Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2007

FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend for yielding me time and thank him for the job he has done on this very important legislation.

Mr. Chairman, this morning I had the privilege of joining First Lady Laura Bush, Ambassador Tobias, Dr. Kent Hill at an event announcing Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Senegal as the newest countries to be added to the President's Malaria Initiative, $1.2 billion over its 5-year program. Mrs. Bush also announced Admiral R. Timothy Ziemer as the new U.S. Malaria Coordinator.

I think Members should be aware if they are not already that every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria moreover about 1.2 million people die each year, mostly in Africa, from this preventable disease.

The President's Malaria Initiatives (PMI) goal is to cut malaria deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries and hopefully to also mitigate morbidity. The plan includes disseminating insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying, life-saving drugs called ACTs, and treatment for pregnant women known as intermittent preventive treatment or IPT.

The money in this bill will advance this initiative and will now include four new countries. Let me also thank the chairman and the committee for modestly upping the amount of money to try to effectuate cures for those women suffering obstetric fistula.

The amount has now risen to $7.5 million. My hope is, and perhaps in conference, we can bump that up even further to $10 million. Two million women suffer from this debilitating condition, the result of which is incontinence. I have visited hospitals in Africa, and seen that for a mere $150 a woman's life can be given back to her through a surgical repair.

Obviously, there is also prevention, but there are these 2 million women who have a fistula today, and it seems to me we need to do even more to try to end their misery.

Having met with many of these women, to see the smiles on their faces, having gotten their lives back, going back to their villages knowing that they will no longer be ostracized because incontinence obviously is not just a health hazard and leads to sickness, it results in very serious odor as well.

Let me remind my colleagues that anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 new cases occur every year, and certainly if we were to increase our effort on obstetrical services, especially midwives in Africa, such an effort would go a long way to preventing this condition when an obstructed delivery or some kind of sexual trauma causes obstetric fistula.

I would hope the chairman would try to increase that number even further, and I thank him for what he has done.

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Obey-Hyde-Lantos amendment because the lifesaving interventions that would be effectuated by the amendment to enhance by $50 million money for PEPFAR and another $50 million to meet the needs for refugees and IDPs in Darfur are compelling.

The money diverted from Egypt, I want to make very clear, will be very well used. I have actually visited camps in Darfur, Mr. Chairman, and they are underfunded. Despite our best efforts and many of the efforts of the international community, people do need more, food, medicines, as well as the shelter and security that ensures that the food and medicines can go to the people.

Let me also point out that the PEPFAR program did not receive in this bill the amount of money that the President had asked for. Some of that money was put into the Global Fund. And I think it is unfortunate that PEPFAR, that has worked so well and is still growing in its capabilities as well as its impact, should be funded at least at the level the President has asked for. This gets us closer to that number.

I recently visited a number of the programs that are funded by PEPFAR in Uganda and saw firsthand how there is behavioral change that is occurring as part of the abstinence, be faithful approach. But especially for those under the age of 30, there is a profound change. The infection rate is dropping dramatically, and has been for a few years now in places like Uganda.

We went out into the bush and into areas where U.S. funded teams are going out two by two to bring the message of health, including testing as well as what needs to be done if one is found to be infected by HIV/AIDS. We also saw that the PEPFAR monies were being used very efficaciously using faith-based initiatives and others to get the antiretroviral drugs to those infected. But clearly, there is not enough medicine available. Whether it be for young people or people who are older, there is just not enough antiretroviral medicine being funded to reach all of those who could get their lives back if indeed that money was there. So this money, at least $50 million of it, will be put there.

Let me also say with regards to Egypt, we all know pursuant to the Camp David agreement, and because of the boycott, the Egyptians did receive significant amounts of money, as they should have, and they do so every year. They continue to do so even if the Obey-Hyde-Lantos language is adopted. But I am very concerned, as someone who spends a great deal of time working on human rights, that there has been a deterioration of human rights in Egypt, Christians and others, the government has not done all it can do to try to mitigate these abuses.

Yes, I like Mubarak. We all like him. He is a very affable and a very effective leader in many ways. But it seems to me much more has to be done on a human rights record that the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices this year again has said is poor, as well as the International Religious Freedom Report with regards to Egypt.

So for all of these reasons, I strongly urge that we support this amendment. It is a good amendment. And, again, we are still, even if this passes, major providers of U.S. taxpayer funds to Egypt, even if this amendment passes. So I urge support of the amendment.

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