EDITORIAL: Foreign aid and leadership (09/27/98)

EDITORIAL

Foreign aid and leadership

Both houses of the U.S. Congress have now passed versions of the foreign aid bill for Fiscal Year 1999 - and both fall far short of the administration's proposal to increase funding from the $770 million allocated in 1998 to $925 million in 1999. The House of Representatives version provides $590 million in aid to the NIS - an amount $180 million below the funding levels for the current (1998) fiscal year. The Senate recommends $740 million for the NIS, a decrease of $30 million. The House version also limits the amount of foreign assistance to any one country of the NIS, including Ukraine, to $147.5 million.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, said she voted against the foreign aid bill 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."

Earlier, the co-chairpersons of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus - Reps. Jon Fox (R-Pa.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Sander Levin (D-Mich.) Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) and Louise Slaughter (D. N.Y.) - had written a letter to the chairs of both Foreign Operations Subcommittees to express strong support for continued assistance to Ukraine in view of its strategic partnership with the U.S. "As the Ukrainian government continues to reform its internal structures and introduces further economic reforms, it is vital for U.S. foreign assistance to continue," they emphasized.

What is at stake? Programs that support democratic institutions (for example, non-governmental organizations in Ukraine), law enforcement programs, commercial law reform, nuclear safety projects and agricultural development, to name a few.

As a House-Senate conference is expected to be held at the end of this month to resolve differences between the two versions of the bill, the Ukrainian National Information Service has requested that Ukrainian community members fax letters to the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as to members of both Foreign Operations Subcommittees. Since the debate over funding for the NIS continues, it is imperative that the Ukrainian community make its voice heard.

Letters should be faxed or mailed immediately to key leaders in both houses. The following Senate leaders should be contacted: Majority Leader Trent Lott, Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell, Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Foreign Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy. Key House leaders include: Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairman Sonny Callahan, Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member David Obey and Foreign Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Nancy Pelosi.

Decisions on the U.S. foreign aid budget are determinants of the success or failure of post-Soviet transitions in the NIS. Clearly, the U.S., as the world's sole superpower, has to take the lead in securing the progress made and promoting further advances.

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