OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

Date: July 28, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, and I thank Congresswoman DeLauro and Chairwoman Lee for their hard work and support of the priorities that I have included in this bill as it relates to the Central American region.

We must ensure our aid to Central America helps the people it is intended to help and advance our policy goals, including reducing migration.

My Republican colleagues yesterday noted that what we have done in the past is not working and has not worked, and I agree with them 100 percent.

The Trump administration turned a blind eye to corruption in the region and emboldened predatory, corrupt government officials.

For the last 4 years, we effectively looked at the symptoms and not at the systematic failures that forced the region's most vulnerable asset, their young people, to flee to our border.

So if Guatemalan President Giammattei truly does believe in the rule of law, he should show us with his actions. Recently, they have fired Francisco Sandoval. He needs to be reinstated. The Guatemalan people in Guatemala deserve a judicial sector and leaders with his credibility to advance his cases of corruption.

I am so glad to report that my priorities in this bill include restricting 75 percent of the funding that has gone to all three governments--El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala--to ensure that the money is actually reaching the people that it is intended.

Furthermore, we have never in the past restricted or put conditions on funding to their attorney general's office. In this bill, we have included an amendment that restricts all funding to the attorney general.

Our goal here is to reduce migration and to ensure that the young people in the region can see a future for themselves and take their governments back.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. I thank our brand new congresswoman and her staff for the hard work that she has put before us in this committee.

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