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The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

Date: June 21, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense


THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2007)

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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I represent Fort Benning; and I represent the WHINSEC, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. This is a fine institution. It's designed and it is functioning, created just in 2001 in response to the critique that you have heard today over and over again to promote professional education and training to eligible nations in the Western Hemisphere in democratic principles that are set forth in the charter of the Organization of American States.

You have heard all of this critique, but if you look at the bill itself that we are debating tonight, on page 65, language is put in here specifically to address these concerns. It says, ``That the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations, no later than 60 days after enactment of this Act, a report addressing how the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation IMET program for fiscal year 2008 contributes to the promotion of human rights, respect for civilian authority and the rule of law, the establishment of legitimate judicial mechanisms for the military, and achieving the goal of right sizing military forces.''

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Mr. BISHOP of GEORGIA. The points that have been made and the critiques that have been made can all be addressed by the legislation written by the subcommittee, by the full committee in the bill and hopefully will be adopted by the House tonight.

And so I would urge the defeat of this amendment. I think that we need to proceed. We need to continue promoting democracy in our own neighborhood in the Western Hemisphere, and I think that the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation does just that, and I'd like for us to keep it and defeat this amendment.

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