[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4527-4532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HOUSE DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE COMMISSION RESOLUTION

  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 135) providing for the 
establishment of a commission in the House of Representatives to assist 
parliaments in emerging democracies.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 135

       Resolved, 

[[Page 4528]]



     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This resolution may be cited as the ``House Democracy 
     Assistance Commission Resolution''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The House of Representatives makes the following findings:
       (1) Since its founding, the United States has championed 
     the expansion of democracy around the world.
       (2) Indeed, beginning with the Continental Congress and 
     continuing through the modern Congress, representative 
     institutions have served as a critical component through 
     which the American people have expressed their views on 
     policy issues and through which the power of other government 
     branches has been balanced.
       (3) In his second inaugural address on January 20, 2005, 
     President George W. Bush declared: ``We are led by events and 
     common sense to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in 
     our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in 
     other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the 
     expansion of freedom in all the world. . . . So it is the 
     policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of 
     democratic movements and institutions in every nation and 
     culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our 
     world.''.
       (4) Strong institutions, particularly national legislatures 
     with proper infrastructure, are essential for democracies to 
     mature and to withstand cyclical turnover in governments.
       (5) Furthermore, the parliaments of emerging democracies 
     are commonly comprised of new legislators, citizens from many 
     walks of life, who face the challenges of creating new 
     democratic systems without the benefit of previous 
     legislative experience. The legislatures of these fledgling 
     democracies often lack training, equipment, or resources to 
     carry out their work effectively.
       (6) Many parliaments do not possess the necessary 
     technology, such as modern computer equipment, software, or 
     access to databases and electronic resources, to facilitate 
     the timely flow of legislative information to lawmakers and 
     legislative staff.
       (7) Parliaments in fledgling democracies also frequently 
     lack trained staff to provide nonpartisan policy information, 
     to draft legislation, and to advise legislators on policy 
     matters.
       (8) Newly democratic parliaments may lack the resources to 
     establish internal libraries, reference materials, and 
     archiving capabilities for use by legislators and staff.
       (9) From 1990 through 1996, the United States House of 
     Representatives, in conjunction with the House Information 
     Systems Office (later known as House Information Resources) 
     and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library 
     of Congress, provided equipment and technical assistance to 
     newly democratic parliaments in Central and Eastern European 
     countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, 
     Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, 
     Slovakia, and Ukraine, in an effort to develop and strengthen 
     those institutions.
       (10) This program, commonly known as the ``Frost-Solomon 
     Task Force'', not only served the United States foreign 
     policy goal of helping to establish democratic institutions 
     in other countries, but also developed significant goodwill 
     in the countries in which it was implemented. The program was 
     designed to improve the efficiency of parliaments and the 
     professionalism of their members and staff, as well as to 
     increase transparency and accountability.
       (11) A program similar to the Frost-Solomon Task Force 
     would enable Members, officers, and staff of the House of 
     Representatives to share their expertise and experience with 
     their counterparts in other countries, in keeping with the 
     declared policy of the United States to support the growth of 
     democratic institutions, thereby undertaking what President 
     Bush called ``the idealistic work of helping raise up free 
     governments''.

     SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

       There is established in the House of Representatives a 
     commission to be known as the House Democracy Assistance 
     Commission (hereafter in this resolution referred to as the 
     ``Commission'').

     SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.

       (a) Number and Appointment.--The Commission shall be 
     composed of Members of the House of Representatives, the 
     number of whom shall be determined by the Speaker of the 
     House of Representatives, in consultation with the Minority 
     Leader of the House of Representatives. Majority party 
     members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of 
     Representatives and minority party members shall be appointed 
     by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
       (b) Terms of Members of the House of Representatives.--Each 
     member of the Commission shall be appointed for a term that 
     is concurrent with the Congress in which the appointment is 
     made. Such a member may be reappointed for one or more 
     subsequent terms in accordance with the preceding sentence.
       (c) Chairperson.--The Chairperson of the Commission shall 
     be designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
     from among the members appointed by the Speaker of the House 
     of Representatives under subsection (a).

     SEC. 5. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.

       (a) Activities.--The Commission shall work with the 
     parliaments of selected countries, as determined pursuant to 
     subsection (b)(4), on a frequent and regular basis in order 
     to--
       (1) enable Members, officers, and staff of the House of 
     Representatives and congressional support agencies to provide 
     expert advice to members and staff of the parliaments of 
     selected countries;
       (2) enable members and staff of parliaments of selected 
     countries to visit the House of Representatives and its 
     support agencies to learn about their operations first-hand; 
     and
       (3) provide recommendations to the Administrator of the 
     United States Agency for International Development regarding 
     the provision of material assistance, such as modern 
     automation and office systems, information technology, and 
     library supplies, that the Commission determines is needed by 
     the parliament of a selected country in order to improve the 
     efficiency and transparency of its work, and to oversee the 
     provision of such assistance.
       (b) Study.--
       (1) In general.--In order to carry out the activities 
     described in subsection (a), the Commission shall conduct on 
     an annual basis (or more frequently if necessary) a study on 
     the feasibility of programs of assistance for parliaments of 
     countries described in paragraph (2) for the purpose of 
     strengthening the parliamentary infrastructure of such 
     countries. The Commission shall designate those countries 
     described in paragraph (2) with respect to which a study will 
     be conducted under this subsection. The study shall assess--
       (A) the independent and substantive role that each 
     parliament plays, or could reasonably be expected to play, in 
     the legislative process and government oversight;
       (B) the potential benefit to each parliament of expert 
     advice from Members and staff of the House of Representatives 
     in areas such as the development of research services and 
     legislative information systems, parliamentary procedure, 
     committee operations, budget process, government oversight, 
     and constituent services; and
       (C) the need in each parliament for material assistance, 
     such as modern automation and office systems, information 
     technology, and research materials, in order to improve 
     efficiency and transparency.
       (2) Countries described.--The countries referred to in 
     paragraph (1) are countries that have established or are 
     developing democratic parliaments which would benefit from 
     assistance described in this resolution.
       (3) Sense of the house of representatives.--It is the sense 
     of the House of Representatives that the countries described 
     in paragraph (2) with respect to which studies will be 
     conducted under this subsection should reflect a geographic 
     diversity and over time should include countries from each of 
     the following regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, 
     the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.
       (4) Selected countries.--From the countries studied, the 
     Commission shall select one or more parliaments that it 
     recommends should receive assistance under the provisions of 
     this resolution, based on the criteria in paragraph (1). 
     Assistance may be provided under the provisions of this 
     resolution to a parliament selected under this paragraph only 
     if the parliament first expresses to the Speaker of the House 
     of Representatives an interest to receive such assistance.
       (c) Report.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than September 30, 2005, and 
     each September 30 thereafter until September 30, 2009, the 
     Commission shall prepare and submit to the Speaker of the 
     House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of 
     Representatives, the Committee on International Relations and 
     other appropriate House committees, the Office of 
     Interparliamentary Affairs of the House of Representatives, 
     and the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
     International Development, an annual report on the following:
       (A) Results of study.--The results of the study conducted 
     pursuant to subsection (b).
       (B) Commission activities.--In accordance with the results 
     of such study, a review of the activities of the Commission 
     in the previous year and a proposal for the activities of the 
     Commission in the following year, as described in subsection 
     (a).
       (2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``other 
     appropriate House committees'' means the Committee on 
     Appropriations, the Committee on House Administration, and 
     the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives.

     SEC. 6. ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

       (a) In General.--The Commission shall carry out the duties 
     described in section 5 using the staff and resources of the 
     Committee on International Relations, including the use of 
     consultants, such as individuals with expertise in 
     development of democratic parliaments, legislative systems 
     management, legislative research, parliamentary procedure, 
     related legislative matters, and technology systems 
     management, as appropriate.

[[Page 4529]]

       (b) Participation of Legislative Branch Employees.--At the 
     request of the Commission, the head of any House office or 
     congressional support agency may assist the work of the 
     Commission by--
       (1) detailing personnel of that office to the staff of the 
     Committee on International Relations; or
       (2) authorizing personnel of that office to participate in 
     activities of the Commission.

     SEC. 7. TERMINATION.

       The Commission shall terminate on September 30, 2009.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Barrett) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett).


                             General Leave

  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from South Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  First, I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from California 
(Mr. Dreier), chairman of the Committee on Rules, and the distinguished 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) for introducing this 
legislation. I would also like to recognize the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Hyde), chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), our distinguished ranking 
Democrat member, as original co-sponsors.
  Last week, the Committee on International Relations unanimously 
agreed to ask the chairman to seek immediate consideration of this 
resolution by the whole House under suspension of the rules. I would 
like to thank the leadership for moving so expeditiously to schedule 
this debate. I would also like to remember the role played by one of 
our long-time colleagues, the very distinguished gentleman from 
Nebraska, Doug Bereuter. Prior to his retirement last year after nearly 
26 years in the House, Mr. Bereuter worked closely with the gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Price) on this initiative. Doug Bereuter was a 
strong believer in helping to spread democracy to former dictatorships, 
a mission that he has continued to champion in his new role as 
President of the Asia Foundation. His commitment to interparliamentary 
relations was underlined by his service as president of the 26-nation 
NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
  This resolution, in part, is of his legacy of the House of 
Representatives and to the expansion of democracy around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, in his second inaugural address, the President of the 
United States, Mr. Bush, declared: ``The best hope for peace in our 
world is the expansion of freedom in all the world . . . So it is the 
policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of 
democratic movements and the institutions in every nation and culture 
with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.''
  The resolution before us would enable the House of Representatives to 
directly and personally answer the President's call to support the 
growth of democratic institutions in every nation. House Resolution 135 
creates the House Democracy Assistance Commission. This commission will 
allow Members and staff of the House of Representatives to work 
directly with their counterparts in new democracies around the world to 
help those parliaments play an independent and substantive role in the 
legislative process and government oversight. This commission would 
build on the legacy of the Frost-Solomon task force of the 1990s when 
the House worked with democracies then emerging in Central and Eastern 
Europe, helping their parliaments become independent, effective 
legislatures.
  Today, with democracies spreading throughout the world, the House 
Democracy Assistance Commission would allow Members to personally 
undertake what President Bush called ``the idealistic work of helping 
raise up free governments.'' Through the House Democracy Assistance 
Commission, Members and their staffs from the House of Representatives 
will personally advise their counterparts from the parliaments of new 
democracies around the world both in their home capitals and here in 
Washington. Many of these parliaments need assistance in areas like 
committee operations, government oversight, constituent relations, 
parliamentary procedure, bill drafting, and establishment of research 
services and legislative information systems.
  In addition, when the commission identifies needs in developing 
countries, it can recommend that the U.S. Agency for International 
Development provide office equipment for information technology to 
enable those parliaments to become more efficient and transparent. 
Creation of the House Democracy Assistance Commission will enable the 
House of Representatives to personally answer the President's call to 
support the growth of democratic institutions in every nation.
  I urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. I strongly 
welcome this resolution to establish a commission in the House of 
Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies. At the 
outset, I want to pay tribute to the distinguished gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Price), who has been a consistent and steadfast advocate 
of the establishment of this commission. I also want to commend the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), my fellow Californian and 
friend, who is the author of this resolution, and the gentleman from 
Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for his leadership in moving the resolution 
through committee. I also want to commend the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Barrett), our new colleague, for his work on this matter.
  Mr. Speaker, our country has been the leading promoter of democracy 
from the very beginning of our Nation. It defines who we are as 
Americans, and it is rightfully a key and continuing element of our 
foreign policy.
  In 1789, the year our Constitution went into effect and the year that 
George Washington was sworn in as our first President, the young United 
States supported the French Revolution. In 1848, the United States 
supported the uprising of the people of Hungary against the Hapsburg 
monarchy; and after Russia and Austria crushed that revolution, we 
welcomed to our shores Kossuth Lajos, the great leader of the forces of 
democracy in Hungary whose statue adorns our Capitol in perpetuity.
  In 1918, our President Woodrow Wilson expressed the idea that it is 
in the national interest of the United States to encourage free and 
open and democratic governments. President Bush echoed that sentiment 
in his inaugural address earlier this year.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation provides for the establishment of a 
House commission to assist the new parliaments in emerging democracies. 
It is similar to the commission which was established by the House of 
Representatives in 1990 as the former communist states of Central and 
Eastern Europe were emerging from Soviet dominance. Under the able 
leadership of our former colleague, Congressman Martin Frost of Texas, 
and then our late colleague, Congressman Gerald Solomon of New York, 
this commission worked with the Congressional Research Service and the 
Library of Congress to provide technical assistance and information to 
these new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.

                              {time}  1545

  Our Commission played an important role in assisting the parliaments 
of these newly democratic states. This legislation establishes a 
Commission with a similar mandate to assist parliaments in newly 
emerging democracies in areas throughout the Middle East where we have 
recently seen the winds of democracy beginning to stir.

[[Page 4530]]

  There are also parliaments in other parts of the world where 
assistance from the Congress can help to establish free and open and 
democratic practices that will strengthen the rule of law.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know the need to break the grip of dictatorship 
wherever it exists, but that is merely the first step on a long 
journey. Without assistance to help in the establishment of 
institutions of democracy, countries in transition to a more 
pluralistic political culture will be subject to the risk of falling 
short of the aspirations of their citizens who promoted democratic 
values.
  We in this body have a role, along with our democratic friends and 
allies, to help those who want assistance in strengthening legislative 
assemblies in many forms.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he 
may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), sponsor of 
H. Res. 135, the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. 
I want to begin by thanking my colleagues; the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Barrett) for his commitment to the effort of this 
resolution. Behind this resolution, of course, I want to thank my very 
good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for all of his 
efforts, and I appreciate his once again bringing to mind 1848, as he 
likes to regularly remind our Governor of California about what took 
place in 1848.
  I also want to thank my good friend the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Price), who as the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) said, 
has been working for a long period of time on this. And of course Doug 
Bereuter, who is no longer serving in this House, but obviously put a 
lot of effort in this. And of course our former colleagues, Mr. Solomon 
and Mr. Frost.
  I was privileged to serve on their task force in the early 1990s, and 
it is amazing when one looks at the success that we have enjoyed during 
that period of time. In fact, one of the greatest things that took 
place following our effort to establish those parliaments and put into 
place the expertise and the technical assistance and helping with 
constituent relations and demonstrating independence from the Executive 
Branch and all those great things as we worked with those fledgling 
democracies in Hungary and then Czechoslovakia and then Yugoslavia, 
obviously countries that have changed since that period of time, but 
Romania and Poland. It is amazing that it has not been necessary for 
the task force to be in place any longer. Why? Because we have seen 
following the efforts of that task force a great deal of success with 
those emerging parliaments, doing the very, very important independent 
thinking that parliaments need to do.
  As the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett) pointed out so 
well in quoting President Bush's inaugural address and then his State 
of the Union message, it is very clear that we have witnessed an 
explosion of democracies throughout the entire world in recent months, 
and the fact that we have seen this explosion underscores the 
importance of this resolution which will, at the direction of the 
gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert), call for the establishment 
of this Commission, and I want to thank Speaker Hastert, and of course 
the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for their strong support of 
this effort as well.
  To me, this is one of the most exciting things that we will be able 
to do as an institution for a long period of time in the coming months 
and years, and I will tell you why, Mr. Speaker. If one looks at the 
challenges that we face, we know that the establishment of democracies 
is critical to the potential for us to diminish the kinds of threats 
that exist in the world. Military threats, terrorist threats are 
diminished with the success of democracies. And we all know that one 
election does not a democracy make. Over the past several months, to 
the surprise of many, we have seen elections take place in some places 
that have never experienced elections before; Afghanistan, for example. 
Never before had we seen an election take place in Afghanistan.
  We have just now seen for the first time in a long, long period of 
time free and fair elections in the Palestinian territories, and then 
of course the most heralded election, when 8\1/2\ million Iraqis, to 
the surprise of many throughout the world, actually exercised that 
right to vote. And when we saw the emergence of the Shiia population, 
many thought that they would through the election process squelch the 
opportunity for the Sunnis and the Kurds to be involved in the process, 
when instead with this election having taken place the Shiia have been 
reaching out to try and hold Iraq together.
  And so now, we, as an institution, the United States House of 
Representatives, have a wonderful opportunity to provide assistance to 
countries that have seen elections take place and have yet to see their 
parliaments really flourish, first be established and then flourish.
  And then of course just in recent weeks, what is it that we have 
seen? As the Secretary of State said not too long ago, if one were to 
guess that 250,000 people would be on the streets of Beirut, Lebanon 
calling for independence, it would have come as a surprise to almost 
anyone, and yet that is exactly what we have seen.
  And so these opportunities for democracies to take off are emerging 
all over the globe, and that is why the establishment of this 
Commission is, I believe, going to be critically important to help with 
the strengthening of those democracies through the talent and expertise 
that will be necessary for the parliamentarians in those democracies.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I believe this is a historic 
opportunity for the United States Congress to be involved in our direct 
association with democracy building and most specifically parliament 
building in those countries that are coming to the forefront, and we 
all hope that there will be even greater opportunities for the United 
States Congress to be involved in that democracy building in countries 
where we could not possibly even fathom it today.
  That is why I hope that one day we will get to the point where this 
Commission will no longer be necessary too, when we see political 
pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination and the existence of 
democratic institutions globally, because we know that that will play a 
great role in ensuring the stability and the success and the freedom 
that I believe all mankind deserves.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield such time as he may 
consume to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), 
the Democratic author of this resolution.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
Dreier-Price Democracy Assistance Commission resolution. House 
Resolution 135 will establish a Commission in the House charged with 
helping parliaments in emerging democracies play a more independent, 
transparent and representative role.
  I am pleased that the gentleman from California (Chairman Dreier) 
will be taking the lead role on the Commission, and I look forward to 
working closely with him to make this Commission a success and to make 
it a worthy successor to the Frost-Solomon Task Force, which helped 
build the capacity of new parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe 
between 1990 and 1996.
  The Frost-Solomon Task Force, under the leadership of our former 
colleagues Martin Frost and the late Jerry Solomon, went in at the 
ground level with 10 parliaments from former Soviet and Warsaw Pact 
states, providing them with the kind of basic resources and 
technological infrastructure required for any legislature to play a 
meaningful role in an emerging democracy--things like computers and 
other office equipment and reference materials for parliamentary 
libraries--and helping them establish the systems

[[Page 4531]]

and procedures necessary to create an efficient and well-functioning 
legislature.
  A bipartisan group of House Members was actively involved, as were 
key House and Library of Congress staff who offered extensive 
consultation.
  I had the opportunity to participate in the activities of that task 
force, and to witness firsthand the positive impact that it had, not 
only on the maturation of parliaments receiving assistance, but also in 
engendering a positive image of the United States, and of the U.S. 
House of Representatives, abroad. It was one of the most worthwhile and 
rewarding experiences I have had as a Member of this body.
  The spread of democracy is continuing, and the U.S. Agency for 
International Development and its partners in the nonprofit world have 
been active in assisting new parliaments all around the world. Many 
other developed democracies have also gotten into the act of providing 
assistance to parliaments in emerging democracies.
  But there is still an important role for the U.S. House to play. In 
fact, there is a role that I would argue the House is uniquely 
positioned to play. After all, the U.S. House is the oldest directly 
representative democratic body in existence in the world, one of two 
Chambers in the oldest democratic federal legislature in existence. We 
have been doing something that the world admires for a very long time. 
We should pass along the benefits of our experience to our colleagues 
in emerging democracies abroad, always in the spirit of realizing that, 
for all of us, the fullness of democracy is still a work in progress.
  Our knowledge and experience as Members and support staff of this 
great institution are something we can share directly with our 
counterparts in emerging democracies, helping build their capacity to 
better perform the essential role that legislatures must play in 
democratic government, through oversight of governmental expenditures 
and military operations, constituent services, committee operations, 
information services and research.
  Mr. Speaker, today is the culmination of 2 years of hard work, 
starting in early 2003 when I first began talking with Representative 
Doug Bereuter about resuming the work of the Frost-Solomon Task Force. 
We spent a lot of time talking with USAID, with Frost-Solomon Task 
Force veterans and with other stakeholders, trying to figure out the 
best way to move forward, how to ensure that the Commission's work did 
not duplicate other assistance efforts and in fact complemented them 
with the unique contribution that House Members could make.
  We introduced the first version of this resolution, H. Res. 543, a 
little over a year ago, and a second improved version, H. Res. 642, 
last summer. Both resolutions were approved by the House Committee on 
International Relations, but there were still some refinements needed 
to get the consensus needed to move the resolution to the floor. We 
have now been able to make those refinements, thanks to the support and 
feedback we received from Scott Palmer and other staff members of the 
Office of the Speaker.
  I want to thank the Speaker and the minority leader for lending their 
support to this enterprise, along with the gentleman from Illinois 
(Chairman Hyde) and the ranking minority member, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos) of the Committee on International Relations.
  John Lis, a staff member of the Committee on International Relations, 
played a critical role in helping bring us to this point, and will 
continue to play the lead staff role in the Commission's work.
  Francis Miko and Paul Rundquist with CRS, Dan Freeman with the 
Committee on International Relations, and Kristi Walseth, formerly of 
Representative Frost's staff, all of these played important support 
roles for the Frost-Solomon Task Force and have been extremely valuable 
advisers on the best way for a reconstituted Commission to work. We 
will continue to call on them for advice and, in some cases, to help 
carry out the Commission's duties.
  I also want to thank successive members of my staff who put many 
hours and substantial effort into fine-tuning this resolution: Tom 
Rice, Marian Currinder and Darek Newby.
  Over the course of the next several months, the Commission will be 
appointed by the Speaker and minority leader, and the staff will be 
evaluating candidate countries from around the world for potential 
participation in the Democracy Assistance Program. The Commission will 
eventually narrow that list down to five countries that will be invited 
to participate in the program beginning in fiscal year 2006.
  Assistance will be provided through visits by Commission members, 
other interested Members of the House, and staff to participating 
countries, and members and staff of those parliaments will also have 
opportunities to come to the United States to become more familiar with 
both State and Federal legislative institutions and practices.
  We are working closely, and will continue to work closely, with 
USAID, the National Democratic Institute, and the International 
Republican Institute to coordinate the delivery of equipment and other 
related material assistance where the Commission identifies particular 
needs.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting endeavor, and one that I am looking 
forward to helping move forward. I hope that many of my colleagues will 
agree and find some way to contribute to the work of the Commission, to 
help support the spread and consolidation of democracy around the 
world.

                              {time}  1600

  The passage of H. Res. 135 is the essential first step, and I urge 
its adoption.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter), a member of the Committee on 
International Relations.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 135, 
for within its wisdom rests the realization a nation's democracy is 
never more imperiled than in its infancy. This realization and the 
extension of protections to emerging democracies are vital to our 
ensuring these newborn nations' first breaths of freedom burgeon into 
the full fruit of liberty.
  Mr. Speaker, especially as we watch the ominous portents emanating 
from Russia's experiment in representative governments, we must ever 
remember the inception of a democracy is not an end. It is a beginning. 
And let us ever stand ready to assist those of our fellow human beings 
who are fitfully and finally breathing free.
  I urge the adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation. We 
have absolutely no constitutional authority to establish a commission 
to ``assist'' parliaments throughout the world. Despite all the high-
sounding rhetoric surrounding this legislation, we should not fool 
ourselves. This is nothing more than yet another scheme to funnel 
United States tax dollars to foreign governments. It is an 
international welfare scheme and an open door to more U.S. meddling in 
the internal affairs of foreign countries.
  How can we tell an American family struggling to pay its bills that 
it must pay more taxes so a foreign parliament can purchase fancy 
plasma screen televisions, or the latest computer equipment, or ultra-
modern communications equipment? Can anyone here justify this?
  Mr. Speaker, this bill will do more than just take money from 
Americans. This commission will enable members of Congress and 
congressional staff employees to travel the world meddling in the 
affairs of foreign governing bodies. It is counterproductive to tell 
other nations how they should govern themselves, as even if we come 
loaded with dollars to hand out, our meddling is always resented by the 
local population--just as we would resent a foreign government telling 
us how to govern ourselves. Don't we have enough of our own problems to 
solve without going abroad in search of foreign parliaments to aid?
  I urge my colleagues to reject this wasteful  and  counterproductive 
scheme.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I have no further 
requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page 4532]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Murphy). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett ) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 135.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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