Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005

FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 15, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 715 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 4818.

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AMENDMENT NO. 20 OFFERED BY MR. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment No. 20 offered by Mr. Sherman:

In the item relating to "United States Agency for International Development-CHILD SURVIVAL AND HEALTH PROGRAMS FUND", after the aggregate dollar amount, insert the following: "(increased by $290,000,000)".

In the item relating to "United States Agency for International Development-CHILD SURVIVAL AND HEALTH PROGRAMS FUND", after the third dollar amount, insert the following: "(increased by $290,000,000)".

In the item relating to "CONTRIBUTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION", after the aggregate dollar amount, insert the following "(reduced by $359,000,000)".

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes.

I introduced this amendment on behalf of myself and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen). The gentlewoman is the chairwoman of the subcommittee that deals with the Middle East on the Committee on International Relations. I am the ranking member of that subcommittee of that committee that deals with terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

We are both concerned that the World Bank has decided to make loans of $359 million to the government of Iran. We are also both concerned that we have an opportunity here to help the Child Survival Account, to save perhaps millions of children's lives simply by providing it more funding than this bill provides, to those programs that provide immunization, those that treat diarrhea and other easily curable diseases. So we see an opportunity both to deal with the World Bank's decision and to increase child survival.

Mr. Chairman, just a couple of months ago, the World Bank, over American objections, approved $359 million for Iran. They did so at the same time that the IAEA was deliberating not whether Iran was developing nuclear weapons, we all know that they are, but the degree to which they should be sanctioned for their clear violation of nuclear proliferation control agreements.

Now, the government of Iran spends the minimum necessary on domestic projects in order to stay in power. This $359 million allows them to fund those minimal domestic projects. Then the government of Iran uses what is left over to develop nuclear weapons and to support terror. It is the number one state sponsor of terror as identified by the United States State Department.

So this bill as presently written puts money in the World Bank. One quarter of the World Bank's assets and funds, roughly, are those of the American taxpayer, and then $359 million is going from the World Bank to Iran.

We need to make it clear that Members do not have to go back to their districts and defend sending American tax dollars to Tehran at a time when they are developing nuclear weapons.

We also need to help the child survival accounts. I would have wanted to cut $359 million from the World Bank and add a full $359 million to child survival. As a result of the outlay rules and timing of outlays, this amendment was in order only if we increased child survival by $290 million. So if my colleagues are fiscal conservatives, this amendment saves the government $69 million, but, more importantly, it funds some of the very best U.S. AID programs. It provides additional money for child survival and maternal health. It provides for those very effective treatments for easily curable and preventable diseases.

This amendment enhances the bill.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, let me deal with this view that somehow the World Bank is not the World Bank, it is separate agencies. It is true the World Bank has five different departments, but as the World Bank's own Web site says in referring to the two departments in question now, the IBRD and the IDA are run on the same lines. They share the same staff and headquarters, report to the same president and evaluate projects with the same standards. They go on to say the IDA simply takes the money out of a different drawer. So, if we are funding the World Bank, we funding the World Bank.

This vote on this amendment is our only chance this year to vote to put economic pressure on the government of Iran that is developing nuclear weapons. It is the only chance we have this year to respond to the World Bank and to show how we feel when they send our money to a government that our State Department has identified as the number one state sponsor of terrorism. It is our only chance to respond to the investigation of Senator Lugar, who has shown that many experts estimate that between 5 percent and 25 percent of the money we send to the World Bank is misused; and it is our best opportunity to vote to increase child survival and to save children's lives, whether they are dying from diarrhea or dying from diseases for which immunization is possible.

This is our chance to speak as a caucus and to say that time for business as usual is over. We can walk out of here saying, well, we disagree with the World Bank, but there is nothing we can do about it. But then we have to go back to our districts, when a nuclear mushroom cloud explodes first in a test in Iran and then, God forbid, in a hostile use by the Iranian government, and defend our votes to support a bill, part of the money of which ended up in Tehran.

I see the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) here, and I do not know whether he wishes time. I commend the gentleman for his efforts to make sure that we deal with the World Bank, and I appreciate his support for this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.