Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022
Floor Speech
I rise in opposition to the bill. At the outset, though, I want to congratulate our subcommittee chair on shepherding her very first bill to the House floor. The bill before us provides $62.2 billion for the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. That is a 12 percent increase, Mr. Speaker, over the fiscal year 2021 enacted level.
The bill provides important funding for our national security, including $3.3 billion for Israel. The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the looming shadow of Hezbollah and Iran, remind us all of the threats Israel faces to its security every day.
The fighting in Gaza stopped when it did, in part, due to the diplomatic efforts of Egypt. As Secretary of State Blinken told the committee, Egypt was vital to helping arrange the cease-fire and remains an essential partner for the United States in the region-- Egypt.
While the bill maintains funding for Egypt at the current level, I strongly disagree with the additional conditions that this bill places on Egypt.
The bill continues critical funding for Jordan, supports countries facing Russian aggression, and provides resources to meet our commitments in the Indo-Pacific, including $300 million for the Countering Chinese Influence Fund.
The bill provides funding for Colombia, our good ally and friend, at last year's level. This is a critical moment for that country, and we should be doing all we can to support them. However, I regret that new conditions that this bill places could undermine our counternarcotics efforts, which are critical in Colombia.
Our programs there are in our own self-interest, especially given the amount of cocaine that still floods American streets and causes so much destruction in our communities back home.
Another drug problem sowing chaos back home is the opioid epidemic. The bill includes new language that directs the State Department to expand their current efforts to tackle the opioid crisis and better address this terrible problem.
Mr. Speaker, I wish I could stop there and say this is a good bill. Unfortunately, the spending increases outside of these critical areas are just too great, and the policy riders are too extreme.
First and foremost are changes made to the longstanding measures that protect the sanctity of life. These are commonsense provisions that have enjoyed bipartisan support for decades. Of greatest concern is the removal of the most important condition in any State-Foreign Operations bill, that no funds can be used to pay for abortion. The removal of that language is unprecedented, but it doesn't stop there.
The bill also includes a permanent prohibition of the Mexico City policy, weakens the Kemp-Kasten restrictions on coercive abortion, and increases funding to the U.N., among many other controversial changes.
Another tough pill for the American taxpayer to swallow is the more than $3 billion included in this bill for environmental programs that bring a high potential for duplication, wasteful complexity, and substantial oversight challenges.
The bill also increases funding for the United Nations and other international organizations while ignoring the need for long-overdue and desperately needed reforms.
The absence of conditions on the World Health Organization is particularly concerning, given what we all know about their complicity in covering up the COVID-19 outbreak.
Despite some areas of agreement, the unrestrained spending and unprecedented partisan riders require that I oppose this legislation. I, therefore, urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Granger), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, by executive order, President Biden reversed the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, which was a reiteration and expansion of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy. Announced by Ronald Reagan at a U.N. conference on population growth in Mexico City in 1984, hence its name, the policy was designed to ensure that U.S. taxpayer money was not funneled to foreign, nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion.
My amendment, which was not made in order, would have inserted new text that reinstates the Mexico City policy which was rendered inoperative by the President, and it also would have taken out new pro- abortion language that says that no President in the future can promulgate any iteration of the Mexico City policy.
The Mexico City policy established pro-life safeguards; benign, humane conditions on global health assistance. For years, foreign nongovernmental organizations have been subsided and empowered by taxpayer funds--and let's not forget, this is grant money--to weaken, undermine, or reverse pro-life laws in other nations, especially in Africa, and to destroy the precious lives of unborn children.
The Mexico City policy mitigates U.S. taxpayer complicity in global abortion and underscores our deep commitment to protecting the weak and most vulnerable.
According to a recent Marist poll, 77 percent of Americans are opposed to using tax moneys to pay for abortions in other countries. Only 19 percent support it.
The Marist poll found that 55 percent of Democrats, 85 percent of Independents, and 95 percent of Republicans were against using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions in other countries.
U.S. foreign assistance, Mr. Speaker, and foreign entities that we fund with billions of dollars of grant money should consistently affirm, care for, and tangibly assist women and all children--all children, including unborn babies--regardless of their age or condition of dependency.
Second, Mr. Speaker, since 1973, the Helms amendment has prohibited using taxpayer funds to directly pay for abortions in other countries. Helms is the Hyde amendment for the rest of the world. The bill before us today, however, completely reverses the Helms amendment.
I had offered in Rules a second amendment that would have reinstated Helms. It was not made in order.
Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for child dismemberment, including severing arms and legs and actual decapitation of the baby with sharp knives, or deadly poisons or drugs like RU-486, which starves the baby to death.
Children alive but not yet born who are killed by abortion after 20 weeks or later experience excruciating suffering and pain. And until they are rendered unconscious or dead by these hideous procedures, the baby feels the pain of every cut.
Years ago, Senator Biden said, and he wrote to constituents, that opposition to abortion funding would: ``Protect both the woman and her unborn child.''
He said: ``Those of us who are opposed to abortion''--again this is Joe Biden--``should not be compelled to pay for them.''
Finally, my amendment on the U.N. Population Fund was not made in order, as my good friend and colleague Harold Rogers had said, this legislation weakens the Kemp-Kasten language significantly.
I would point out to my colleagues--because I offered the first amendment on this floor back in 1984 on the complicity of the U.N. Population Fund in forced abortion and forced sterilization in China. For over four decades, the U.N. Population Fund has vigorously supported, funded, defended, promoted, even celebrated the Chinese Communist Party's coercive population control program.
I met with the head of the Chinese program, Peng Peiyun, back in 1991 in Beijing, almost a 3-hour meeting.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, Peng Peiyun told me over and over again, there is no coercion in the Chinese program, even though everyone who has followed it knows that there is, because she said the UNFPA was there, on the ground whitewashing and falsifying the truth.
We are missing maybe 60 million females, women of all ages now, because it has been a systematic extermination of the girl child in China. It is one of the reasons why human sex trafficking has exploded in China, because the girl child has been killed, exterminated, and the UNFPA has been at best silent on that issue, again, giving the Chinese Communist Party a clean bill of health.
Doubling the amount of money that was in previous bills from $35 million to $70 million while simultaneously weakening Kemp-Kasten trivializes these crimes against women and these crimes against children.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this needs to be clarified for all Members who are listening.
The Kemp-Kasten language--is and has been--the law and has been supported in a bipartisan way for years, because we are so unalterably opposed to coercive population control. It says that we will not support any organization that supports or comanages a coercive population control program. The new language takes out ``supports and comanages'' and puts direct, ``directly involved with abortion.''
China is an absolutely closed society. It is run by a dictatorship under Xi Jinping. I have chaired 72 congressional hearings over the years on human rights in China, and many witnesses were women who have been forcibly abducted. Usually only the ones that escape and get here and become asylees and get asylum by our law here in the United States can speak out about it.
So how will you ever ascertain if it is ``direct'' because Xi Jinping is not going to let you in to investigate. We can't even get answers on Wuhan, and this is even more closed than that, quite frankly.
I do hope Members will realize this is a gutting of the Kemp-Kasten language. No matter how you feel about population control, we should be absolutely opposed to coercion. Nobody should be forced.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I urge a rejection of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I claim time in support of the amendments, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This amendments en bloc contains a number of good proposals by both sides of the aisle. I want to highlight just a few.
It includes language offered by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch) to increase funding for the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. This will help ensure that this office has resources we need to ensure that U.S. citizens unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad receive priority attention from our government.
It also includes a provision supported by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany) that is in support of our close friend and partner Taiwan. At a time when the Chinese Communist Party has Taiwan in its crosshairs, we need to do all we can to support our democratic friends on that island.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I urge support of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of the amendments en bloc. Madam Speaker, the amendments en bloc before us includes seven amendments that would significantly improve the quality of this bill.
It includes an amendment that would prohibit funding to the U.N. Population Fund and strike funding for family planning and reproductive health. I am gravely concerned about the longstanding pro-life provisions that were stripped from the bill this fiscal year, all of them. Allowing the bill to proceed without protections for the unborn, like those in this amendment, is unprecedented and a direct hit to the sanctity of life around the world.
Also included in this en bloc is an amendment that would prohibit contributions to various climate organizations, such as the Green Climate Fund. The underlying bill provides over $3 billion for climate change programs, including nearly $2 billion for ill-advised contributions to international climate funds. At a time when American families continue to struggle to make ends meet and foreign aid is under great scrutiny, proposing such politically motivated misuses of taxpayer funding adds insult to injury.
The en bloc also includes an amendment that would prohibit funds for U.S. membership and/or contributions to the World Health Organization. The underlying bill, as currently written, includes no reforms of the WHO, even though they are complicit in covering up the COVID-19 pandemic. Without necessary safeguards in place to improve WHO transparency, American taxpayer funds should not be used for this organization.
Similarly, the amendments en bloc includes a proposal to reduce funding for the Contributions to International Organizations account. The base bill includes an increase for international organizations, but without conditions or requirements for reform, this is simply too much funding.
The amendments included in this amendment give the bill a far greater chance of being signed into law. It includes longstanding pro-life provisions that enjoy support from the majority of the American public and commonsense safeguards to ensure taxpayer dollars are used in the most efficient manner.
Madam Speaker, I urge support for the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Tony Gonzales).
Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, this amendments en bloc contains several measures that could have enjoyed broad support. Unfortunately, it also includes several amendments that some on our side are unable to accept. One is by the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar), which would transfer funds from foreign military financing to the development assistance account.
At a time when the United States is facing serious national security challenges around the globe, including from China and Russia, we should be increasing U.S. security assistance rather than holding it flat or, worse yet, reducing it to increase an account that this bill already increases by 15 percent.
We simply face too many challenges to be cutting national security funding at this time.
Madam Speaker, finally, I also need to mention the self-executing manager's amendment offered by our distinguished subcommittee chair relating to the expansion of global currency reserves by the International Monetary Fund. This amendment would require the Secretary of the Treasury to support the issuance of an additional $2.1 trillion of special drawing rights, an IMF reserve asset, to all member countries of the fund. This is in addition to a whopping $650 billion that was already issued earlier this year.
This is a highly controversial proposal that appears to run counter to other administration policies, including claims of prioritizing efforts to counter the maligned influence of Russia and China.
This plan could result in many billions in additional reserves being sent to the world's most notorious dictatorships and state sponsors of terror, such as Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China.
Not only does this unwise scheme go against the stated goals and objectives of the White House, but it also could hinder Treasury's efforts to penalize and pressure these malign state actors through extensive U.S. sanction regimes.
Why go to all the trouble of putting in place and enforcing these sanctions when this proposal for the IMF to issue trillions in additional liquidity could significantly undercut years of pressure carefully designed to advance our national interest?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this En Bloc Amendment to H.R. 4373, the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for FY2022, which incorporates Jackson Lee Amendments Nos. 15, 16, and 17.
I thank the Rules Committee for making these amendments in order and State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chair DeLauro for including them in this En Bloc Amendment.
Jackson Lee Amendments No. 15 and No. 16 have been approved several times by the relevant subcommittee, made in order by the Rules Committee, and adopted by the full House; Jackson Lee Amendment #17, while being offered for the first time, makes a very important contribution to the health and safety of the global community.
Jackson Lee Amendment No. 16 will designate $1,000,000 to combat the trafficking of endangered species.
The amendment makes a good bill better by providing a $1 million focus to combat the transportation of the remains of endangered species, to confront the transport of the remains of killed endangered species.
The brutal killing of Cecil the lion after being lured off a protected preserve was an indication that we needed to do more to protect endangered species at risk of being killed.
At that time, I introduced and sought the support of my colleagues as original cosponsors of my legislation, Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015.
This bill sought to strengthen partner countries' capacity in countering wildlife trafficking and designating major wildlife countries for protection.
The Jackson Lee Amendment No. 16 is again offered in the same spirit: to prohibit the taking and transportation of any endangered and threatened species as a trophy to the United States.
Currently, the Endangered Species Act does not protect most wildlife animals killed. At this point, we can choose to make wise decisions that will sustain the global population, or we can ignore the warning signs.
Jackson Lee Amendment No. 16 is one that the House has strongly supported in the past because it would bring greater awareness and protection to these beautiful and vital populations that are too often taken for granted, by allowing this amendment to address the senseless trafficking in trophy killings of all endangered and threatened species.
Jackson Lee Amendment No. 15 provides funds to be allocate funds provided for Global Health Programs to the fight against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
I have been a dedicated champion against this practice for a long while, working closely with former Congressman Joe Crowley of New York to introduce legislation targeted at supporting the elimination of this ludicrous practice of mutilating young women.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
This practice is rooted in gender inequality and is often linked to other elements of gender-based violence and discrimination, such as child marriage and recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.
Unfortunately, this means an estimated 200 million girls and women alive today have been victims of FGM/C, with girls 14 and younger representing 44 million of those who have been cut.
For example, consider that around the world, at least five girls are mutilated/cut every hour and more than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of FGM/C, annually.
The impacts of FGM/C on the physical health of women and girls can include bleeding, infection, obstetric fistula, complications during childbirth and death.
Other significant barriers to combatting the practice of FGM/C include the high concentration in specific regions associated with several cultural traditions, that is not tied to any one religion.
According to UNICEF, FGM/C is reported to occur in all parts of the world, but is most prevalent in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Due to the commonality of this practice many migrants to the U.S. bring the practice of FGM/C with them, increasing the importance of combatting FGM/C abroad.
Jackson Lee Amendment #15 prioritizes funding for foreign assistance to combat Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), an internationally recognized violation of the human rights of girls and women comes to an end.
Finally, I thank the Rules Committee for making in order, and Chairwoman Lee for including in this En Bloc Amendment, Jackson Lee Amendment No. 17, which increases and decreases the Global Health Programs fund by $1,000,000 to emphasize the national commitment for USAID provide unused vaccines that would otherwise be destroyed to countries in need around the world.
Increasing the availability to those countries in need of superfluous but life-saving vaccines is what a great nation does; not only is the right thing to do, but it also builds goodwill and rebuilds important global relations that were ruptured by the previous Administration.
With the spread of Covid-19 variants on the rise, Jackson Lee Amendment No. 17 will help our neighbors in this hemisphere, and our friends and allies around the world cope with this ongoing global public health crisis.
I urge all members to vote for the En Bloc Amendment and the underlying legislation, H.R. 4373, the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source