Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:51:40 -0700 To: , From: "G.PHN.POP.PE" Subject: Press Clips-- Jan 14-18 X-Incognito-SN: 643 X-Incognito-Format: VERSION=2.01a ENCRYPTED=NO Forwarded to: Internet[estermap@ewc.hawaii.edu] Internet[ppn@csf.colorado.edu] cc: Comments by: Richard Cincotta@G.PHN.POP@AIDW -------------------------- [Original Message] ------------------------- Three recent articles re: population funding. Excerpts with full text to follow. 1. Abortion Issue Tying Up Foreign Aid Bill (Washn) By Dan Morgan "Now, however, Israeli officials and U.S. Jewish leaders are warning members of both parties in Congress that if the aid bill is not signed into law before the end of the year, Israel's international credit standing could be damaged. Israel needs the $947 million that is tied up by the abortion dispute to pay year-end debts and reduce its budget deficit." 2. House Tries Again On Foreign Aid, Interior Bills By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) "Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., chairman of the Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, urged anti-abortion lawmakers to accept the new version. "I chastise those members of Congress who are so hellbent and determined that they are going to have their way that they are interfering, in my opinion, with the due process." "And Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the author of language restoring the Reagan-era restrictions on population control activities, asserted, "Pro-lifers will not stand by, we will not allow the abortion industry to get an infusion of literally hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid for the promotion of the killing of unborn children in other lands." 3. U.S. House votes to suspend family planning aid WASHINGTON (Reuter) "The House Wednesday voted to suspend international aid for family planning, a move critics said could result in 35 million unintended pregnancies worldwide next year. The 226-201 vote was part of an effort to end a bitter abortion dispute that has delayed a $12.1 billion foreign aid spending bill. But even the sponsor of the proposal admitted it was unlikely to break a deadlock with the Senate, which has repeatedly rejected House efforts to prevent family planning funds from reaching groups that perform abortions overseas." "If the Senate won't budge, we'll stay here until hell freezes over because unborn children are precious," said Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican. Abortion Issue Tying Up Foreign Aid Bill (Washn) By Dan Morgan (c) 1995, The Washington Post WASHINGTON - Backers of aid to Israel are used to getting their way in Congress. But as they urgently try to dislodge nearly $1 billion of blocked U.S. economic assistance to Israel before a Jan. 1 deadline, they have run into a seemingly immovable object: the anti-abortion movement. Anti-abortion forces have nothing against aid to Israel. They just insist that the U.S. government be banned from providing assistance to overseas private organizations that perform most kinds of abortions or that campaign for legalization of abortion. That issue has mired the $12.1 billion foreign aid bill, which includes aid to Israel, in a months-long dispute between the House and Senate. President Clinton has threatened to veto the measure if it contains the abortion language. Monday, making good on similar threats, he vetoed two separate appropriations bills. Now, however, Israeli officials and U.S. Jewish leaders are warning members of both parties in Congress that if the aid bill is not signed into law before the end of the year, Israel's international credit standing could be damaged. Israel needs the $947 million that is tied up by the abortion dispute to pay year-end debts and reduce its budget deficit. If it does not get the money by Jan. 1, it would have to close the books on its 1995 fiscal year with a much larger deficit than had been anticipated. Israeli officials told Congress last week that that could affect the country's bond rating. Last Tuesday, 300 Jewish leaders from 30 cities met with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and other top Republicans and Democrats, to urge speedy action on the bill. "The House and Senate leadership assured us that this is a priority, especially during this critical time," said a statement issued yesterday by Neal Sher, executive director of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. GOP leaders know that further delay could send an unintended message of uncertainty, according to a spokesperson for the organization. But Republican abortion opponents, particularly those in the House, have made clear that they will not compromise on their stand. "We're absolutely not going to back off on that," said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., who leads the Pro-Life Caucus in the House. Smith, who said he had met with AIPAC representatives to discuss the problem, said he has recommended removing aid to Israel, Egypt and others involved in the Middle East process from the foreign aid bill. Then a separate appropriations measure could be written to cover their aid and be quickly enacted, he said. He said Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., are considering the proposal. Smith described himself as a strong supporter of aid to Israel. Except for the abortion issue, the House and Senate have resolved all their differences over the aid bill, which funds the U.S. military assistance program, bilateral and multilateral economic aid, and U.S. contributions to international financial institutions. Though the bill provides less money than President Clinton sought, administration officials have signaled that the bill probably would be acceptable if House-backed abortion language were eliminated. Last week, the House proposed funding the population programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development, but only if they were authorized in separate legislation. To pass the House, such legislation almost certainly would have to contain the restrictions sought by anti-abortion groups. "We're saying you can have all the money you want for family planning, but you can't turn around and use it for promoting abortion," Smith said Monday. When this was the law in the 1980s, he noted, the U.S. sent hundreds of millions of dollars abroad for population planning benefiting dozens of organizations. However, the Senate, where the anti-abortion movement is less influential, repeatedly has refused to accept the abortion language that the House has attached to the bill. Though less pressing in terms of its international impact, abortion issues also remain to be resolved in the $70 billion bill funding the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services Department. A House provision would undo administration policy on Medicaid abortions. That bill has been stalled in the Senate, where Democrats have threatened to filibuster it because it contains a separate provision undoing President Clinton's ban on the replacement of striking workers by federal contractors. LA TIMES-WASHINGTON POST--12-19-95 0254EST House Tries Again On Foreign Aid, Interior Bills By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The House, struggling to complete work on spending bills, approved a $12.1 billion measure Wednesday covering public lands and natural resources. Lawmakers also tried anew to resolve an abortion dispute that has stalled the foreign aid bill. By a 244-181 vote, the House accepted a revised House-Senate compromise on the Interior bill that attempts to remove a major administration objection by extending a ban on the sale of controversial mining leases. The legislation covers government spending for natural resource and public lands programs, including operation of national parks, and provides money for dozens of energy programs and for subsidizing and arts and humanities. President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill because it includes provisions that he says would reduce environmental protection. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said changes made in the bill Tuesday, including an agreement to extend the ban on mining lease sales, did not go far enough to avoid a veto. "I can accept the dollar limitations in this bill," Babbitt told reporters. But he accused lawmakers of "subterfuge" by including provisions that would expand logging in an Alaska forest, curb a Columbia River Basin ecosystem protection program and block the U.S. Park Service from managing a preserve in California's East Mojave Desert. The mining moratorium, strongly supported by Babbitt, is aimed at a law that requires the government to sell mining rights on federal land for as little as $2.50 an acre. Twice before, Republican conservatives upset with the cheap mining leases joined Democratic environmentalists to defeat measures that emerged from House-Senate negotiations. The newest version must still be approved by the Senate before it goes to the White House. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, the Appropriations interior subcommittee chairman, said the new bill resolved the mining issue and more than meets an administration request by providing an extra $50 million for Indian programs. He said $137 million had been added to the $3.5 billion for Indian affairs in the original Senate bill. But Rep. Sidney Yates, D-Ill., said the bill remained unworthy of support because it "still puts our precious natural resources at grave risk." The bill would cut Interior Department spending by 8 percent to about $6 billion. Forest Service spending would be reduced by a quarter to $2.1 billion and funding for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would be cut by almost 40 percent, to $100 million and $110 million, respectively. "This is as good a bill as we can get," said Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., urging Clinton to sign it. Meanwhile, the House tried a legislative maneuver to resolve a dispute over family planning funding that has held up a $12.1 foreign aid bill. By a 226-201 vote, the House decided to freeze, but not kill, funding for population assistance programs that are directly or indirectly involved in abortion. Those funds could be released if Congress passes specific legislation or takes other steps to do so. The Senate has opposed the restrictions on family planning, and it appeared likely they would reject the House version. The White House has said it would veto the bill if the family planning cuts are included. Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., chairman of the Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, urged anti-abortion lawmakers to accept the new version. "I chastise those members of Congress who are so hellbent and determined that they are going to have their way that they are interfering, in my opinion, with the due process." But there was little sign of compromise from either side of the abortion debate. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the bill would still "effectively eliminate funding for international family planning." And Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the author of language restoring the Reagan-era restrictions on population control activities, asserted, "Pro-lifers will not stand by, we will not allow the abortion industry to get an infusion of literally hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid for the promotion of the killing of unborn children in other lands." The spending bill, down $1.6 billion from 1995 levels, would provide $3 billion in aid for Israel and $2.1 billion for Egypt. It would ease conditions for aid to Pakistan while cutting funding for multinational organizations and peacekeeping. The Interior and foreign aid bills are two of six spending bills for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 that have not been enacted into law. APWR-12-13-95 1707EST U.S. House votes to suspend family planning aid WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The House Wednesday voted to suspend international aid for family planning, a move critics said could result in 35 million unintended pregnancies worldwide next year. The 226-201 vote was part of an effort to end a bitter abortion dispute that has delayed a $12.1 billion foreign aid spending bill. But even the sponsor of the proposal admitted it was unlikely to break a deadlock with the Senate, which has repeatedly rejected House efforts to prevent family planning funds from reaching groups that perform abortions overseas. "We don't expect the Senate to accept this. I don't expect the president to sign (the bill) if this was in it," said Rep. Sonny Callahan, an Alabama Republican. But abortion opponents showed no signs of backing down, saying if the Senate did not agree to suspending family planning aid they would again offer abortion restrictions. "If the Senate won't budge, we'll stay here until hell freezes over because unborn children are precious," said Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican. The bill now goes to the Senate for more debate. The amendment passed by the House would bar the administration from using family planning funds until Congress passes separate legislation specifically authorizing such spending. Congress has not passed separate legislation to authorize this type of foreign aid for roughly a decade and is unlikely to do so in the near future. "It could be years before a new authorization bill is signed into law," said Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat. "Simply put this amendment will end our family planning programs, period." The Planned Parenthood Federation called the vote "shameful" and a tragedy for women. It forecast 35 million unitended pregnancies next year and 88,000 maternal deaths if Congress did not approve family planning funds. The United States provided more than $450 million in family planning funds in fiscal 1995. The White House has said it cannot support the bill if abortion limits are included. Abortion is the last issue holding up the spending bill, which includes provisions supported by the Clinton administration such as aid to the Middle East and loosening restrictions on aid to Pakistan. Smith and other lawmakers originally added language to the bill to bar population aid to any organization that directly or indirectly performed abortions overseas, except in cases of rape, incest or where the mother's life was in danger. Their plan would also ban aid to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities unless it suspended work in China. The UN organization has been criticized for backing coercive family planning policies in that nation.