This week, the Senate approved the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, and State and Foreign Operations spending bills.
Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs
On September 6, the Senate approved, 92-1, the FY2008 Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs spending bill (H.R. 2642), after adopting, by unanimous consent, a substitute amendment by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). The House approved the measure on June 15 (see The Source, 6/15/07). A House-Senate conference committee will meet to reconcile the differences in the two measures.
The measure would allocate $109.332 billion in FY2008, an $18.296 billion increase over FY2007 and $4.1 billion above the administration’s request.
As requested by President Bush, family housing would receive $2.932 billion in FY2008, $1.089 billion less than FY2007.
An amendment by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) that would require the Comptroller General to report, by September 1, 2008, on the adequacy of mental health care services provided to female members of the Armed Forces and female veterans was approved by voice vote.
State, Foreign Operations
On September 7, the Senate approved, 81-12, the FY2008 State and Foreign Operations spending bill (H.R. 2764), after adopting, by unanimous consent, a substitute amendment by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The House approved the bill on June 21 (see The Source, 6/22/07). A House-Senate conference committee will meet to reconcile the differences in the two measures.
The measure would allocate $34.402 billion in discretionary spending in FY2008, $2.726 billion below FY2007 and $700.72 million below President Bush’s request.
Dominating the debate was an amendment by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to end the Mexico City policy. The policy bars overseas nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. aid from using their own money to provide referrals for, or perform, abortions, or to lobby foreign governments on abortion policy. Sen. Boxer’s amendment would allow the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide funding to organizations that provide referrals for, or perform, abortions with their own non-government funds. The provision differs from the House-passed version of the bill, which would allow USAID to provide contraceptives to NGOs that provide referrals for, or perform, abortions; however, the House-passed version would not allow for direct funding of such NGOs. The amendment was adopted, 53-41.
Sen. Boxer said, “I ask you, what is democratic about gagging people? What is democratic about saying you have no right to free speech unless you agree with me? Then, if you agree with me, I support your right to speak. That is what the global gag rule is…What is happening as a result? Women are dying and there are unnecessary abortions. This is a terrible result of this policy.” She continued, “Approximately 500,000 women die from pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum complications every year 500,000. Think of your largest cities 500,000 women a year, one woman every single minute…The fact that we as a country would do anything to harm access to comprehensive family planning is shameful. This is the 21st century. Even if you would never, ever want a member of your family to have an abortion, even if you would want a member of your family never to know that it even exists as an option, put aside your own feelings and allow other people to make their choice.” Sen. Boxer concluded, “What we are doing by keeping the gag rule in place is saying to clinics and doctors: You have to choose between helping the people in your country by speaking out, by offering them referrals and counseling, or American dollars. This is not a good policy for this country. This is a shameful policy for this country. I am very optimistic that, again, we will have a successful vote to overturn this global gag order.”
Speaking in opposition, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said, “My colleague talks about [the fact] that women are dying through these policies. Yes, they are dying through these policies. Female children around the world are being killed through these policies. Female babies are being left at orphanages or other places around the world because of these policies. I think that is a powerful indictment of a system that still forces abortions on people, still forces people to have forced sterilizations. I do not think we should be anywhere around these [procedures].” Sen. Brownback continued, “My colleague from California talks about us gagging other people. They are free, organizations in every country are free as they want to be to advocate any policy they want to. We just do not want to fund it…If we dispute over the money, let’s use the money to fight malaria or AIDS or tuberculosis. We will all agree on doing that…There is a basic right around the world, a basic right that I think trumps all other rights. It is the right to life…Why would we support policies, promote organizations that are promoting policies that are opposed to that very basic right?…If you do not get to live, if you continue to have the kind of gendercide and gender imbalances in various countries taking place, you are not going to have the voices there. You are not going to have the female voices that are there because they are being killed. This is happening in our world today.”
Other amendments relevant to women and their families included:
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