Speech by Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-North Carolina), July 24, 2001

Speech by Rep. Cass Ballenger
(R-North Carolina), July 24, 2001
Mr. Chairman, as the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on International Relations, I have had a great deal of time and effort spent on the Andean area of this hemisphere; and if there is a place in this world that deserves some kind of financial aid, this is it, both in the military and also because of the fact that we have created a drug problem in this country and have made people in much weaker areas like the Andes region develop the idea of growing drugs there.

We need to support those areas. We need to support them in every way we can. Over half of this money that is involved here is for peaceful purposes.

Mr. Chairman, I noticed on the amendment that it applies all of this money to child survival and health programs. I was reading in record of the bill that, and not everybody talks about this, there is $434 million, and then it is $474 million in the bill. That is $45 million above the President's request and above $315 million last year. There is also $100 million in our supplement.

Mr. Chairman, the Child Survival and Health Program funds, and this is the part that I found interesting, it funds $295 million just for child survival, maternal health; for vulnerable children, $25 million; and for HIV-AIDS, $434 million. For other infectious disease, I checked on that, tuberculosis and others that generally spring up following on HIV-AIDS, and reproductive health and voluntary family planning, that also fits the HIV-AIDS program. Then there is a grant to UNICEF. Again, much of this could be applied to HIV-AIDS.

When we add it all up, there is over $1 billion 387 million that can be used in this particular area, much more than anybody has been willing to talk about so far.

I would just like to say that the Andean region deserves every consideration that we can give it because we have created the problem that exists there. The use of drugs in this country has created a monstrous drug problem in all of the Andean region; and it is, in my considered opinion, very important that we continue to support that area, especially since the people in Europe and the other parts of the world who have the same drug problem are doing nothing to assist.

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