[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24868-24874]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3057, FOREIGN 
OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2006

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the 
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 532 and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 532

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 3057) making appropriations for foreign 
     operations, export financing, and related programs for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other 
     purposes. All points of order against the conference report 
     and against its consideration are waived. The conference 
     report shall be considered as read.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of Florida). The gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of 
debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I 
may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded 
is for the purpose of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 532 is a traditional standard rule for 
consideration of the conference report for the fiscal year 2006 Foreign 
Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act. 
The rule waives all points of order against the conference report and 
against its consideration.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us today appropriates almost $21 
billion. It is an increase of about actually over $1 billion for 
operations across the globe. The bill is fiscally sound. It has grown 
at a small, very small rate, while at the same time I think it is 
responsive to the needs, not only the national security interests or 
the foreign policy interests of the United States, but also it is 
responsive to the needs of millions plagued by disease and famine and 
disaster throughout the world.
  H.R. 3057, for example, Mr. Speaker, bolsters the President's 
Millennium Challenge Corporation to nearly $1.8 billion. It is about a 
quarter of a billion more than last year. This is an expansion of 
assistance meant to help bring really economic security and the rule of 
law to some of the world's poorest countries by insisting on American 
aid going to countries where there is transparency for the aid that we 
send, not corruption.

                              {time}  0915

  It is an important initiative.
  The Millennium Challenge provides assistance through a competitive 
selection process to developing nations that

[[Page 24869]]

are genuinely in the path of political and economic reforms in three 
areas: ruling justly, in other words, treating their people decently; 
investing in people; and fostering economic freedom. Economic 
development genuinely succeeds when it is linked to free market 
economic and democratic principles and policies and where governments 
are committed to implementing reform measures when they are needed to 
achieve such goals.
  Two years ago in the State of the Union address, President Bush 
announced the President's emergency plan for AIDS relief. It is the 
largest international health initiative in history initiated by a 
single government to address one disease. This legislation shows 
Congress's continued support to the fight against HIV/AIDS. It includes 
$2.8 billion, an increase of over $600 million over last year to 
continue the fight against HIV/AIDS, as well as tuberculosis and 
malaria.
  The resolve of this Congress to help all those across the globe to 
fight this disease is strong and serious, as is the commitment of the 
President of the United States. In addition to funding, the Federal 
Government enlists the expertise of agencies, including the Food and 
Drug Administration, which assures that the medicines we send to the 
areas most affected by this horrible pandemic are safe and effective to 
help those with HIV/AIDS.
  In other foreign assistance, H.R. 3057 funds the Andean Counterdrug 
Initiative at the President's request, $735 million, $9 million more 
than in 2005. Economic growth in the area since the start of Plan 
Colombia, for example, is proof that the assistance that we have 
provided Colombia has made a difference in that country.
  I visited Colombia in April of last year. It was a great honor for me 
to do so. I have tens of thousands of distinguished constituents, very 
hard-working, honorable people from Colombia.
  It was a pleasure to visit that country and to witness, Mr. Speaker, 
the extraordinary progress that the Colombian Government and the 
Colombian people have made against the narcoterrorists. They constantly 
reiterate, they did so during my visit and they have done so since and 
I know they have done so to countless colleagues in this House, they 
reiterate their gratitude to this Congress for the important assistance 
that the American people, the taxpayers of this country, through their 
Congress have provided them and continue to do so in their fight 
against narcoterrorism.
  Now, we must not take progress in the Andean region for granted. If 
the United States turns its back on the region, a scenario may very 
well ensue that would require greater U.S. investment at a time when we 
have significant responsibilities worldwide.
  The underlying legislation provides also $2.5 billion for military 
and economic assistance to Israel. We have to continue to ensure that 
our friends and allies remain secure; and, of course, we have no better 
friend, no better ally than Israel. We are committed to doing 
everything we can to see that Israel is safe and secure within its 
borders as it continues to move in this very difficult era toward the 
achievement of a lasting peace with all of its neighbors.
  The conference report funds the President's request to fund the 
foreign military financing for Egypt at $1.3 billion. It provides 
almost half a billion dollars for economic assistance to Egypt, 
including assistance set to help with political reform programs and 
education assistance. Of course, that is a very, very important 
initiative that this country has been involved in for decades now.
  I would like to thank Chairman Lewis, who has worked very hard again, 
and Chairman Kolbe for their extraordinary leadership in moving this 
bill forward for our consideration today. I obviously support the 
conference report. I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and 
the underlying legislation, the conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, lately when Americans turn on the news at night, they do 
not see the government that they recognize. They hear about a war in 
the Middle East gone wrong, and they see suffering people left to fend 
for themselves in times of crisis. They learn more and more about a 
White House under siege, and they are forced to recognize the ugly 
truth that many of their congressional leaders are entangled in a web 
of corruption.
  While the criticism is justified and the concerns are real, the 
failures do not define America. It is important to remember that in 
difficult times, especially in difficult times, we must always keep 
close, in spite of the challenges at home and abroad, and that no other 
nation has shined the light of freedom and liberty as brightly as we 
have here in our country. No nation in history has given so much and 
asked for so little in return.
  That romantic and powerful notion of America as a force for good in a 
troubled world strikes at the very heart of what it means to be an 
American. It is that spirit which drives us as a Nation to create a 
government as good as its people, and today we take one step in helping 
to restore that feeling in America to embody the ideal of what we hold 
dear. It is a bill that will help Americans recognize their government 
once again.
  The foreign operations bill funds a number of different foreign 
assistance agencies and international organizations and, as such, has 
become both a critical and effective tool for this democracy to spread 
democratic values and concern for human rights around the world. This 
is legislation that the American people can take great pride in.
  After all, today you will generously give $2.82 billion to some of 
our noblest callings, such as easing the suffering of those around the 
world stricken by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and particularly in 
Africa. $14 billion that Americans earned this year will be used to 
give foreign assistance.
  These moneys will also help economic development in countries like 
Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Tibet, Colombia, and a number of 
other Eastern Bloc countries now struggling to become functioning 
democracies.
  It further spends $1.6 billion to help fund many of the well-
intentioned international financial institutions which the United 
States participates in, such as the World Bank, the African Development 
Fund, and the voluntary U.N. programs such as UNICEF and the U.N. 
Development Program. These American dollars will assist those 
struggling societies to build a better life for themselves and their 
families.
  What we often fail to recognize is that foreign operations also help 
us here at home. The spending in the bill directly benefits our 
domestic economy. Through our many foreign assistance programs, we 
export American goods, American services and agricultural products all 
over the world. That means jobs for American families and a brighter 
future for families across the world.
  Of course, as with many complex pieces of legislation, I have some 
concerns with the conference report. Key among them is the Bush 
administration's insistence on maintaining a global gag rule which 
prevents critical family planning and health services aid from reaching 
the U.S. health clinics in underdeveloped and overpopulated countries 
where abortion counseling services are provided.
  Clinics in overpopulated regions are not even allowed to take a 
public pro-choice position, and the United Nations fund for Population 
Assistance Program, which provides critical family planning services 
abroad, has been unfairly targeted by such administration policy.
  The UNFPA does not provide abortion services, but the program has 
been repeatedly denied critical U.S. funding by the Bush administration 
under the gag rule. As a result, thousands of women in overpopulated 
developing nations are without the health care and family planning 
resources each of us takes for granted here in America.
  Thankfully, this conference report provides $34 million in funding 
for this important program. But antichoice House and Senate conferees 
stripped

[[Page 24870]]

the language which would protect the funding from the gag rule, and as 
a result that money will most likely never reach those it was intended 
to help.
  Despite these attempts to politicize the considerable aid this Nation 
provides abroad, this legislation, on the whole, serves an unqualified 
good for the people all over the world.
  I would submit, though, that through the money we spend here today on 
foreign ops, we do a better job of spreading universal values of 
democracy and liberty and freedom than with the hundreds of billions of 
dollars we have spent on the war in Iraq.
  By helping to improve the quality of life for people all over the 
world, we export the seeds of our American Dream; and by investing in 
international organizations that open markets, create trade, foster 
economic development and promote democracy, we create a rising tide 
that truly lifts all boats.
  This is the way America spreads its values most effectively. By 
serving the world community and investing as both a partner and leader 
in the global community, we exemplify what it truly means to be 
American; and as a result, we provide a living example that the America 
we have long known is still standing tall.
  These programs effectively address global challenges at their root 
source and seek to overcome those challenges the right way, by 
fostering hope and opportunity, rather than fear and hostility. They 
are the best ambassadors of the American spirit that we could ever hope 
to export. After all, what better way is there for us to spread 
democracy, freedom, and social justice than through the methods that 
have proven time and time again to actually work.
  Therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. McGovern).
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend Chairman Kolbe, Ranking 
Member Lowey, and their respective staffs for consistently working in a 
bipartisan fashion and trying year after year to bring before the House 
a bill that all Members can support.
  For those of us who care in particular about the contributions made 
by the United States in reducing global poverty and hunger, increasing 
educational opportunities, access to health care and food security in 
some of the poorest places on this Earth, we very much appreciate the 
time and the effort that they invest in making sure that this bill 
responds to these needs and priorities.
  I must express, however, Mr. Speaker, my regret that the final 
conference report did not include the Leahy-McConnell language dealing 
with the paramilitary demobilization taking place in Colombia. I 
recognize the language in the conference report is the result of some 
compromise, but it appears to me that the majority of compromising had 
to be done on the Senate side.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about news reports that demobilized 
paramilitary groups are regrouping into Mafia-like criminal 
organizations. New paramilitary groups seem to be springing up like 
daisies and their ranks are often made up of newly demobilized 
paramilitary troops.
  Like all Members of Congress who follow Colombia, I want the 
demobilization process to work. I want it to succeed. But the process 
is not helped when the Congress or the administration turns a blind eye 
to serious failings in its implementation, as has been done over and 
over and over again.
  For these reasons, I believe that the certification provision on 
Colombia's demobilization process in this bill, even though it is 
watered down, I think is important and needs to be faithfully 
implemented.
  Last night during the Rules Committee hearing, I was very reassured 
when Chairman Kolbe told me that his committee would be vigilant in 
monitoring the demobilization of Colombia's paramilitary organizations 
and in overseeing the implementation of the certification conditions 
contained in the bill.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I have often raised on the floor of this House my 
concerns about the long-standing ties between Colombia's armed forces 
and paramilitary forces and drug traffickers. I have constantly been 
told by the administration, by the Colombian Government, and even by 
some Members of this House, that these allegations also simply are not 
true.
  Well, last week, on October 28, the New York Times reported how the 
top two directors of Colombia's intelligence agency, commonly called 
their secret police, have been forced to resign because the attorney 
general's office has finally begun an investigation into how the 7,100-
member agency has been engaged in a money-making operation to sell 
intelligence and surveillance equipment to right-wing paramilitary 
groups.
  Mr. Speaker, I will include the New York Times article in the Record 
at the conclusion of my remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned by a new wave of threats, 
disappearances and murders of Colombian trade unionists, human rights 
defenders, legal advocates and community leaders which appears to be 
under way.

                              {time}  0930

  The violence in Colombia appears to be sharply escalating once again. 
I would like to mention in particular the murder of Mr. Orlando 
Valencia, an Afro-Colombian community leader who was forcibly captured 
off the street by paramilitary forces shortly after he was first 
briefly detained and then released by the Colombian police on October 
15, which shows you the collaboration between the security forces and 
paramilitaries. His tortured and mutilated body was found a few days 
later along the side of a local road.
  At the time of his disappearance, I wrote to our embassy in Bogota, 
asking them to do all they could to find Mr. Valencia before he was 
killed; and I am still waiting for a response from our embassy to that 
letter.
  So let me say to those who continue to champion billions of dollars 
in additional aid to the Colombian military and security forces, please 
pay attention not only to the spokespeople of the Colombian government 
but to the realities in that country. We should be more concerned. For 
all that we have invested in that country, we should expect better.
  I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York for allowing me the 
time to express these concerns. I support the rule, and I will support 
the bill.

                [From the New York Times, Oct. 28, 2005]

   Two Top Directors Leave Colombia's Secret Police as Scandal Mounts

                            (By Juan Forero)

       Bogota, Colombia, Oct. 27.--The top two directors of 
     Colombia's secret police were forced out this week as the 
     government investigated allegations that the agency was 
     mounting a money-making operation to sell intelligence and 
     surveillance equipment to right-wing death squads.
       The scandal at the agency, the Administrative Department of 
     Security, comes as human rights groups and some legislators 
     have exposed heightened paramilitary activity, including 
     infiltrations of Congress and the attorney general's office. 
     The paramilitaries also continue trafficking in cocaine, 
     despite disarmament talks that underpin President Alvaro 
     Uribe's effort to pacify Colombia with billions in American 
     aid.
       The 7,100-member intelligence agency has long been dogged 
     by allegations that its agents have worked with 
     paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, 
     an illegal antiguerrilla organization that the State 
     Department has branded a terrorist group. But the latest 
     scandal has been especially explosive, coming amid 
     international criticism that the government has been overly 
     generous with paramilitaries who disarm by treating them 
     leniently in prosecutions.
       On Tuesday, after consultations with Mr. Uribe, Jorge 
     Noguera, the director of the agency, resigned and its sub-
     director, Jose Miguel Narvaez, was dismissed.
       The agency's internal affairs unit and the attorney 
     general's office are investigating whether the Special 
     Intelligence Group, controlled by Enrique Ariza, a close ally 
     of Mr. Noguera, had been planning to sell phone-tapping 
     equipment to Javier Montanes, one of several powerful 
     paramilitary commanders who could then use the system to 
     monitor police and military activity.
       Mr. Noguera denied the accusations, calling them part of a 
     smear campaign.
       Mr. Narvaez said in an interview that he and Mr. Noguera 
     were not involved in a conspiracy with the militias. But he 
     said there

[[Page 24871]]

     were agents at the agency ``who veered away from their 
     mission and may have committed crimes.''
       The allegations are particularly grave because they add to 
     a string of revelations of paramilitary influence in 
     everything from local governments and the health care system 
     to provincial lotteries. Indeed, a former official at the 
     intelligence agency, Rafael Garcia, has been under 
     investigation for having erased computerized case files 
     containing information on paramilitaries and drug 
     traffickers.
       ``This is more serious because this is not just having 
     sources on the inside and knowing when they're coming against 
     you,'' said Sergio Jaramillo, a former Defense Ministry 
     official, referring to infiltration of the intelligence 
     agency. ``It is something closer, having active help.''
       A political scientist who closely studies the 
     paramilitaries, Mauricio Romero, said the disclosures also 
     showed that the paramilitaries were ``not playing clean'' in 
     peace talks.
       ``It would be understandable if they were at war with the 
     state,'' said Mr. Romero, a professor at Rosario University 
     in Bogota. ``The fact that there is infiltration and that 
     they are mounting a parallel intelligence system is a 
     security problem not just for the state, but for society.''
       Though the paramilitaries have demobilized thousands of 
     fighters, they continue to wreak havoc.
       On Saturday, Hernando Cadavid, who owned a flower farm next 
     to Mr. Uribe's ranch in northern Colombia, was dragged from 
     his farm and hacked to death with machetes by former 
     paramilitaries. Investigators are trying to determine if the 
     order came from Diego Fernando Murillo, a paramilitary boss 
     recently jailed on Mr. Uribe's orders.

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we are also 
concerned about Colombia, and we are concerned about increased 
assistance from the terrorist network throughout the world, the 
Iranians, Chavez in Venezuela, Castro's Cuba. We are concerned about 
their support for the narcoterrorists in Colombia, and that is why it 
is so important to provide assistance to the democratically elected 
government of Colombia.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Two things. Is the gentleman saying that the President 
of Venezuela is a terrorist?
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am saying that it 
is a dictatorship. It is a dictatorship, a dictatorship that supports 
the regime in Iran publicly; a dictatorship, the regime in Caracas. The 
first foreign head of State to visit Saddam Hussein while Saddam 
Hussein was in power after the Gulf War of the 1990s was the President 
of Venezuela. So, yes, I am concerned about the President of 
Venezuela's links to terrorism and his assistance to the FARC guerillas 
in Colombia.
  One of the reasons why we continue to help and assist the 
democratically elected government of Colombia, elected by an 
overwhelming majority of the Colombian people, is because they face 
multiple challenges. That is one of the reasons why, in a bipartisan 
fashion, this Congress continues to help the democratically elected 
government.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will further yield, I 
appreciate his concerns about the violence by the FARC. I would also 
just appreciate it if he would also be concerned about the fact that we 
are supporting the Colombian military and security forces and they 
continue to be linked to right-wing paramilitary forces which commit 
crimes.
  All I am simply saying is that we have certification language, we 
should enforce it and not continuously waive it because we want to 
continue to let the money flow. If we stand for human rights, then we 
need to put our actions where our rhetoric is, and we have not been 
doing that in Colombia.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, 
we have certification language. We do not condone in any way terrorism 
from any source in Colombia. We have consistently had safeguards in our 
legislation to make sure that our assistance is not used by terrorists 
of any sort in Colombia, but I think that we have to keep our eye on 
the ball here, and that is that there is a democratically elected 
government challenged by narcoterrorists, heavily funded because of 
their trade in narcotics, their narcotrafficking, and that that 
government, that democratically elected government, is a friend of this 
country and merits our continued support.
  So I am honestly very pleased that, in a bipartisan fashion, this 
Congress continues to support the democratically elected government of 
Colombia; and that is one of the great foreign policy initiatives, 
bipartisan foreign policy initiatives, by the way, that this country is 
engaged in, which is very connected to the security of this country in 
addition to the foreign policy objectives of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me 
this time.
  Mr. Speaker, there is much in this bill to support, and I rise in 
support of the rule and the bill. This is a bill which demonstrates 
America's capacity to be sensitive to the world, America's willingness 
to feed the hungry, to help those who are depressed and oppressed all 
around the world.
  The heart of America is open to people everywhere. That is why it is 
such a tragedy that, while we simultaneously will pass this bill today, 
our country is involved in action in Iraq that is undermining all the 
goodwill that America creates with this bill. What an irony it is that 
we are here talking about the needs of people all over the globe and, 
at the same time, we are alienating people all over the globe by 
pursuing a war in Iraq, a country that did not attack us, based on 
false information from an administration that should have known better.
  So, yes, we ought to support this rule and we ought to support the 
bill, because the word that ought to go out, far and wide, about the 
United States is that we care about suffering people, that we want to 
find a way of lifting up people everywhere, that we want to try to find 
a way of making this a better world. But, as we do that, we also need 
to be consistent. We need to remember that we are simultaneously 
pursuing a path in Iraq that is wrong. We need to take a new direction 
there so that we can bring America's aspirations to help the world in 
line with our policy everywhere.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege 
to yield such time as he may consume to the chairman of the Rules 
Committee.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this rule and 
the legislation itself.
  I would like to begin by congratulating my very good friend from 
Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) and my friend from New York (Ms. Lowey) for working 
in a bipartisan way to ensure that we could get this conference report 
to the floor.
  I also want to congratulate, of course, the leadership of the full 
committee. I see the gentleman from Wisconsin here and Chairman Lewis, 
who I know have worked long and hard on these issues.
  It is great that we are able to continue down this road of getting 
our work done when it comes to appropriations. That has been a high 
priority that Chairman Lewis has established; and, obviously, what we 
are going through today is evidence of that.
  I want to especially, as we look at what is a multi-billion-dollar 
piece of legislation designed to ensure the national security of the 
United States of America and our interests around the world, I would 
like to talk about a tiny bit of money that is in here. It is a lot of 
money to me, it is a lot of money to us as individuals, it is $1 
million, but in the big scheme of things, if you look at a $20 billion 
package, the $1 million is relatively small.
  It has to do with funding for something known as the House Democracy 
Assistance Commission. This is a very, very important initiative that 
was launched by Speaker Hastert and Minority Leader Pelosi to put us on 
the road towards assisting, from this institution, emerging parliaments 
around the world.
  One of the things that we found in the aftermath of Iraq is that 
there has

[[Page 24872]]

been really a tremendous expansion of democracy. We know that in this 
hemisphere, and I heard the gentleman from Massachusetts and the 
gentleman from Florida having an exchange about this hemisphere, and I 
cannot help but think about the fact that we need to herald, herald the 
fact that, as the Summit of the Americas is taking place in Argentina 
at the moment, there are 34 democratically elected leaders in this 
hemisphere, and that is something that is unprecedented, unprecedented. 
We never in the history of the world have seen this kind of expansion 
of pluralism in this hemisphere, but it is also taking place in other 
parts of the world. Hence, we put together this Democracy Assistance 
Commission.
  I was very honored that the Speaker asked me to chair this, and I am 
joined by my very good friend from North Carolina (Mr. Price) who has 
worked on this. This is an idea that goes, frankly, all the way back to 
our former colleague, Doug Bereuter, who worked on this initiative.
  What we are doing is, in the coming months, we are going to see 
members of parliaments from these new democracies, new parliaments 
coming to the United States and spending time in State capitals, 
working in congressional district offices, dealing with the wide range 
of issues that Members of the House of Representatives face. They are 
going to do that for 1 week.
  Then, for a week, they are going to be coming to Washington, DC, and 
they are going to have an opportunity to focus attention on these very 
important issues of committee establishment, of budget process, 
oversight of the executive branch, things that we have a tendency to 
take for granted that these new democracies are just beginning to learn 
about.
  One of those countries is the newest democracy on the face of the 
earth. It happens to be a country that just gained its independence 6 
years ago from Indonesia: East Timor, a nation established in 1999. We 
also are going to include Indonesia. We are going to be including 
Kenya, the Republic of Georgia, Macedonia. Those are going to be the 
first five countries that we are going to include. So we will have 
roughly 10 parliamentarians from each of those five countries come to 
the United States and expend time and effort learning about this 
process, which we have a tendency to take for granted.
  The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) is working very hard on this 
commission. We appreciate all the work that he has put into it, and we 
also appreciate the fact that he understands the importance of making 
sure that it succeeds.
  This is all part of our quest to win the global war on terror. As has 
been pointed out time and time again, as we see the expansion, Mr. 
Speaker, of these democracies, we are in a position where we now have 
an opportunity to create a chance for people in these countries to 
succeed without resorting to terrible, terrible things.
  So I congratulate my friends for this overall bill. I congratulate 
them and the bipartisan spirit in dealing with this appropriations 
process. I support the rule, and I look forward for voting for final 
passage on this very important conference report.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my strong support for the 
fiscal year 2006 foreign operations conference report, which provides 
further foreign assistance to the Republic of Armenia, including $75 
million in economic assistance. I would like to thank the House 
Appropriations Committee for its continued support of both Armenia and 
resolving the humanitarian situation in Nagorna-Karabakh.
  Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairman Kolbe and Ranking Democrat 
Nita Lowey realize how important these funds are to Armenia and 
Nagorna-Karabakh, and I would like to thank them for their continued 
support.
  I would also like to thank my friend and co-chair of the Armenian 
Caucus, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg), for his key 
support as a member of the subcommittee.
  Mr. Speaker, it is very important that this House continue to 
recognize the plight of the victims of the Nagorna-Karabakh conflict. 
The conference committee included $3 million in humanitarian assistance 
to Nagorna-Karabakh. While the United States does not officially 
recognize the State of Nagorna-Karabakh, this assistance shows that the 
United States supports Nagorna-Karabakh as an Armenian enclave that 
needs our continued help.
  It is also important to point out that the conference report 
maintains military assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, 
providing $5 million allocated to each country. By allocating equal 
levels of military and security assistance to both nations, the U.S. 
Government will preserve its credibility as an impartial and leading 
mediator in the continuing sensitive peace negotiations for the 
Nagorna-Karabakh conflict. Given the ongoing Azerbaijani blockades and 
threats to renew military aggression against Armenia and Karabakh, it 
is critically important that the administration continue to promote 
balanced short- and long-term policies that elevate regional 
cooperation and reduce the risk of conflict in the south Caucasus 
region.
  Again, let me thank the members of the Appropriations Committee for 
their continued support for Armenia.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege 
to yield 3 minutes to a great leader in this House, the distinguished 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence).
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule supporting the 
conference report for Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related 
Programs. It is an example of Congress demonstrating the ability to 
fund our national and international priorities in a fiscally 
responsible way, and I come to this floor to extol its virtues and urge 
all of my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill.
  This legislation will fund the Nation's priorities in a meaningful 
way, addressing the AIDS pandemic, bringing innovative reforms to our 
foreign assistance programs and, of ultimate significance, supporting 
the global war on terror.
  But specifically with regard to the internal mechanics of this 
legislation, I am particularly moved by the leadership of Chairman 
Jerry Lewis of the Appropriations Committee and subcommittee chairman 
Jim Kolbe who, in an effort to ensure that this legislation was brought 
to this floor not only on time but on budget, are in the midst of an 
extraordinary effort to amend the Budget Act to embrace a new road map 
that will bring not only this bill but all of the appropriations to the 
$843 billion level embraced by this Congress this spring.
  Many of us have expressed concerns in recent days that three of the 
four preceding conference reports that came to the floor did not 
conform precisely with the details of that spring-adopted budget.

                              {time}  0945

  In response to that, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee 
shared with us and with other Members the road map to help us to 
achieve what will be, in a historic manner, a real cut to nonsecurity 
discretionary spending before Congress adjourns this year.
  But in an effort to go one step further, the Appropriations Committee 
began the process this week of amending that road map into the Budget 
Act itself.
  It is my understanding that the Budget Committee as well as many 
fiscal hawks in the Republican majority have been moved by that 
leadership and see it as an example of the energetic, principled, 
executive renewed leadership in the Appropriations Committee under 
Chairman Jerry Lewis.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule. I urge all of my 
colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill. I rise to give 
credit where credit is due, to Chairman Jerry Lewis and Subcommittee 
Chairman Jim Kolbe, for a job well done, proving once again it is

[[Page 24873]]

possible to fund the Nation's priorities on time, on budget, in a 
generous, but fiscally responsible, way.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Lowey).
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and in support of the 
conference report, the Foreign Operations and Export Financing and 
Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2006. At this time, I want to 
commend the chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee for the 
very fair and bipartisan manner in which he has brought this bill 
forward. I will save my comments on the substance of the conference 
report for the general debate.
  However, I do want to make clear that we had a tough job taking this 
bill through conference. The very low initial allocation in the House 
was compounded by a low conference allocation that cut the President's 
request by $2 billion. I would have preferred to increase funding 
levels for many of the important programs contained in this bill, 
including refugee assistance.
  However, I do think this conference report represents a fair, 
bipartisan, bicameral compromise. The chairman conducted this process 
in an inclusive manner, and I do commend him for it. I urge my 
colleagues to support the rule and to support the conference report on 
H.R. 3057.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me 
the time and permitting me to speak on this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and of the underlying 
legislation. I want to highlight the $200 million that has been set 
aside for safe drinking water.
  I must acknowledge not just the leadership of the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), but 
the special interests of the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, with 
whom I have been working on efforts to increase our commitment to 
provide sanitation and safe drinking water around the world, a United 
States priority that we have undertaken together with the United 
Nations; but it is one where we have not yet backed that up with 
dollars and with an overall strategy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that this bill is an important step towards 
meeting that obligation. I am pleased that next week it appears as we 
will be voting on legislation, the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, 
which will suggest that this will be a cornerstone in our foreign aid 
strategy.
  At any given time, one-half of the people in the world who are sick 
are sick needlessly from waterborne diseases; and before I finish the 3 
minutes that the gentlewoman has kindly allocated to me, more than 10 
children will die from waterborne disease.
  But the programs in this bill are more than just humanitarian efforts 
to reduce human suffering. As valuable as they are, they are cost-
effective investments in shared prosperity, collective security, and a 
common future.
  I hope that next year we will make it possible for the subcommittee 
to do its job easily and that the United States is not ranked 21st out 
of 22 donor countries in terms of how much we invest in ending global 
poverty compared to the size of our economy.
  I hope, Mr. Speaker, additionally, that we are able to correct one 
area that is of deep concern to me, the loss of $50 million for the 
African Union Mission in Darfur, cut just at the point where security 
is getting worse, when the African Union is coming under attack, and 
the innocent people in Darfur are most in need of protection.
  It troubles me deeply. However, overall I think the job that has been 
done by the subcommittee in fighting for our priorities and 
particularly in the renewed investment in safe drinking water and 
sanitation is to be commended. It will have a transformational effect, 
even this small amount. Bear in mind, Mr. Speaker, that if Americans 
would allocate just what we give each year for elective cosmetic 
surgery, or the Europeans would invest what they spend on perfume, we 
could meet the targets that the United States and the United Nations 
have set to reduce the scourge of unsafe drinking water and lack of 
sanitation.
  I appreciate the work that is here. I look forward to supporting the 
bill.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Farr).
  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Kolbe and Ranking Member Lowey 
for increasing the amount of money that has been put into the 
alternative development program in Colombia. It is a program that gets 
people away from growing coca into growing alternative crops. And I 
stand in support of the rule on this bill.
  I am a returned Peace Corps volunteer from Colombia and very much 
interested in building the capacity of local people to handle their own 
issues. If there is anything that we have learned from the Iraq war, it 
is the necessity to build local capacity for host country nationals to 
be able to run their own government and their own programs.
  And if you have a lot of people that are displaced, meaning they have 
no place to live, no jobs, no schools, no infrastructure to support 
them, you have a lot of problems. So what you need to do is provide 
abilities for them to have, in the rural areas, good economic 
opportunity. You do that by providing a base of what we call 
alternative development of programs that will keep them economically 
viable and thus not pressured into growing illicit crops and things 
like that.
  The committee in the House marked this with good money. The Senate 
raised it. And the conference committee brought it a little bit down, 
$5.5 million over last year's level. I really want to commend the 
committee for doing that.
  I think, frankly, that we need to, as a Congress, really address how 
much money gets to these countries, rather than just gets to K Street 
and lobbyists that are doing reports and doing studies of countries, 
rather than really helping the money get down to the people. And this 
is one program that focuses on local issues and NGOs, nongovernmental 
organizations, rather than multimillion dollar contracts for U.S. 
contractors.
  Building capacities is absolutely essential to survivability of a 
country. Now, one concern I have is that the report contains $20 
million for demobilization activities from an unspecified account. I 
think it is great that we are helping with the demobilization of the 
paramilitaries and the FARC and other kinds of insurgents, terrorists 
in a sense; but I want to make sure that that demobilization money is 
not taken from the alternative crop money.
  I would appreciate if the chairman in his remarks could, perhaps for 
the record, respond to what conditions have been put on that 
demobilization money when they decide what account to take it from.
  Again, I want to thank the chairman and ranking member, and I really 
appreciate their efforts to look for how to make a saner and smarter 
world to live in, rather than just sticking to the old adage that we 
are going to give money to K Street and let them decide what are the 
priorities abroad.
  Anything we can do to build the capacities of local countries to 
sustain themselves will make this world a much safer and saner place to 
live.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to 
the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to respond to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Farr) and his comments about the demobilization funds that we have 
in the bill for Colombia.
  The legislation provides that the funds can come from any place in 
the Act. I cannot guarantee where the administration might ask for 
those funds to come from. However, the law would

[[Page 24874]]

require that they consult with us and notify the subcommittee. And I 
can assure you that if they were to ask to take funds out of a program 
that is working and working well, such as the alternative development 
program in Colombia, we would object to such a request.
  So it is very broad on where the money can come from. We have no 
assurances, I might add to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), 
that they are even going to request this money at all. But if they do, 
we will be watching very carefully as to where it would come from and 
make sure it is the appropriate place.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Lowey).
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I just want the gentleman to know I share 
the concerns of the chairman. I believe that we can have far greater 
impact in Colombia by investing in alternative livelihoods rather than 
forced eradication.
  Mr. Speaker, I would be very reluctant to see funding for 
demobilization programs come at the expense of any alternative 
development programs, and I look forward to working with the chairman 
to ensure that this just does not happen.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) for raising 
these concerns.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank each 
and every distinguished Member of the House who has spoken this morning 
on this legislation. Obviously, this is, appropriately so, a tremendous 
amount, really a consensus, which is pleasing to see support for what 
we are doing as a Congress and as a government, as a Nation in this 
legislation.
  I want to take one final moment, if I may, to explain a point that I 
made in response to a question to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern) when I said that it is my belief that the Government of 
Venezuela is a dictatorship.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak a second or a minute to explain 
why. Democracy, in order for it to exist, requires two fundamental 
pillars or legitimacies; the legitimacy of origin, which is obtained 
through free and fair elections, and the Government of Venezuela was 
elected. So it obviously had the legitimacy of origin.
  But then I believe that for a government to be democratic, it has to 
have another form of legitimacy, which is legitimacy in its conduct in 
the process of governing. And if a government, even if democratically 
elected, represses the opposition, persecutes the opposition, represses 
the press, for example the free press, in my view, it loses that other 
legitimacy which is required, the legitimacy of conduct for a democracy 
to be a democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, so I am convinced that the Government of Venezuela has 
lost its democratic legitimacy, and it is not a democracy. So I 
appreciate the opportunity to explain why I believe, as I stated 
before, that it is at this moment a dictatorship.
  I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) for his extraordinary 
work once again in bringing forward this legislation. He is one of the 
people that I greatly admire in this House.

                              {time}  1000

  I urge all of our colleagues to support what we are doing, the very 
important step we are taking for our foreign policy interests and great 
humanitarian causes today in this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________