Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
Floor Speech
INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 10, 2007)
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Ms. LEE. Madam Chair, first let me thank the Chair of the Intelligence Committee and my friend from my hometown of El Paso, Texas (Mr. Reyes) for his support of this amendment and also for his tremendous leadership as Chair of this committee. And I know the hour is late, so I will keep this short.
Madam Chair, this amendment is simple and noncontroversial. It merely requires the President to submit a report to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees describing any authorization granted over the last 10 years to engage in intelligence activities related to the overthrow of democratically elected governments.
We all recognize that democracy promotion is at the top of this administration's agenda; and I believe that there is no question that supporting democracy is and should be a nonpartisan issue that we all can agree on. It is, quite simply, fundamental to who we are as a people and what we stand for as a Nation.
But we must be vigilant and safeguard against any actions that would undermine or threaten our abilities to really practice what we preach, and it is clear that actions that undermine democracies also undermine our credibility in the world. Furthermore, it affects our ability to be viewed as a serious and legitimate agent of democracy.
So if the support of people seeking democratic governance and democracy is to really remain a critical pillar of our foreign policy, we must ensure that we do not interfere with democratically elected governments. Who will believe us if our actions are inconsistent with our words? And how successful will we be as a Nation in achieving our goals?
So tonight I offer this amendment to support and protect our efforts in upholding democracy and to help ensure that our actions are really consistent with our values.
Madam Chair, I want to conclude by thanking you again for your support, and I want to strongly urge all of my colleagues here today to continue to stand up for democracy and for transparency by supporting this amendment.
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Ms. LEE. Madam Chair, if there are no additional speakers, I close by once again thanking all of our leadership on both sides of the aisle. And I want to especially thank Congresswoman Harman for her past leadership and support of these efforts to make sure that we were able to get to this point today.
Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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