Appropriations Committee proposes decrease in U.S. assistance to Ukraine (07/22/01)

Appropriations Committee proposes decrease in U.S. assistance to Ukraine

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - U.S. aid to Ukraine for Fiscal Year 2002 may be decreased by $44 million for Fiscal Year 2002 from the amount proposed by the Bush Administration if the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has its way.

On July 10 the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut Foreign Operations funding for Ukraine down to $125 million from the 2001 level of $170 million.

The Bush administration had requested funding of $169 million in 2002 for programs to aid Ukraine in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. However, the House proposal to decrease the allocation must be approved by the Senate if it is to stand.

The reasons cited for the proposed cuts include Ukraine's slow pace of reform and the killings of two journalists, Heorhii Gongadze of Kyiv in September of last year and Ihor Aleksandrov of the Donetsk region in July.

Among those speaking out against the proposed cut is Mr. Gongadze's widow, Myroslava. Ms. Gongadze on July 17 wrote a letter to members of Congress stating that such an action would be a serious mistake.

"If Congress uses my husband's murder as justification to reduce U.S. aid to Ukraine, this will send absolutely the wrong message to those honorable people who are still working (and with whom I worked) so hard to build a democratic nation. Conversely such an approach will play into the hands of the anti-reformists who seek to thwart democracy and benefit from the perpetuation of the corrupt legacy of the Soviet system," Ms. Gongadze argued.

She concluded her letter by stating: "Condemn the actions and inactions of the Ukrainian executive power when appropriate, demand open and honest investigations, seek the truth about my husband's murder and cut off funding or restrict it if you deem necessary, but please - do not reduce the aid to Ukraine that is so important in the building of a normal, democratic society."

A week earlier, eight members of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus sent a letter to support maintaining the same level of foreign aid for Ukraine to the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Rep. C.W. Bill Young. The letter was initiated by Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) and signed by Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), James Greenwood (R-Pa.), Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.), Ben Gilman (R-N.Y.), Steve Horn (R-Calif.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).

The congressmen wrote: "While we understand, share and appreciate many of the concerns that you have raised regarding the need for continuing reforms in Ukraine, we are respectfully concerned that this reduction sends the wrong message to those fighting for the very reforms you seek. Recognizing the importance that both the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell have afforded to Ukraine this year, we believe it is important that at this stage the message of the United States be one of expectant support, rather than one of dissatisfied penalty."

The actions of the eight caucus members notwithstanding, the committee report on H.R.2506, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, stated: "The committee recommends that not more than $125,000,000 be made available for Ukraine from this account. This recommendation is based on the completion of a long-term parameter display systems project in nuclear safety, the continuing setbacks to needed reform, and the unresolved deaths of prominent dissidents and journalists in Ukraine."

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