[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25759-25760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        LABOR-HHS APPROPRIATIONS


                 Enhanced Study and Exchange Activities

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I want to bring the attention of my 
colleague from Kentucky to a provision Senator Bingaman and I offered 
to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill regarding a strategic plan for 
enhancing access of

[[Page 25760]]

legitimate foreign students, scholars, scientists, and exchange 
visitors in the United States for study and exchange activates. Since 
September 11, restrictive visa policies and negative perceptions of the 
United States have led to a drastic decline in the number of foreign 
students studying in the United States, a development which has a 
negative consequences for both American foreign policy and economic 
competitiveness. A strategy is needed to pro-actively counter negative 
perceptions about America as unwelcoming to foreign students, and to 
enable us to successfully compete with places like the EU, the UK, and 
Australia, which have developed strategies to recruit the world's best 
and brightest. In my amendment to the Labor-HHS bill, I initially 
requested the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the 
Secretaries of State, Commerce, Homeland Security and Energy and 
others, to prepare this plan.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I am aware of this provision and have been alerted by 
the State Department that they would prefer that the Secretary of State 
take the lead in coordinating this strategic plan, given Secretary 
Rice's jurisdiction over this matter. Had this provision been offered 
to the fiscal year 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, I can 
assure my friend that it would have been included as a requirement for 
the State Department to fulfill.
  Mr. COLEMAN. I, too, have been informed of the State Department's 
jurisdictional concern. Given that this issue is more appropriate to 
the Foreign Operations bill, I wonder if my friend from Kentucky will 
work with me and the State Department to ensure that this provision is 
fulfilled, specifically that within 180 days of enactment of the 
foreign aid bill the Department provide the relevant congressional 
committees with a report detailing this strategic plan, in consultation 
with the Departments of Education, Commerce, Homeland Security, and 
Energy, as well as institutions and organizations involved in 
international education. The strategy should seek to use innovative 
media like the Internet to develop a marketing strategy. It should also 
include policy recommendations for streamlining the procedures related 
to international student access.
  Mr. McCONNELL. My staff has already discussed this matter with the 
State Department and they have committed to providing such a plan 
within that timeframe.
  Mr. COLEMAN. I thank the chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, 
and Related Programs Subcommittee.

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