Congress passes foreign aid bill (12/05/99)

Congress passes foreign aid bill

by Michael Sawkiw Jr.
Ukrainian National Information Service

WASHINGTON - After weeks of negotiations between the Clinton administration and Congressional Republicans, the U.S. Congress passed the foreign aid bill on November 19. Considered a victory by both sides, the foreign aid bill was lumped together with several other appropriations bills, which had also been held up in negotiations.

During the Senate floor debates on the value of increased assistance to foreign countries, Sen. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) blasted the budget process by stating, "All they [the administration] want is to give the taxpayers' money away to foreign countries and be damned what happens at home." Other Republicans and Democrats, however, defended the U.S. foreign aid spending bill as a means to maintain U.S. global leadership throughout the world.

President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on November 29 in a ceremony at the White House. Total funding in the Fiscal Year 2000 Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Bill was $15.34 billion. Issues that received the greatest amount of funding, and were the topics of most of the negotiating, were the Wye River Accord signed in 1998 between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, U.S. arrears for its United Nations dues, and a nuclear threat reduction program for countries in the former Soviet Union, particularly Russia.

In next year's budget, the Freedom Support Act (FSA) provides assistance to the independent states of the former Soviet Union (notice the elimination of the "new" in front of "independent states") in the sum of $839 million. According to the bill "not less than $180 million should be made available for assistance for Ukraine." This amount is a reduction in foreign aid to Ukraine by $15 million from last year's appropriations bill and $30 million from the FY 1998 bill. The funds appropriated to Ukraine for FY 2000 are considered a "soft" earmark and therefore do not include any stipulation, as in previous years, regarding certification of Ukraine's economic progress or resolution of American investors' disputes in Ukraine.

As stated in the bill, the funds appropriated for the independent states are not to be made available for the governments of those countries, unless "(1) that government is making progress in implementing comprehensive economic reforms based on market principles, and (2) if that government applies or transfers United States assistance to any entity for the purpose of expropriating or seizing ownership or control of assets, investments or ventures." Furthermore, the bill stipulates that no one country in the independent states shall receive more than 25 percent of the funds appropriated under the FSA.

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