fighting malaria in Africa, a preventable disease that kills as 
many as 3 million people a year. Poor nations are most at risk, some 40 
million in Africa.
  While we have a strategic responsibility to support allies, we have a 
responsibility to help fight disease where we can, and reducing Egypt's 
military funding will serve as a wake-up call to a country that votes 
against the United States over 91 percent of the time in the U.N. We 
will not indefinitely subsidize tyranny.
  Congress has the authority to determine what we subsidize. Today we 
will make that clear.

                          ____________________