House and Senate pass foreign aid bills (09/27/98)

House and Senate pass foreign aid bills

by Michael Sawkiw Jr.
Ukrainian National Information Service

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives on September 17 passed the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4569), by a vote of 225-161, with 18 abstentions. For Fiscal Year 1999, the House voted on a $16.2 billion foreign aid bill that includes $3.4 billion for payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as nearly $400 million for multilateral bank arrearages. Funding for the bill is approximately $1 billion less than requested by President Bill Clinton and several hundreds of million dollars less then the current Fiscal Year 1998 foreign operations appropriations.

The debate on the House floor lasted into the late evening hours of the session on September 17 as several additional amendments were considered for passage. Major issues in the bill regarding the newly independent states (NIS) included a dramatic reduction in funding levels, bringing FY 1999 spending down to $590 million - $180 million less than the current fiscal year's spending.

The bill withholds 50 percent of any assistance to Russia should it be found that the government of Russia is continueing its military cooperation with Iran. It also limits the amount of foreign assistance to any one country of the NIS, including Ukraine, to $147.5 million.

Several key Democrats voted against the foreign aid bill because of its inadequate funding levels. Among those expressing their opposition to the bill were Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee.

"First and foremost," stated Rep. Pelosi on the House floor, "I oppose the legislation because I do not think it rises, in terms of its vision and its resources, to the challenges that our country faces as the sole global leader of the world."

The U.S. Senate also passed a Foreign Operations Bill, voting 90-3 in early September to provided $12.6 billion in foreign assistance and nearly $18 billion in IMF payments. Since the two bills have different funding levels for FY 1999, these issues must be resolved in a House-Senate conference, expected to be held at the end of this month.

The differences in the foreign aid account will likely be resolved as part of an omnibus bill along with several other unresolved appropriations bills that mustbe passed by the end of the current fiscal year.

On September 17 Congress also passed a continuing resolution to extend government programs and services for an additional week in the new fiscal year. The continuing resolution provides funds for operations until October 9 the day Congress is expected to recess for the year.

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