Jim Kolbe

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased this morning to be able to bring before my colleagues in the House of Representatives the fiscal year 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Conference Report for the bill H.R. 3057. There is no doubt that the conferees had a difficult challenge this year, working with an overall funding allocation that is almost $2 billion below the fiscal year 2006 request. This is nearly 10 percent less than the President asked for. Nonetheless, the conferees took on the challenge of making the hard choices necessary to meet budgetary realities while funding this country's top foreign policy priorities at responsible levels, levels that fulfill our foreign policy objectives. The conference report continues strong and active oversight of the expenditure of taxpayers' dollars consistent with the mandate given to us by the United States taxpayers and the leadership of this committee and the Congress. The conference report continues the Appropriations Committee's pursuit of accountability for the expenditure of tax dollars, in particular our foreign assistance program expenditures. The oversight of our primary agencies--State Department, Treasury Department and USAID--includes quarterly reporting of expenditures, consultation on major programmatic changes and limitation on expenditures until conditions on congressional notifications are met. The conference agreement also establishes for the first time an independent inspector general for the Export Import Bank. That, Mr. Speaker, is a very quick summary of the bill. Let me turn now to some of the highlights that are contained in the conference report. First, with regard to overall funding, the fiscal year 2006 budget request for the foreign operations account or appropriations bill was $22.8 billion. As I already mentioned, the conference report funds our foreign assistance portfolio at $20.9 billion; $1.9 billion below what the President had asked for but $1.4 billion over the fiscal year 2005 conference agreement. Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The conference report includes $2.8 million for the third year of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Here we are actually above the President's request by $268 million. This number is $629 million over the fiscal year 2005 level. The conference report includes not less than $450 million, twice the amount requested by the President, for the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC. This agreement funds the MCC at $1.77 billion, $270 million or 18 percent above the $1.5 billion provided in fiscal year 2005. We are, however, and this needs to be noted, significantly below the $3 billion requested by the President for this year. Mr. Speaker, I happen to be a strong supporter of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. I was there when the President announced the idea for it. I helped draft the legislation which ultimately ended up in our bill. I am a big believer in this new concept of delivering foreign assistance. But we did have limitations, and I think that what we have done is a responsible way for it to proceed and make sure that we have adequate funding to continue and expand the work of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The increase that we have for the MCC and the conference report comes because we recognize that the White House's top priority, and they communicated this with us, was the Millennium Challenge Corporation. But, as I said, our budgetary constraints left us with little ability to fully fund this important initiative. Supporting the global war on terror. The agreement provides significant increases in our security assistance and anti-narcotics programs abroad for our allies in the war on terror. This includes fully funding the request for $2.3 billion for Israel and $1.8 billion for Egypt in economic and security assistance, and $300 million for Pakistan and military assistance. Additionally, over $1.2 billion have been provided to the anti- narcotics and law enforcement accounts, $155 million above last year's levels. The conferees recognize that the illegal drug industry is not only a domestic issue facing the United States but one that funds international terrorism and organized crime, thereby threatening our borders. Afghanistan. The agreement dramatically increases economic and counternarcotics/law enforcement assistance for Afghanistan at $665 million. That is $350 million above last year's level. This conference agreement fully funds the $430 million request for Economic Support Funds for Afghanistan, an increase of $205 million over the 2005 level. It provides $235 million for police and counternarcotics programs. Importantly, the conference report includes new language that limits expenditure of about half of the ESF funds until the Secretary of State certifies to the committee that the government of Afghanistan at both the national and provincial levels is fully cooperating with the United States on narcotics eradication and interdiction efforts. Iraq. In the case of Iraq, the conference agreement provides $61 million in ESF funds. The fiscal year 2006 request was for $458.5 from a variety of accounts to support activities in Iraq. This obviously is a very significant difference from what was requested. However, the committee noted that more than $3.5 billion of the $18.4 billion that was appropriated in 2003 for the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund remains unobligated. The conferees did not think it was responsible to direct new taxpayer resources to Iraq at this time. The conferees expect the administration to fund the remainder of its request for Iraq from the unobligated portions of the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, and we are convinced that the administration has the flexibility to do just that. West Bank and Gaza. This agreement fully funds the request of $150 million for the West Bank and Gaza program, an increase of $75 million over the 2005 level, and retains the fiscal year 2005 prohibitions and restrictions on the expenditure of those funds, including the requirements for a GAO audit of U.S. assistance. There is no request for direct cash assistance for the Palestinian Authority, and nothing in this conference report or accompanying statement of the managers provides for such assistance. MDB oversight. The agreement includes a provision addressing anti- corruption measures for the World Bank and other reform provisions for all the multi-lateral development banks. It is our hope that these provisions will lead to greater transparency, less corruption, and more effective operations for our multi-lateral contributions to these institutions. The Global Environmental Facility, or GEF. The agreements includes $80 million for the Global Environmental Facility. That is $27 million below the request, but it is a full $80 million more than was in the House-passed bill. The conferees were pleased to see that in the intervening months the Global Environmental Fund has agreed to establish a performance-based allocation system for the disbursement of funds, as it had committed to do in 2002. Next year, my subcommittee will continue to conduct oversight of the GEF to monitor how the allocation system is implemented, but our inability to fund the full amount is simply a budgetary one, not because of any transgression on the part of the GEF. There are many other items in the conference agreement that I do not have time to go into in detail, but let me just briefly touch on them. $322 million for the Peace Corps. That is $5 million above last year. $4.3 billion total for USAID, $121 million above the request and $93 million below last year's enacted level. $440 million for bilateral international family planning programs, of which $34 million goes to the UNFPA. The conference agreement does, however, retain current law on restriction and prohibitions on assistance, which I know will please some and make others very unhappy. The conference report does not include the $100 million for conflict response funds that had been requested by the administration. We believe this is something that can be handled through reallocation of funds. Let me close by thanking my ranking member, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), for her continued cooperation and commitment in producing a bipartisan conference agreement. I say with all the sincerity in the world, it is both an honor and pleasure to work with a legislator as dedicated and hardworking as the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). I also want to thank the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), and my chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), for the support that both of them have given in bringing the product which we bring to you today. I want to thank the other members of the subcommittee, the minority side as well as the majority side, who served on this conference and helped us in our deliberations and were such active members of all of the hearings that we held during the course of this year. I think our conference agreement reflects the spirit of cooperation that has been the hallmark of this subcommittee. Finally, let me extend my thanks to the staff of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee. On the House side, Alice Hogans, Rodney Bent, Rob Blair, Lori Maes, Betsy Phillips, Nisha Desai, as well as Sean Mulvaney from my staff and Beth Tritter from the gentlewoman from New York's (Mrs. Lowey) staff. On the Senate side, I want to thank Paul Grove, Tom Hawkins, Tim Rieser, Jennifer Park, Bob Lester and Harry Christy for the work they did in bringing this bill to where we are today. This is a specially poignant moment for me and for the subcommittee as it will be the last time that Rodney Bent and Sean Mulvaney will be on the floor for one of our bills before they leave for different opportunities. While we wish them well in their new pursuits, they will be sorely missed by me and by the staff of the subcommittee. I thank them for what they have done through the years to help support the foreign policy of the United States. Again, I thank my colleagues for their indulgence here. I thank them for the support they have given us. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the conference report. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.010 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.012 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.013 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.014 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.015 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH04NO05.016 Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 532, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 3057) making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez).

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, to close, I yield such time as he may consume to the chairman of the full committee.

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

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his kind remarks, and I urge all the Members to support this conference report which has been crafted.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on the conference report to accompany H.R. 3057.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to respond to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) and his comments about the demobilization funds that we have in the bill for Colombia. The legislation provides that the funds can come from any place in the Act. I cannot guarantee where the administration might ask for those funds to come from. However, the law would require that they consult with us and notify the subcommittee. And I can assure you that if they were to ask to take funds out of a program that is working and working well, such as the alternative development program in Colombia, we would object to such a request. So it is very broad on where the money can come from. We have no assurances, I might add to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), that they are even going to request this money at all. But if they do, we will be watching very carefully as to where it would come from and make sure it is the appropriate place.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 3057) making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes, with Senate amendments thereto, disagree to the Senate amendments, and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.

Mr. KOLBE. 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 motion to instruct on H.R. 3057.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for her motion. It gives our subcommittee, and it gives me, as chairman of the subcommittee, an opportunity to highlight once again how critical this battle against HIV-AIDS is, and this is something that is critical not only to this Congress but to President Bush and his administration. Funding from these accounts in this fight against HIV-AIDS and also tuberculosis and malaria, three of the great killers of our time, has increased significantly in the years that I have been chairman of this subcommittee. In the first year we were appropriating about $615 million in the international fight. Today, in our bill, the level is $2.7 billion. That is four times greater in just 4 years of bills for the Foreign Operations Subcommittee. The Senate level, at nearly $3 billion, is almost five times greater. Our bill that we passed in the House would provide $400 million for the Global Fund. That is twice what the President requested. The Senate bill has another $100 million and puts that figure at $500 million. The emergency plan for AIDS relief has revolutionized the fight against HIV-AIDS. We have not turned the corner in this disease. We have certainly not reached the end nor maybe even the beginning of the end; but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, perhaps we are at the end of the beginning. We are clearly making great progress. According to a number of public health experts, we are finally reaching the point where the focus countries in the President's emergency program, where these resources are not the limiting factor in addressing the spread of this disease, of HIV-AIDS. More than 200,000 people now receive life-sustaining AIDS treatment in Africa, and that is thanks to the generosity and caring of the United States taxpayers. For the first time, there is hope for these people. Training and the infrastructure now has to be the focus of our efforts. It will take the concerted will of all countries and groups that are involved with this fight to sustain and build on the progress that we have made thus far. So once again, I want to thank my colleague for her dedication to this very important issue and for her work to help craft a bill that I think is one that we can go into conference feeling very good about and that we can defend with vigor. So I am pleased to be able to accept the motion to instruct; and I am committed, as the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) is, to reaching the highest possible level in the conference in the struggle against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments and for yielding me this time, and I rise today to urge my colleagues to support both the rule and the underlying conference report on H.R. 2360, the appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. As a member of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the Committee on Appropriations, I am especially pleased that this bill provides the resources needed to help secure our border. There are a lot of proposals in Congress that deal with the problem of illegal immigration, and they vary tremendously, but they all have one common theme to them, one common thread, and that is, they all recognize the need to secure our border, and this bill helps to provide the resources that are necessary to accomplish that goal. The bill ensures that Customs and Border Patrol will have ample funds to protect our borders and enforce our immigration laws. We have to secure the border, and this appropriation bill provides the Department of Homeland Security with the resources it needs to get the job done. From additional agents, detention space, airplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, to better technology for securing and facilitating travel into the United States by land, air and sea, this bill has nearly everything that is needed to protect our homeland. The district I represent includes a large portion of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, through which almost half, that is right, half of all of the Nation's illegal immigrants enter into this country. The negative impact that this has on communities in my area is staggering. The impact of environmental degradation, the cost to hospitals, police and sheriff's departments and other public agencies, not to mention the tragic loss of life in Arizona in the desert, as many people who seek to come to the United States for better opportunities perish in the heat of the summer. I am pleased that this conference report provides necessary resources to protect our border, not only an additional $56 million for the Tucson sector for expanding Border Patrol stations, fencing, vehicles, lighting, border roads and sensors, but across our entire border. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule and the underlying bill.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis),the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. (Mr. LEWIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KOLBE. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. KOLBE. I thank the gentleman for his statement in support. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I will abbreviate my remarks. I just want to be able to say because Arizona has been at the forefront of this problem for so long and had more than 50 percent of all the apprehensions in our State that this is extraordinarily important. The amendment does increase the authorizations through fiscal year 2011 from the current to $750 million in 2006 and $850 million in 2007 and $950 million in 2008. So I believe these provisions are extraordinarily important to us as well as the provisions which at the behest of the gentleman from Wisconsin we have added regarding how these funds are spent and to look at them.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to urge Members to support this amendment. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) for joining me in sponsoring this important amendment. I am glad we have been able to come to an agreement with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) to craft an amendment that both ensures the Federal Government assumes more of its responsibility for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens while also addressing concerns some Members have regarding the way these funds are spent. My State of Arizona has been the doormat of the country for illegal immigration. The Federal Government has failed to secure our borders and reform our broken immigration system.

Mr. KOLBE. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations for co-sponsoring this amendment with me. It means a great deal. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules, who has been instrumental in helping to craft this amendment.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I appreciate the support of all the Members who have risen today. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 245, affirming the words of the Pledge of Allegiance. Religion has always been an important part of America. Our country was created on a religious foundation. Since the first Pilgrim stepped on Plymouth Rock, people came to our shores in pursuit of religious liberty. They left nations of intolerance and established a country built on concepts of diversity and religious freedom. Our Founders endowed successive generations of Americans with a Constitution that has held us together and healed major fractures within our society. Included in the Constitution is the protected right of freedom of religion. But freedom of religion is not freedom from religion-- certainly not in something as universally unifying as the Pledge of Allegiance. It is an allegiance to the United States of America--and its simple words acknowledge that we are ``one Nation, under God.'' On July 4, 1776, our Founding Fathers, after appealing to the ``Laws of Nature, and of Nature's God'' justified their separation from Great Britain by declaring, ``We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.'' In 1781, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his ``Notes on the State of Virginia,'' ``God who gave us life gave us liberty. And the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God.'' In his Farewell Address in 1796, President George Washington called religion ``a necessary spring of popular government.'' President Adams claimed that statesmen ``may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.'' Likewise, the words ``under God'' were used by President Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in 1863. After paying tribute to the soldiers who had died in an effort to end slavery, Lincoln turned to the responsibilities of those who would benefit from their sacrifices. He said, ``It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'' There are many other examples of how religion and God have been woven into the fabric of our Nation's history. By pledging allegiance to this Nation and acknowledging that we are under God, that our Nation is indivisible, and that we enjoy liberty and justice for all, Americans simply recognize the historical fact that we have a religious heritage, that the country cannot be divided, and that everyone will be free and treated fairly. The words ``under God'' are not in violation of the Establishment Clause because they do not sponsor or support a specific national religion. Our country, and the freedoms we cherish, continue to be fought for each day. Just as President Lincoln said during the Gettysburg Address, it is our duty to resolve that those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom do not die in vain; that this Nation, under God, will continue to protect and honor those hard-fought freedoms.

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, on September 20, my vote on H. Res. 441, a motion to suspend the rules and agree to Congratulate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Discovery Crew (No. 477), did not register. I voted ``aye.''