Nancy Pelosi

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for 5 minutes. What can I do, Mr. Chairman?

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Ms. PELOSI. I ask unanimous consent, then, Mr. Chairman, to extend the time.

Ms. PELOSI. For 5 minutes on my side, but pleased to yield 5 minutes to the other side as well.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to request reconsideration by the distinguished chairman of the motion to request 5 more minutes.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, it was my understanding from a previous ruling of the parliamentarian that that was in order, or else I would have informed my colleague in advance of the request. But I did not think it was an extraordinary request. But I hear what he is saying, and I appreciate that. I will do my best.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I also rise in opposition to the Paul amendment and associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), who has been a leader on this international family planning issue as has the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and so many others in the House of Representatives. But as a member of our subcommittee, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) has led the way. This is a hard amendment for me to understand. Maybe we need a lesson in the birds and the bees in this Chamber. We really have to be thinking seriously about what the message is that will come out of this Congress if we vote to eliminate all funding for international family planning. The gentlewoman from New York explained obviously how necessary this is. We all want to reduce the number of abortions that take place. I myself personally consider abortion a failure, a failure of education, of prevention, of opportunity for women to be in control of their lives and control the timing and size of their families. But that is so fundamental. If you want to reduce the number of abortions, as we all do, does it not make sense, Mr. Chairman, that we would, therefore, try to prevent conception and give people an informed way in which to do that. So I understand and respect everyone's view on this subject. I understand it more easily in terms of the gag rule, which I do not support, but I understand that. But as a woman, the idea that we would even consider on the floor of this House the notion that we should cut off funding for international family planning is incomprehensible to me for the following reasons: One, it would not reduce the number of abortions, family planning. Two, we have the opportunity from the standpoint of population and the environment, we have a responsibility to be responsible. I think that I am going to have to yield back to the gentlewoman, but I do so bewildered by the maker of this motion.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Burton amendment. I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman). (Mr. ACKERMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). (Mrs. LOWEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney). (Mrs. MALONEY of New York asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume 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. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott). (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations. (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on International Relations.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan), and I want to commend the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for her leadership. We have had this issue for our committee over and over again, and I know that we are all behind the gentlewoman on this and thank her for her leadership.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, as this is the close of this bill, I rise to commend once again the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) for his distinguished leadership of our subcommittee. As my colleagues can tell, we do not always agree. In fact, a good deal of the time we do not agree. But we always have good communication because that is really what is important for us to develop a bill. Now, it is interesting to me that the gentleman from Alabama said at the start of this that he had developed a perfect bill. He saw no room for improvement, and it was a perfect bill. Now today, this afternoon, he is saying now we have a perfect bill, a more perfect bill. So we are getting there. Now we are going to get the most perfect bill as we go along in the process. I say that, despite the tremendous regard that I have for the gentleman, and he knows that, I still am in opposition to the bill and would encourage a no vote on the part of my colleagues. While we have made some progress in two very important areas, part of the funding that we need for debt relief and some additional funding for global aid, and those were significant, we certainly did not go the full distance on the debt relief, and there are many other deficiencies in funding in the bill. So, as we take a step down this path, I want to urge my colleagues to support the President, to sustain a veto by voting no on the bill. But back to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan). Perhaps the gentleman from Alabama will be a chairman, perhaps he will be a ranking member, that is a whole new world that is open to him, and he will know then what it is like. Again, hopefully he will receive the same treatment as ranking member that I have received from him.

Ms. PELOSI. I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Alabama.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I appreciate the gentleman's optimism in that regard. But I do want to say that our staffs, and we have acknowledged and recognized them at the beginning of the bill, have worked in a bipartisan fashion. I would not be taking this time except for my great esteem that I have for the gentleman from Alabama. People should know what a gentleman he is, how open he is to our views, even though he does not always accept them, and that he sincerely represents the point of view that he brings to the table without guile. So we share that sincerity. We come from completely different districts, mine are more globally oriented, although, from all I can see, in Mobile and looking South, I think the gentleman is going to have a hard time sustaining the idea that we should have a small international relations budget. As my colleagues know, this is about humanitarian assistance. It is about export finance, and it is about our national security. So those are all very important initiatives and worthy of support. But in any case, again, back to the gentleman from Alabama, he is great. He has done a great job over the last 6 years. It has been a pleasure to work with him. I think our staffs have worked very well together. Perhaps I will have more to say if we ever bring a conference report to the floor. I want to also say a word about the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), our ranking member. I think our committee is very excellently served by them and particularly on this subcommittee where they both have so much experience. With that again, I commend the gentleman from Alabama (Chairman Callahan) and urge a no vote on his bill.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I think the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) has spoken to that point of order.

Ms. PELOSI. But nonetheless, Mr. Chairman, when we have had offsets, they have been self-contained in one amendment; that is to say, if the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) wanted to increase the funding at the African Development Bank as he does, and he has an offset at MIGA.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished chairman for his courtesy. Mr. Chairman, I support what the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) is setting out to do. I want to follow up on what the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations said, these are principles we want to uphold. And surely we do. But it seems unfair for us to single out Haiti. If they want to write this to apply to every country, that is one thing, but it really seems kind of unfair to single out Haiti in this report. So holding the principles, we should apply them consistently.