Congressional Update - April 2007

The month of March was a busy one as Members of the House and Senate adjusted to the change in party control brought about by last November’s elections.  Fortunately, the new Congress has already demonstrated a strong commitment to strengthening U.S. funding and support for international family planning and reproductive health programs.

Within the last few weeks, the House Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, which controls the purse strings for all U.S. foreign assistance, has heard testimony from such Bush administration heavy-hitters as Ambassador Mark Dybul, head of PEPFAR; Ambassador Randall Tobias, U.S. Director of Foreign Assistance and Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Ambassador John Danilovich, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. In addition, former Vice President Al Gore testified in the House and Senate about the effects of global warming.

Most noteworthy is the way in which international family planning has been raised at many of these hearings. For example, when Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), a long-time champion of international family planning and the new chair of the House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, questioned Ambassador Tobias she challenged him on President Bush's proposed 25% cut to international family planning programs.  Chairwoman Lowey cited the unmet need for family planning of more than 200 million women in the developing world and their critical role in helping countries fight poverty. Another member of the committee, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), expressed concern that U.S. attention and funding for international HIV/AIDS programs was draining critical resources from maternal and child health and family planning programs. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) pressed Ambassador Dybul about whether the administration's focus on abstinence-until-marriage over more comprehensive evidence-based prevention programs was the right approach. Ambassador Dybul was unwaivering in his response: Yes, PEPFAR would remain committed to funding abstinence-until-marriage programs.

On a related note, several important bills on these subjects have already been introduced in Congress.  One bill would overturn the abstinence-until-marriage funding earmark in PEPFAR and require PEPFAR to develop a targeted prevention strategy for women and girls. This bill, the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth (PATHWAY) Act (H.R. 1713), was introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT). On the family planning front, the Global Democracy Promotion Act (H.R. 619), which would overturn the destructive Global Gag Rule, was introduced by Rep. Lowey in January.  In February, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced the Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act of 2007 (H.R. 1225), which would significantly increase U.S. funding for international family planning programs around the world.  We hope our readers will contact their representatives and urge them to cosponsor these three important pieces of legislation.