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

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

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we are nearing the end of the debate. There will be three rollcall votes stacked very shortly. Senator Leahy and I are unaware of any requests for any more rollcall votes. So I think it is safe to say that these three rollcall votes will be the last remaining rollcall votes for the night.

With regard to the Bingaman amendment, this amendment adds $200 million of an existing budget of over $2 billion to fight global AIDS. Just to put that in perspective, this amendment adds more than the entire fiscal year 1999 Clinton global AIDS funding level to this year's level on top of what we have already done. It adds $200 million for HIV/AIDS with an offset, taking away from the Millennium Challenge Account, the President's new initiative. We are spending over $2 billion already this year, as has been repeatedly stated tonight, to combat HIV/AIDS, including nearly $200 million for the Global Fund.

The Millennium Challenge Account is a new initiative that enjoys broad bipartisan support. The MCA provides foreign assistance to developing countries that are doing things the right way, from ruling justly to building free market economies.

The Senate just approved the DeWine amendment 89 to 1. That increases HIV/AIDS spending by $289 million. It is time to wrap it up on this bill, to not steal money from the Millennium Challenge Account. I urge opposition to the Bingaman amendment.

I am prepared to yield back the remainder of the time on this side and let the Senator from New Mexico wrap it up.

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AMENDMENT NO. 2048

The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is now a period for 2 minutes of debate equally divided on amendment No. 2048 offered by the Senator from New Mexico.

The Senator from Kentucky is recognized.

Mr. McCONNELL. Very briefly, this amendment would take $200 million out of the President's Millennium Challenge Account and add it to AIDS funding. We have already had a significant amount of debate about AIDS funding. I think we have made a decision on that.

This amendment, I hope, will be opposed.

I yield back the remainder of my time.

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AMENDMENT NO. 2049

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have a technical amendment, which includes language by Senators ALLARD and FEINGOLD to strike amendments Nos. 1995 and 2004, previously adopted, and another technical amendment by Senator Santorum. I send the amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.

The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. McConnell] proposes an amendment numbered 2049.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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

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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendment is agreed to.

The amendment (No. 2049) was agreed to.

Mr. McCONNELL. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. REID. I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

AMENDMENT NO. 2023, AS MODIFIED

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a modification to amendment No. 2023, offered by Senator Kennedy, to the desk.
I understand the amendment has already been agreed to.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendment is so modified.

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Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, we all understand and appreciate the importance of information technology. Many of us now regularly use our "blackberries" to communicate with each other and staff on the workings of this body. I want to take a moment to highlight the efforts and vision of Voice for Humanity to utilize information technology—specifically audio digital technology—to maximize the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS awareness and other important development issues abroad.

Using low-cost digital tools, Voice for Humanity proposes to convey HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, treatment, and medical training among non-literate and oral communicating populations in developing countries. The devices, which fit into the palm of your hand, can provide standardized information to any one group or individual in any language. And the best part is, information can be regularly updated and changed using regular FM radio technology.

The applications of this technology are endless. During elections, this technology can provide critical information to remote parts of a developing country on the basic tenants of democracy and election rules and regulations. Anyone who has observed elections in a transitioning country knows that confusion over process on election day—by voters and poll workers—is not extraordinary. This technology ensures that everyone has the same information, in the same language, at the same time.

I will have more to say on Voice for Humanity at a later date. I intend to include language in the statement of managers accompanying the fiscal year 2004 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill ensuring support for pilot projects.

Lastly, Mr. President, last night the conferees to the emergency supplemental included $100 million for economic assistance for Jordan. This action was strongly supported by the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, and is intended to be in addition to funds made available for Jordan in the fiscal year 2004 Foreign Operations bill.

My friend from Vermont and I wanted to provide Jordan with early disbursal of funds in the pending bill because we have long recognized how good and trusted an ally we have in that country. I was just in Amman—a little over 3 weeks ago—and was again impressed by the solid relationship the United States enjoys with the Hashemite Kingdom.

The inclusion of an additional $100 million for Jordan sends the right message at the right time and provides well earned support for ongoing reforms in Jordan. The technical amendment the ranking member and I offer strikes an earlier one that provided funds for Jordan on an accelerated basis—instead, Jordan's total allocation for economic assistance in fiscal year 2004 will include the budget request for $250 million, and an additional $100 million in the supplemental.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in conclusion, I thank Senator Leahy and his very capable staff, Tim Rieser and Mark Lippert, and, of course, Chairman Stevens and his able staff director, Jim Morhard, for his continued support of the subcommittee, and particularly for the additional global HIV/AIDS program allocation.

I also thank USAID counsel Bob Lester who puts in long hours working alongside the subcommittee putting these bills together. I thank Brendon Wheeler and my assistant, Robert Karem, who accompanied me on a recent trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, and Paul Grove, chief counsel of the subcommittee. He has been with me off and on for a number of years. He has done a spectacular job. He had to balance both the emergency supplemental conference downstairs and the foreign operations bill upstairs and chronic sleep deprivation at the same time, and he did all that with admirable poise and remarkable intellectual ability. I appreciate his very fine work.