ACTION ITEM

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will soon begin their deliberation on the amount of foreign assistance to countries throughout the world. To date, earmarking assistance to Ukraine has not been mentioned in Congress, while the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations has spearheaded a concerted effort to rescind Fiscal Year 1997 assistance to Ukraine and condition any future assistance. Specific legislation for Ukraine, however, may be introduced should Ukraine continue on its course of economic reform and resolve Congressional concerns over investor problems.

Immediate action by the Ukrainian American community is needed. Members of the Senate and House subcommittees (list follows) should be urged to support legislation for sustained U.S. foreign assistance to Ukraine. A sample letter to members of Congress is provided below. Please immediately send letters to the senators and representatives shown on the attached list.

Sample letter:

As an American of Ukrainian heritage, I am concerned about the current status of U.S. foreign assistance to the new independent states (NIS), particularly Ukraine. Decisions now before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee could shape events in the former Soviet region for decades.

In recent years, Congress provided an earmark of assistance to Ukraine in recognition of its enormous value as a strategic partner of the U.S. This year, I have been advised that several members of Congress are intent on rescinding past assistance to Ukraine and/or conditioning future assistance.

Unconditional assistance to Ukraine is crucial in order to sustain the progress of political and economic reforms. Therefore, I am writing to urge you to support a continuation of the current level of funding ($225 million) for Ukraine for Fiscal Year 1998.

A strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States will not come to fruition without continued U.S. foreign assistance for Ukraine's reform efforts. Ill-conceived measures to discontinue or reduce this aid may undermine the positive reforms that have been effected in that country, thereby compounding the problems that members of Congress decry.

I urge you to support continued U.S. foreign assistance for Ukraine for FY 1998.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

* * *

Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee: Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chairman, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member, Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

House Foreign Operations Subcommittee: Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.), chairman, 1st District, Mobile; John Edward Porter (R-Ill.), 10th District, Deerfield; Frank Wolf (R-Va.), 10th District, Herndon; Ron Packard (R-Calif.), 48th District, Vista; Joseph Knollenberg (R-Mich.), 11th District , Farmington Hills; Michael Forbes (R-N.Y.), 1st District, Shirley; Jack Kinsgton (R-Ga.), 1st District, Savannah; Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), 11th District, Morristown; Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ranking member, 8th District, San Francisco; Sidney Yates (D-Ill.), 9th District, Chicago; Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), 18th District, White Plains; Thomas Foglietta (D-Pa.), 1st District , Philadelphia; Esteban Edward Torres (D-Calif.), 34th District, Pico Rivera.

Send letters to: The Honorable (name), United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510; and The Honorable (name), U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.

- Submitted by Ukrainian National Information Service

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 1, 1997, No. 22, Vol. LXV

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