Barbara Lee

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today I celebrate the Grand Opening of the New Sanctuary and Multi-Community Center at Evergreen Baptist Church in Oakland, California. A month-long celebration and dedication will take place each Sunday in July, concluding on Sunday, July 30, 2000. This multi-million dollar project has been designed specifically to serve the needs of the residents of North Oakland. The community center will offer two daily meal programs. The first meal program will be a part of the Church's children's center and will provide hot, nutritious meals to the children residing in the motels along the West MacArthur corridor. The West MacArthur corridor, which runs from Broadway to San Pablo Avenue, is a highly transient area with some of the poorest people of Oakland living in these motels. In addition to providing meals to these children, a second meal program has been established to feed adults, particularly seniors, in the community. Evergreen Baptist Church is also expanding its activities and outreach throughout the community through a variety of ways. The church will be participating in the Welfare to Work Program by providing a care center for young expectant mothers. In an effort to decrease the high infant mortality rate among African-Americans, the Church is also establishing a Well Baby Clinic to promote better health care to these expectant mothers. To tie all of these programs together, the Evergreen Baptist Church has chosen ``Lifting the Least'' as its theme for the new center. I applaud the many efforts and activities of Evergreen Baptist Church by serving as a model to other organizations of innovative ways to assist our populations most in need.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, first, let me just thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time and for her strong leadership on behalf of the families throughout the world. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment today to strike the global gag rule which denies United States family planning assistance to any overseas organization that uses its own non-United States funds to provide abortion services or reproductive choice advocacy. Approximately 600,000 women die each year from preventable complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Complications are the leading cause of death and disability among women between the ages of 15 to 49 in developing countries. Now, most of these women are poor, and many have infectious diseases such as HIV or AIDS and are struggling just to survive day by day. Now, this amendment does not require United States foreign aid funds to be used for abortions. Women throughout the world should have fundamental access to health care and family planning services and health education. Support for this amendment means saving lives, promoting women's and children's health. To do less is fundamentally undemocratic and morally wrong.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis). (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton). (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment adds $40 million to the child survival and disease fund to the amounts allocated in that account for HIV/AIDS and really derives that funding from the FMF account. Mr. Chairman, I had the privilege to be part of the official United States delegation at the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban, South Africa. I returned yesterday with an even more sense of urgency regarding the HIV/AIDS pandemic throughout the world and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. There are over 10,000 people in Durban, South Africa breaking the silence on HIV/AIDS about the devastation of the AIDS pandemic this week. Our United States delegation is led by our very able Surgeon General, Dr. Satcher, and Sandy Thurman, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy. Can you imagine that in several countries now, life expectancy has been reduced from 70 years of age to 30 years of age because of this killer disease? This means also that many 13-year-old girls and boys will not live beyond 30 years of age because they will die from AIDS. This also means that years of development and progress have been really wiped from the face of the earth. Also, can you imagine now that there are over 12 million orphans in Africa? These children's fate lay unknown because their parents have died. And by the year 2010, there will be 40 million orphans in Africa. This is the number of children in America's public schools. Also, believe it or not, it is mind-boggling to know this, but in Durban, we talked about this and documented this and discussed this, that in many countries 20 to 38 percent of the country's populations have HIV/AIDS. This further cripples Africa because it does move to threaten economic stability which is a security threat as well, not only in terms of African security but in terms of our own national security. Can you imagine that this is really only the beginning? It is only the tip of the iceberg. India has nearly 7 million people infected with HIV/AIDS. This epidemic is spreading and it is spreading very rapidly. The conference in Durban, which is continuing this week, is really helping us break the silence with regard to the devastation of this pandemic. We must listen to what is coming out of that conference. We all have a sense of urgency about this, but many of us do not know what to do. But we do know that there is a state of emergency in sub-Saharan Africa. So the administration requested $244 million, minimal request, for HIV/AIDS this year, and we only have $202 million in this budget request. All this amendment does is add $42 million to bring to the level of the administration's request the AIDS funding to address this pandemic. This is not nearly enough. The United Nations has estimated that we need approximately $3 billion a year just to begin with the crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. So, Mr. Chairman, adding $42 million to this account is a mere pittance. I ask for your consideration. I ask for your real commitment to ensure that the United States of America goes on record tonight and passes this amendment to do the right thing and to send a message to the Durban conference and to those who are working so desperately to save lives in Africa that we are stepping up to our moral obligation, and we do want to restore this mere $42 million to our account. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek). (Mrs. MEEK of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). (Mrs. LOWEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Los Angeles, California (Ms. Waters).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings). (Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I want to first thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) for her extraordinary leadership on this issue and also for her support consistently and constantly on helping us really raise the level of awareness on the HIV/AIDS crisis here in the United States Congress, and also to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Christensen), to all of the Members who spoke here tonight. I want to pay a special recognition and tribute to my former boss and predecessor Congressman Ron Dellums who often has been the lone voice in the wilderness speaking about this pandemic in Africa. Finally, I believe we are breaking the silence here in the United States Congress. I want to thank all of my colleagues for engaging in the debate tonight. I believe many of you read the incredible series of articles that was in The Washington Post last week. These articles demonstrated and documented the fact that we knew as early in the 1990s that the potential for this pandemic in Africa was going to be so great, we chose to put our heads in the sand on this issue. Mr. Chairman, it is chilling to think that we have not done much of anything in the last 10 years, so tonight we are just asking for a mere $42 million, that is it. We heard the arguments for that. I implore and plead with the other side to please join us in a bipartisan effort and restore $42 million to the budget. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to my colleague, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones). (Mrs. JONES of Ohio asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from northern California (Ms. Pelosi).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall no. 373, Coburn amendment--no; 374, Royce amendment--no; 375, Crowley amendment--yes; 376, Chabot amendment--no; 377, Coburn amendment--yes; and 378, Sanford amendment-- no.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today I address the issue of the 13 Jews being held in the city of Shiraz in Iran and on trial on charges of espionage. The World Bank is currently reviewing a proposal to transfer $230 million in loans to Iran. In light of the circumstances, it is inappropriate to consider these loans while the staged trial of the 13 Iranian Jews continues. It would send a dangerous message that the international community disregards the Iranian government's serious human rights violations against its citizens. This group, which includes a Rabbi, teachers, and students, has been detained for over a year although no formal charges have been filed against them. Contrary to Iranian law, they have been denied the right to choose their own legal representation. Additionally, serious legitimacy concerns arise when we consider that the trial is being held behind the closed curtains of the Revolutionary Court where the judge is also the chief prosecutor. The defendants' ``confessions,'' on which the prosecution's case is built, were all offered without the presence of their lawyers. These minute-long sound-bites have been widely aired on State-run television. Clearly justice is not being served for these Iranian Jews. The question is what will the world do about it? The key is for the U.S., Germany, and Japan to stand up at the World Bank and say human rights do matter and to vote to delay any World Bank loan to the Republic of Iran. Until justice is served for these 13 Iranian Jews, the World Bank should not hide behind claims that somehow its loans are only being used for a particular purpose. Money is Fungible. Recent history has shown that at least 17 Jews in Iran have been executed for spying after similar ``confessions'' were offered. We must stand up for human rights. The World Bank is where this trial will be on trial.