OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005

By: Ed Markey
By: Ed Markey
Date: July 15, 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Aid


FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 15, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 715 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4818.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

This amendment does not cut aid for Egypt. What it does is, it cuts aid for Egypt's military; and it takes the same amount of money and gives that money to the civilian economy in Egypt, to help the citizens of Egypt. And it is to send a signal to the Egyptian leaders and to the Egyptian military that it is unacceptable for the United States people to give money to the Egyptian military, even as a sieve has been created which allows for the transfer, the smuggling of guns and other weapons, explosives from Egypt into the Gaza, which is being used by Palestinian radicals to kill Israeli civilians.

That is the signal that we are sending, not to the Egyptian people, they can keep the money; but to the Egyptian military that they must do their job to secure their borders so that there is peace in Gaza, so that Israelis are not made victims of a trusting relationship between the United States and the Egyptian government and military. That is the signal which we are sending, and that is hopefully what will happen as we renew, through Egypt and its leaders, the commitment to the principles embraced by former President Anwar Sadat who, in his 1988 address to the Israeli Knesset, said, What is peace for Israel? It means Israel lives in the region with her Arab neighbors in security and safety. Is that logical? I say yes. It means that Israel lives within its borders secure against any aggression. Is that logical? And I say yes. It means that Israel abates all kinds of guarantees that will ensure these two factors. To this demand, I say yes.

We need Anwar Sadat's kind of leadership in Israel today. Vote "yes" on the Lantos amendment.

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