Congress Passes Foreign Aid Appropriations, Keeping Most Unhelpful Provisions

By Shirl McArthur

2006 Foreign Appropriations Bill— H.R. 3057 (in millions)
	Economic Aid (ESF)	Military Aid (FMF)
Egypt	$ 495	$ 1,300
West Bank/Gaza	150
Israel	240	2,280
Jordan	250	210
Lebanon	40
Sudan	70

“Democracy Fund”: $5.5 million
“Middle East Partnership Initiative”: $110 million
“International Military Education and Training” (Middle East countries): $12.275 million

The conference committee for the Foreign Operations (foreign aid) Appropriations Bill, H.R. 3057, surprisingly reached agreement on a compromise version of the House and Senate bills on Nov. 1. The House passed the conference report, H.Rept. 109-270, on Nov. 4, the Senate on Nov. 10, and President George W. Bush signed it on Nov. 14 as P.L. 109-102. The money amounts are very similar to those reported in the September/October issue of this magazine. Unfortunately, however, the conference version also retains most of the other provisions not designed to further the Middle East peace process described in that same issue.

Aid to Egypt, Palestinians Strictly Conditioned

As in the separate House and Senate versions, the conference bill placed strict conditions on aid to Egypt. The bill earmarks the expected $495 million from the economic support fund (ESF) and $1.3 billion in foreign military financing (FMF) for Egypt. However, it also requires that not less than $135 million of the ESF funds should be for project assistance “of which not less than $50 million shall be made available for democracy, human rights and governance programs and not less than $50 million shall be used for education programs of which not less than $5 million for scholarships” to American higher education institutions in Egypt. In addition, the bill withholds $227.6 million of economic aid until the secretary of state reports that Egypt has met the 2005 benchmarks for reform specified in the March 20, 2005 U.S.-Egypt Memorandum of Understanding. It also says that with respect to the aid for governance and democracy activities, “the organizations implementing such assistance and the specific nature of that assistance shall not be subject to the prior approval of the Government of Egypt.”

Furthermore, the report language accompanying the bill amounts to an unprecedented call for a re-evaluation of U.S. economic and military aid to Egypt. “In order to support the appropriations process in subsequent years,” reads the key paragraph to that statement, “the conferees request the State Department submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations, as part of the fiscal year 2007 budget request, which describes the overall assistance objectives for the ESF program in Egypt. The report should address how project and non-project assistance attempts to achieve those objectives, the extent to which such objectives are being achieved, the rationale for the continued decline in project assistance, and to what extent the State Department and USAID believe this trend will continue. In addition, the conferees request that the report address the balance between economic and military assistance provided to Egypt, including whether maintaining the current level of military assistance in relation to economic assistance is most appropriate in light of political and economic conditions in Egypt and in the region.”

Although the bill does not specifically earmark aid for the Palestinians, the report language calls for $150 million in ESF funds for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as requested by Bush. Of this amount, $2 million is for US AID administrative expenses, and up to $1 million for the US AID inspector general to conduct audits and inspections. In addition, the bill calls for a separate audit by the comptroller general. The bill also retains language from the emergency supplemental appropriations bill approved in May prohibiting direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), but also providing full presidential waiver authority. Finally, it includes from previous appropriations bills a “Palestinian Statehood” section prohibiting aid to support a Palestinian state unless the secretary of state certifies that the Palestinian leadership or governing body has been democratically elected and has met an eight-item list of conditions amounting to full peaceful relations with Israel. This provision also includes full presidential waiver authority.

But No Strings on Aid to Israel

In contrast to the severe restrictions placed on aid to Egypt and to the Palestinians, Israel simply gets $240 million in ESF aid and $2.28 billion in FMF aid, plus $40 million for refugee resettlement, with no strings attached. The bill also provides for the cash (i.e., non-accountable) transfer of the money to Israel within 30 days and says that “not less than” $595 million of the military aid can be spent in Israel.

For Jordan, the bill provides $250 million in ESF aid and $210 million in FMF aid. For Lebanon, both bills provide $40 million in ESF funds, of which $6 million should be available for scholarships and support of American educational institutions in Lebanon. In addition, the bill also includes $70 million in development assistance for Sudan, provided that none of the money can be used for assistance for the government of Sudan unless that government has taken steps to disarm and disband militia groups in Darfur, is honoring the cease-fire agreement of April 8, 2004, and is allowing unimpeded access to Darfur to humanitarian aid.

The bill also includes a new section, called “Democracy Fund,” that earmarks not less than $6.5 million for “programs and activities that support the advancement of democracy in Iran and Syria.”

The report language provides $110 million for the “Middle East Partnership Initiative,” of which up to $9 million is for scholarships for students from countries with a significant Muslim populations at accredited not-for-profit institutions of basic and higher education in the Middle East, including the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, and the Lebanese American University.

The “International Military Education and Training” section fully funds the administration’s request for training funds for, among others, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen, in amounts ranging from $25,000 (Saudi Arabia) to $3 million (Jordan).

Some General Provisions Softened

The bill also includes the perennial provisions that have been in every foreign aid appropriations bill for several years, such as the one condemning the Arab League boycott of Israel. However, Section 507, the provision barring direct or indirect aid to Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Iran and Syria, has been modified to permit activities of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Export-Import Bank loans, credits, insurance and guarantees for or in Libya.

The bill retains, as Section 582, the provision from the House version, as a result of an amendment by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), that prohibits any assistance to Saudi Arabia. However, the prohibition has been softened significantly by adding a presidential waiver provision if he certifies “that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort.”

The bill also includes, as Section 596, an extraordinary “STATEMENT” saying that funds for certain accounts, including the ESF and FMF accounts, should be used for programs and countries in the amounts specified in the tables included in the report language. Any change in these amounts “is subject to the regular reprogramming procedures of the Committees on Appropriations.” In addition to the amounts described above for Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank and Gaza, the table for the ESF also includes $20 million for Sudan and $15.6 million for “other Near East.”

In addition to the amounts described above for Egypt, Israel and Jordan, the table for FMF includes $10 million for Tunisia and $1 million for Lebanon, plus $241.75 million for “other.” The report says that the conferees expect the money for Lebanon to be “used to initiate procurement of such non-lethal equipment as radios and vehicles.”

State Department Appropriations Bill Includes Jerusalem Provision But Deletes PATRIOT Act Restriction

The Conference Committee for H.R. 2862, now called the Science, Departments of State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations Bill, completed its work on Nov. 4. The House passed the Conference Report (H.Rept. 109-272) on Nov. 9 and the Senate on Nov. 16. This year the two houses of Congress revised their appropriations subcommittees’ jurisdictions, resulting in some inconsistencies. Both houses’ Commerce/Justice/State subcommittees added Science (mostly NASA). But, while the House subcommittee kept the State Department, Senate jurisdiction for the State Department was moved to the Foreign Operations (foreign aid) subcommittee. This year, by agreement between the two houses, House jurisdiction rules apply to the conference report, so State Department appropriations are included in H.R. 2862.

The conference report includes from the Senate bill, as Section 405, the provision saying that for registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport, citizens born in Jerusalem may, upon request, have their place of birth recorded as Israel. This is one of the perennial provisions—along with the ones requiring the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to be under the supervision of the U.S. ambassador to Israel and identifying Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in official U.S. documents—that effectively amount to recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. When these provisions were included in the 2002 Foreign Affairs Authorization Bill, Bush in signing the bill issued a “signing statement” saying he would consider these provisions “advisory”; otherwise they would “impermissibly interfere with the president’s constitutional authority” in foreign affairs.

However, the conference report does not include the provision, described in the September/October issue of this magazine, inserted in the House bill as an amendment by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) saying that no funds may be used to make an application under section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 [as amended] “for an order requiring the production of library circulation records, patron lists, book sales records, or book customer lists.” This provision would have made those records more difficult, but not impossible, for the government to access, since there are other provisions that could be used.

Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is a consultant in the Washington, DC area.

SIDEBAR

Israeli Officials Resume Aid Talks With U.S., By David R. Sands

The United States and Israel have resumed talks on a reduced aid package that would help fund economic development in Israel’s Negev region after the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer.

The discussions had been put on hold in light of the damage to the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and now focus on a more modest development package than the one outlined by an Israeli delegation that visited the State Department in July.

The estimated cost of that proposal, never officially confirmed by either side, was $2 billion, and included funds to help pay for the redeployment of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The Israeli business newspaper Globes reported last week that the post-hurricane aid package focuses entirely on economic redevelopment funds for the Negev and Galilee, with a price tag of about $1.2 billion.

The main question, U.S. and Israeli sources said, is to which bill to attach the funding request as it goes through Congress.

The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week announced a $4 billion, 10-year plan to develop the Negev, which contains more than 60 percent of the country’s land but less than 10 percent of its population. The U.S. package would help defray costs of the overall development plan.

With huge bills due from Katrina and the war on Iraq, the House last week barely approved a measure to cut spending by $50 billion over the next five years. Conservative lawmakers plan to push for an across-the-board spending cut when Congress returns from its recess next month.

David Segal, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, denied the Israeli package had been “cut” because neither government had made a formal funding proposal in the negotiations.

“There was never a hard figure, just numbers being speculated in the press,” he said.

Mr. Segal said the development of the Negev, which has the lowest per capita income in the country, remains a priority of the Sharon government, and that the talks with the Bush administration would address how the U.S. could support the effort.

Josh Block, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a Washington lobbying group, said the Bush administration and Congress were on record in support of the Negev and Galilee development plan.

“I think the process continues and remains on track,” he said.

House and Senate lawmakers just completed work on a fiscal 2006 foreign aid spending bill that holds funds to Israel steady at $2.52 billion, while doubling the amount targeted to the Palestinians to $150 million.

The Negev aid package was targeted for a supplemental spending bill.