Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2004

FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 2800, which the clerk will report.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 2800) making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes.

AMENDMENT NO. 1965

(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. McConnell], for himself and Mr. Leahy, proposes an amendment numbered 1965.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to and considered as original text for the purposes of further amendment; further, that no points of order be waived by this agreement.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The amendment (No. 1965) was agreed to.

(The amendment is printed in today's RECORD under "Text of Amendments.")

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, my friend from Vermont and I come to floor today hoping we can dispose of the Foreign Operations bill in short order. That short order will not be today, but we believe we will have a limited number of amendments and, hopefully, an opportunity to wrap this bill up within a day or so—Monday or Tuesday.

Our respective staffs have been burning the midnight oil reviewing the amendments that we are aware of, and I strongly encourage all Senators to offer their amendments on Monday so we can wrap this bill up as quickly as possible.

Let me just say a very few words about the measure before us.

While the Senate's allocation is $796 million below the President's request, it is also $970 million above the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, our conference allocation will be closer to the House level, which will make conferencing
the bill that much more of a challenge.

This measure provides nearly $1.4 billion for the President's new HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria initiative for those programs under the subcommittee's jurisdiction, which is $10 million above that request.

Up to $250 million is available for a contribution to the global fund, and $150 million is provided for the President's International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative. This amount includes $700 million for the Global AIDS Initiative.

It provides $1 billion for the Millennium Challenge assistance, which is $300 million below the request, and $100 million for the famine fund.

The bill fully funds the request for numerous accounts, including international disaster assistance; transition initiatives; international narcotics control and law enforcement; migration and refugee assistance; nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs; international military education and training; and international organizations and programs.

The bill provides increased funding for the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, development assistance, assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, and assistance for the independent states of the former Soviet Union.

Given the $796 million cut we had to make, this bill is below the request in the Economic Support Fund, Andean Counterdrug Initiative, Peace Corps, debt restructuring, foreign military financing, peacekeeping operations, and international financial institution accounts—all of those below the request. Most of those accounts are still funded, however, at or above their respective fiscal year 2003 levels.

Despite the cuts in the ESF and FMF accounts, full funding for Israel, Egypt, and Jordan is provided.

Let me say a word or two about the ACI and the Peace Corps. While ACI is funded at $660 million, we provide authority to transfer $37 million from the international narcotics account, resulting in a funding level that is equal to last year's. For the Peace Corps, we provide $310 million and authority to transfer $20 million from the Global AIDS Initiative to the Peace Corps for their HIV/AIDS activities abroad. This results in a funding level that is $29 million below the request.

Let me close by thanking my good friend from Vermont for his input to this bill. I know he does not agree with everything in it. Frankly, I don't either. But we have worked hard to craft a bill born of compromise. I thank him for the cooperation and courtesy he continues to extend as the ranking member of this subcommittee.

With that, Mr. President, once again let me say we hope to pass this bill very shortly after Monday.