Conference Report on H.R. 4818, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005

CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4818, CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - November 20, 2004)

Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Pursuant to House Resolution 866, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 4818) making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Ms. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this conference report. I'd like to take a few moments to focus on the foreign operations section, which I strongly support and which I believe represents the very best of bipartisan cooperation in the pursuit of a sound and effective foreign policy.

Despite representing a cut of $1.9 billion below the President's request, the conference agreement will accomplish many good things. It increases the President's request for international HIV/AIDS programs by about $100 million, and by about $700 million over last year's level. It provides a total of $400 million for basic education, which is a $75 million increase above last year. Since Chairman KOLBE and I began working together, we have quadrupled funding for basic education, and I am pleased the Senate agreed to include the House-passed level for this valuable priority.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation will receive $1.5 billion, which is $500 million above last year. We have also restored cuts proposed by the President to USAID's core programs for health, the environment, democracy building, and economic growth. This is the second consecutive year that Congress has had to restore the administration's cuts, and I hope the administration will take notice. Congress has no intention of cutting our core programs in Africa and Latin America to make room for new initiatives.

The agreement fully funds our commitments to Israel and other Middle Eastern countries and provides increases for new programs designed to mitigate conflicts. I am pleased that we have extended the loan guarantee program for Israel by 2 years, which will enable Israel to take full advantage of the authority already granted by Congress. I am also pleased that the statement of managers expresses concern about the need for more vigorous oversight of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and requests a report on oversight measures from the State Department.

The agreement also provides significant funding for both Pakistan and Afghanistan as we continue our partnership in fighting the war on terrorism. As reconstruction proceeds in Afghanistan, it is increasingly clear that the $1 billion in this bill will have to be augmented by as much as an additional $1 billion in supplemental funds. I hope that we will have the opportunity to provide these funds after the New Year-we have a responsibility to our own national security, and to the people of Afghanistan, to get the reconstruction job done right.

We have increased funds for both Sudan and Haiti because of the serious humanitarian crises in both countries. For Haiti, we have provided $85 million, which is $58 million above the request. For Sudan, the bill contains the $311 million included in the House-passed bill plus an additional $93 million specifically for the Darfur emergency. This funding, which should have come in the form of a mandatory transfer from the billions of unspent Iraq reconstruction funds, will instead be provided as new, emergency funding. I am simply baffled that, despite bipartisan support for this transfer, the administration has fought tooth and nail against it. While I am pleased the funds have been provided, I am surprised that we have not taken advantage of the authority to use already-appropriated funds for this clearly important purpose.

Once again, I am disappointed with the disposition of the outstanding issues surrounding international family planning. While I am pleased that the conference agreement provides $441 million for our bilateral family planning programs, these programs are still subject to the senseless global gag rule policy.

We have also failed to rationalize restrictions on funding the United Nations Population Fund, which as received no U.S. support since 2001.

I am pleased that we have clearly stipulated that any fiscal year 2005 funds blocked from UNFPA will go to bolster our bilateral family planning programs. I am deeply disappointed that the administration has only allowed us to provide half of the fiscal year 2004 funds meant for UNFPA for family planning. I support anti-trafficking initiatives, but urge the President to actually request them for the upcoming fiscal year, instead of simply announcing that he will take them from other programs.

One last issue I feel compelled to address is the potential cut-off of economic assistance to a number of countries based on their failure to sign so-called Article 98 agreements. The House bill contained language extending the reach of current law by cutting off Economic Support Fund assistance to the government of countries that have not signed agreements exempting U.S. troops from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Current law cuts off military assistance to countries with no signed Article 98 agreements, but also gives the President broad waiver authority.

The conference agreement contains a narrow waiver for non-NATO allies, but no waiver for the remainder of the world. The ultimate result is the potential cutoff of economic assistance to Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Ecuador, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, and other countries.

I understand and share the concerns many of my colleagues have about the International Criminal Court. But I also do not believe that these concerns should be the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.

Jordan is not only our most reliable partner in the Arab world, the country now serves as the primary staging point for much of our Iraq reconstruction effort. The new Iraqi police force upon which so much depends is now being trained in Jordan. Threatening a cutoff of economic assistance simply flies in the face of common sense. Our program in Cyprus has been in place for many years and funds efforts to help end the conflict there-a key U.S. foreign policy goal. In other countries, our efforts include a wide range of programs relating to drug trafficking, dealing with environmental problems, and providing economic advisors. It seems shortsighted to discard these goals because of concerns over the poorly organized and ineffective ICC.

Personally, I believe this provision should have been dropped-I opposed it when it was offered during House consideration of the bill. However, if a waiver must be included, it should have included all countries and not simply NATO and major non-NATO allies. This would allow the administration to let aid flow unimpeded to key countries in Latin America and Africa that might otherwise be forgotten. As it stands now, many of these programs are likely to be curtailed or halted.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to express my concern with the Weldon refusal clause provision included in the LHHS section of the bill. For over 30 years, there have been Federal laws that allow doctors, nurses, and hospitals to refuse to provide abortion services because of their religious beliefs.

However, just as the law protects religious or moral objections, it protects the rights of patients-ensuring that women have access to accurate and complete medical information when making decisions about their own health. The Weldon provision would unravel these protections-gutting the patient protections included in the Title X family planning program, which require that all legal options are presented to a woman; denying rape and incest survivors access to legal abortion services, which is a longstanding provision in current law, and overriding State constitutional patient protections.

I am very disappointed that my and my colleagues' efforts to strip this provision from the final bill did not prevail. This will hurt women all around our country, and it is shameful.

In closing, I want to thank Chairman KOLBE for his hard work on this bill, and express my deep appreciation of this close working relationship we have enjoyed. I think it is clear from the bipartisan way in which this bill was written-from the very first day-that we both share a strong commitment to our Nation's foreign assistance programs, and that we both understand that foreign assistance, along with diplomacy and defense, is a pillar of U.S. national security strategy. Chairman KOLBE and his staff-John Shank, Alice Grant, Rodney Bent, Rob Blair, Lori Maes, and Sean Mulvancy-have been wonderful partners in this process.

And I would like to thank the minority staff-Mark Murray and Beth Tritter-for their work as well.

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