Howard Berman

Mr. BERMAN

Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I'm privileged to recognize for 1 minute a gentleman who has probably done as much as anyone in this House to promote the U.S.-Israeli relationship, including his own personal missions that he leads there, the majority leader, Mr. Hoyer of Maryland.

Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sires.

Mr. BERMAN

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes of time to a member of the committee, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank our Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for introducing this important resolution. Speaker Pelosi's commitment to human rights generally, and Tibetan human rights specifically, is deep, well established, and unwavering. For two decades in Congress, from her earlier stage as a junior Member to her current position as Speaker, she has used her powerful voice to speak on behalf of the Tibetan people. The bipartisan delegation that she recently led to Dharmsala to meet with the Dalai Lama and her authorship of this resolution demonstrate her continuing dedication on the Tibetan issue. I am, and all of us in this body should be, grateful for her leadership. China's response to Tibetan protests over the last month has been tragically predictable. For half a century, the Tibetan people have struggled under the repressive policies of the Chinese authorities. And sadly, the current crackdown is only the most recent example of Beijing's mistreatment of Tibetans. As the world watched events unfold inside China, we were sickened not only by the shock of seeing images of Chinese authorities beating Tibetans in the street, but also by the realization that these are images that we have seen before, and fear we may see again. It was this legacy of repression that caused Tibetan monks to take to the streets on March 10th to peacefully protest Beijing's ongoing denial of religious, cultural, and human rights for the Tibetan people. And sadly, it was the same legacy that caused Beijing to respond with excessive force and a propaganda campaign designed to stoke Chinese nationalism by demonizing Tibetans and their spiritual leader, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. If China wishes to be viewed by the world as a truly responsible power, it must put an immediate end to its shortsighted policies towards Tibet which are morally reprehensible, irresponsible and dangerous. Beijing cannot credibly claim that is seeks genuine reconciliation with the Tibetan people when its policies force Buddhist monks to denounce their allegiance to the Dalai Lama, deny educational and economic opportunities to Tibetans, and threaten Tibetan culture by encouraging an overwhelming influx of Han Chinese migrants into Tibetan areas. This resolution not only condemns Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protesters, it also urges China to begin to move away from its policy of repression and incitement of ethnic tensions. The resolution calls on Beijing to allow international monitors to assess the situation in Tibetan areas in China and ensure that those injured in the protest receive adequate medical treatment. In addition, the resolution urges Beijing to hold direct and results- based discussions with the Dalai Lama in order to come to a resolution of the Tibetan issue, one that respects Chinese territorial integrity and sovereignty, but at the same time provides genuine religious and cultural autonomy for Tibetans. The resolution instructs the Department of State to reconsider its decision not to include China among the countries with the worst human rights records in the Department's 2007 Human Rights Report. Madam Speaker, at this point, once again, I would like to thank Speaker Pelosi for introducing this important resolution, which I strongly support, and ask my colleagues to do the same. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1077) calling on the Government of the People's Republic of China to end its crackdown in Tibet and enter into a substantive dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to find a negotiated solution that respects the distinctive language, culture, religious identity, and fundamental freedoms of all Tibetans, and for other purposes.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, Madam Speaker, for those wonderful worlds, for elevating this Chamber.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, at this time, may I ask unanimous consent that we be granted an additional 10 minutes, 5 minutes for the majority, 5 minutes for the minority, on the time already allotted for this resolution debate.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Steve Kagen.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on both sides.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California, the author of the resolution, the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee).

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to a member of our committee, a stalwart fighter for human rights, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. BERMAN

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to two dear friends, Rita and Jack Sinder, who are being honored by Valley Beth Shalom's 60th Birthday of the State of Israel Dinner Celebration. They are being recognized for their lifetime of commitment to Israel, the Jewish people, and Valley Beth Shalom (VBS). In 1967, Rita and Jack made their first trip to Israel just prior to the Six-Day War. The outbreak of hostilities forced their early departure on the eve of the war. The impact of their experience motivated them to mobilize the American Jewish community on Israel's behalf. Their dedication to Israel, however, began long before the State of Israel was created. Born in Vienna, Rita was immersed in Judaism as a young child. During WWII, when Hitler invaded Austria, Rita's father was shipped to Poland. He fortunately escaped and her mother managed to get herself and her daughters out of Austria. Rita was sent to London on Kindertransport and was not reunited with her family until the war ended. The determination, positive attitude, tremendous resilience, and adaptability that helped her survive still guide her life today. Rita's family was miraculously reunited in America, settling in Los Angeles where Rita attended Belmont High School and graduated from USC with a degree in Business Administration. Jack, raised in the Orthodox tradition by his father, a prominent Rabbi in Michigan, earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State. He worked for a machine tool company that supplied parts to the big three automakers. He was asked by an associate to help send machine tools to the Jewish fighters in Israel, and together with his friends, he shipped tools which ultimately helped in the creation of the Israeli aircraft industry and the Israeli Air Force. Rita and Jack have been an integral force in the Jewish Community, living up to the motto, ``Give of yourself first and only then ask others to join you.'' They have generously contributed their time and resources to VBS, the Jewish Federation, Israel Bonds, AIPAC and many other worthy organizations. They endowed the Midrasha Program at the VBS, where Jack formerly was a member of the Board of Directors and currently serves on the Board of Trustees and the Steering Committee. Rita has chaired many special events at VBS. She is past president of the San Fernando Valley Women's Division of Israel Bonds and the Golda Meir Club, an active member of AIPAC serving on its National Executive Board, and is past president and member of the Executive Board of the Women's Alliance of Israel. Rita and Jack are founding members of the American Jewish University's Wagner Program, university patrons and also patrons of the Wiesenthal Center. Rita and Jack work together in their business, Jasin Co., he as a real estate developer and she as a real estate broker and property manager. They are the proud parents of Sherri and Alan and adore their three grandchildren. Rita and Jack's greatest joys are being with family and friends, boating and traveling. I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Rita and Jack Sinder who have devoted their lives to working for the survival of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Mr. BERMAN

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I appreciate the compliments of my friend from Wisconsin. I prefer that the compliments be withheld and the motion to slash this bill by 40 percent be rejected, although I do appreciate the implication of his comments that a recommittal motion that is forthwith is not intended to kill the bill and that, therefore, the recommittal motions that are not forthwith are intended to kill the bills they are made to. But getting to the merits of this. The purpose of my comments is directly to the other side. I know the easy vote, even for those who support this bill, is to vote both to cut some money and to support the minority on their motion to recommit. But I would like to suggest that in this particular case, given what has transpired in terms of putting together this bipartisan bill, both on the merits of the motion to recommit and on the message it sends about how we can work on a bipartisan basis in the future, this motion is wrong and that Members on the other side should oppose it along with the Members on our side. First, on the facts. The administration supports this bill and supports our number on this bill. To the extent they have concerns about what the level of appropriations may be in this year, their statement of administration position directly says, talk about the level of appropriation; don't cut the authorization. Secondly, the U.N. HIV/AIDS commission, which I'm not a fan of a lot of different agencies that start with ``U.N.,'' but this one is the preeminent authority, talks about the incredible remaining need. And in the issue of absorptive capacity, this was the same argument made in 2003 against a $15 billion authorization for which the Republican Congress appropriated far more than the authorization because we were able to see an absorptive capacity, and we saved well over a million lives. But here we are dealing with a situation where there are 35 million people worldwide that are still living with HIV/AIDS. This is a program that works. The combination of changing behavior, prevention, and treatment is saving lives. I don't like to throw the words ``moral imperative'' around. It's usually used for anything people feel passionately about. But talk about pro-life, I can't think of any single program that I have been involved with where we are going to be more pro-life than in pushing this with programs that work, with the capacity that can be absorbed. No one is saying we are going to spend $50 billion in the next 5 years. We are going to obligate, based on the appropriation moneys, and those moneys will be spent probably over the course of 8 to 10 years. That's the way this appropriation process works, as everyone knows. My final point is the ranking member and I, the White House directly, the President and his chief of staff were directly involved, the Republican leadership in this body, we put together a bipartisan bill. Part of the key negotiation was about the number. In return for that, a number of issues of importance to the minority were preserved in this bill: the preservation of the concept of behavior change through abstinence and faithfulness; the understanding that approved family planning programs would be the ones that were funded. A variety of different aspects. The belief in the use of faith-based institutions. How are we, in the future, going to come together on bipartisan programs where the deal is made and then all of a sudden a key part of the quid pro quo, the other side says ``no'' to? I would suggest, sure there are issues about what is our fiscal condition and what can we do, and the appropriations could be weighing these very carefully. But this was a fundamental agreement to maintain a bipartisan tradition on this legislation named after Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos, both of whom worked in that capacity. I think this motion to recommit massively undercuts that whole bipartisan approach, and I would urge my colleagues to defeat it. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the motion to recommit.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, the gentleman's amendment, and I have spoken to him about it, encourages the Global Fund Inspector General to not only audit its grantees, but also the subgrantees and subrecipients who receive Global Fund money. Obviously, I share the gentleman's concern that transparency and accountability in the use of HIV/AIDS assistance provided through the Global Fund is critically important for all the reasons that he stated. The Global Fund, in all fairness, I do want to point out, has shown, I believe, its commitment to that transparency and accountability. It has a new inspector general, and has instituted an enhanced accounting system that focuses on improving accountability among subrecipients. But the principle of this amendment makes sense. While there are some technical issues I will want to talk to him about as we move through the legislative process, I look forward to working with him on it and I certainly urge the adoption of the amendment. I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Florida, the ranking member.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, while I do not oppose the amendment, I ask unanimous consent to take the time in opposition.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. BERMAN. Madam Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman yielding, and I rise to join you in supporting the gentleman's amendment. What was interesting to me was to learn, and there are many things I learned in this bill that I didn't know, but one was that about 1.2 billion people globally lack safe water to consume in the least-developed countries, and up to 90 percent of AIDS patients, 90 percent, suffer and frequently die from the chronic diarrheal diseases that the gentleman discussed. These diseases are caused by the use of unsafe water. This is a compelling amendment. I join the gentlewoman in supporting it.