ACTION ITEM: U.S. aid to Ukraine (07/22/01)

ACTION ITEM

U.S. aid to Ukraine

Urgent action is needed to persuade the U.S. Congress to restore the funds cut by the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations in the proposed Appropriations Bill for U.S. aid to Ukraine. The subcommittee cut the aid to $125 million down from the $169 million requested by the Bush administration. The matter is now being taken up by the Senate.

Please call Sen. Patrick Leahy's office at (202) 224-4242 to urge that his Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approve aid to Ukraine to the full amount requested by the president.

There were three reasons given for the $44 million cut: the House Appropriations Committee felt that: 1) Chornobyl has been "sufficiently" addressed; 2) reforms in Ukraine are lagging behind; and 3) "dissident" journalists have been represssed or killed.

It should be noted, however, that Myroslava Gongadze, the wife of slain dissident journalist Heorhii Gongadze, has gone on the record to state that it would be a grave mistake for the United States to cut aid to Ukraine. She has expressed this opinion to members of Congress.

Now is not the time to cut assistance to Ukraine. Most of it goes not to benefit Ukrainian executive powers, but to programs that help non-governmental organizations, municipal small-business development and the independent media, which help build democracy in Ukraine.

Please write, fax, call and/or e-mail members of the full Senate Appropriations Committee. For a list of these senators, see: http://www.senate.gov/committees.

Please also call your senators. For telephone numbers for members of both the Senate and House, call (202) 224-3121.

Following is a list of members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. For telephone and fax numbers, and for e-mail addresses, constituents may call (202) 224-3121.

o Democrats: Robert Byrd, West Virginia (chairman); Daniel Inouye, Hawaii; Ernest Hollings, South Carolina; Patrick Leahy, Vermont (chairman, Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee); Tom Harkin, Iowa; Barbara Mikulski, Maryland; Harry Reid, Nevada; Herb Kohl, Wisconsin; Patty Murray, Washington; Byron Dorgan, North Dakota; Dianne Feinstein, California; Richard Durbin, Illinois; Tim Johnson, South Dakota; Mary Landrieu, Lousiana; Jack Reed, Rhode Island.

o Republicans: Ted Stevens, Alaska (ranking member); Thad Cochran, Mississippi; Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania; Pete Dominici, New Mexico; Christopher Bond, Missouri; Mitch McConnell, Kentucky (ranking member, Senate Foreign Operation Subcommittee); Conrad Burns, Montana; Richard Shelby, Alabama; Judd Gregg, New Hampshire; Robert Bennett, Utah; Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado; Larry Craig, Idaho; Kay Bailey Hutchins, Texas; and Mike De Wine, Ohio.

- submitted by Ihor Gawdiak, president, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, and Bohdan Korzeniowski, president, Ukrainian Federation of America.

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