[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14891]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 PEPFAR

  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes to speak on 
the rather large foreign aid bill we are addressing this week in the 
Senate. I have already expressed my concern, and I will do it again.
  As the Senator from Texas was just talking about, we have a serious 
energy problem in our country today. Americans are hurting, and it is 
probably not a very good time to be talking about sending billions of 
American dollars around the world, despite how good the cause may be. 
Nevertheless, we are going to be voting on various amendments related 
to what we call PEPFAR, which began as an aid to Africa bill, and that 
is one of the issues I wish to address this morning.
  The PEPFAR Program that the President started in 2003, which I 
supported, took $15 billion over 5 years and focused it on the AIDS 
epidemic in Africa. Other countries were allowed to participate. The 
primary focus was on AIDS and malaria. There has been some success, so 
the President would like to reauthorize that program.
  Unfortunately, as it has worked its way through Congress, it has gone 
from a $15 billion expenditure to a $50 billion expenditure, sending 
more money overseas than we spend ourselves on research for AIDS in 
America or breast cancer or juvenile diabetes and the problems we have 
here. We are sending the money overseas.
  This bill does not go according to its label anymore. This is no 
longer an aid to Africa bill. It expands across three more continents, 
including China and other countries that might be better off 
financially than we are at this point.
  I proposed an amendment to limit the scope of the PEPFAR bill to its 
original intent, which included Africa and other authorized countries 
in the original bill, so that we can focus these dollars in a way that 
would allow them to work rather than allow them to create a global fund 
that spreads the money so thin that we are no longer effective in any 
area.
  The vote at 11 also includes a very important amendment that is 
attached to the amendment to keep the focus on the countries in the 
original bill. This amendment would prohibit PEPFAR funds from going to 
organizations that are involved with forced abortions and forced 
sterilization in countries such as China. Again, countries such as 
China don't need our money, particularly at a time when they are 
actually much better off financially than we are. American taxpayers 
should not be forced to send their money to organizations in China that 
force abortions.
  We may have people who stand up and say this is not going to happen, 
but $2 billion in the first year of this program is designated to the 
U.N. Global Fund. It is indicated that such sums that would be spent 
over the next 4 years would be allocated to it, which means it is 
likely that there is going to be $10 billion over 5 years that goes to 
the U.N. Global Fund. All one has to do is go to the Global Fund Web 
site, go to China, and see that there is over $70 million in grants 
that has gone to the organization in China that actually enforces the 
one-child policy, enforces the forced abortion policy in China. The law 
of the land here in this country is that we don't use taxpayer dollars 
for forced abortions anywhere in the world. Actually, the PEPFAR bill 
itself prohibits those funds. Yet there is a loophole in that as funds 
from PEPFAR go to the U.N. Global Fund, they will go to organizations 
such as we have in China that are involved in forced abortions.
  Some of my colleagues will say this is unnecessary; it is already the 
law. If it is, I hope they will go along with this amendment and 
support it and not vote to table it this morning. This is a very real 
and serious problem. The U.N. Global Fund is very well known for 
supporting organizations in China and elsewhere that promote forced 
abortions and forced sterilization on women. This is not only an 
abortion issue; it is a human rights issue that we all need to stand up 
and support.
  So as we head to 11 o'clock, I wish to remind my colleagues again, 
because sometimes we confuse so many things together here that people 
don't know what we are voting on. The majority leader has moved to 
table my amendment--the amendment that says we can't add three new 
continents to this bill--because he knows that attached to it is this 
amendment that would prohibit funds from being used for forced 
abortions. The whole reason for the big debacle we had here in the 
Senate last Friday where people were brought back late is because the 
majority leader would not allow me to offer this amendment that would 
prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used for forced abortions in China 
and other places in the world.
  So this is a very important vote at 11 o'clock. My colleagues need to 
know that if they vote to table my amendment, they are voting to do two 
things. First, they are voting to divert funds from this Africa fund 
and other countries that were authorized in the first bill--the 
countries that are suffering from widespread epidemics--they will be 
voting to divert these funds to countries where there are very isolated 
problems. The money will ultimately be spread around the world to 
organizations that waste this money instead of focusing it where we can 
really make a difference. Also, voting to table this amendment means 
you are supporting using PEPFAR funds, which are supposed to be for 
AIDS in Africa, you are supporting using those funds to promote forced 
abortions and forced sterilization in China and in other countries.
  So I want my colleagues to be clear. I am not sure how the majority 
leader and others will present this motion to table, but the reason 
they are attempting to table it is because they want to stop the 
amendment that would not allow these funds to be used through the U.N. 
Global Fund to organizations in China that promote forced abortion. So 
I urge my colleagues to vote no--to vote no to table this amendment on 
these amendments so they can receive a fair vote in the Senate.
  With that, I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________