SPEAKERS CONTENTS INSERTS
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93–776PDF
2004
PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
COMMISSION IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES TO ASSIST PARLIAMENTS
IN EMERGING DEMOCRACIES
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H. Res. 642
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MAY 19, 2004
Serial No. 108–92
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey,
Vice Chairman
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina
DANA ROHRABACHER, California
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
PETER T. KING, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
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AMO HOUGHTON, New York
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
ROY BLUNT, Missouri
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
RON PAUL, Texas
NICK SMITH, Michigan
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
JERRY WELLER, Illinois
MIKE PENCE, Indiana
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida
TOM LANTOS, California
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
BRAD SHERMAN, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
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WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
BARBARA LEE, California
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
DIANE E. WATSON, California
ADAM SMITH, Washington
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel
ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director
Subcommittee on Europe
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska, Chairman
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
PETER T. KING, New York
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
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ROY BLUNT, Missouri
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
BARBARA LEE, California
JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
VINCE MORELLI, Subcommittee Staff Director
JONATHAN KATZ, Democratic Professional Staff Member
PATRICK PRISCO, Professional Staff Member
BEVERLY HALLOCK, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
MARKUP OF:
H. Res. 642, Providing for the establishment of a commission in the House of Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
The Honorable Doug Bereuter, a Representative in Congress from the State of Nebraska, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Europe: Prepared statement
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The Honorable David Price, a Representative in Congress from the State of North Carolina
PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
COMMISSION IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES TO ASSIST PARLIAMENTS
IN EMERGING DEMOCRACIES
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2004
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Europe,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 3:07 p.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Doug Bereuter (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. BEREUTER. The Europe Subcommittee will come to order.
Pursuant to notice, I call up the resolution H.Res. 642 for purposes of markup. Without objection, the resolution will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point.
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Mr. BEREUTER. I do have an opening statement, and then I will turn to the Ranking Member, the gentleman from Florida.
This is actually the second time the Subcommittee has marked up legislation that is quite similar. I would just say in a very frank fashion that I have reintroduced this legislation with the lead co-introducer, Mr. Price, who is in attendance today. We are joined with original co-sponsorship in this case with Mr. Frost.
There are other Members how have added their names as co-sponsors. I understand that Mr. Lantos is one of them. I do not know the full dimension of the co-sponsorship. Mr. Morrelli, can you tell me?
Mr. MORRELLI. It is being run out of Mr. Price's office.
Mr. BEREUTER. Okay. In any case, this is reintroduced because of reactions I got from leadership, leadership staff, actually the Speaker's staff, and I wanted to see if we could find a way of meeting some or all of those objections.
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I believe that I have been successful with Mr. Price in answering all those specific concerns. There may be others, and I have no assurance that the leadership will in fact be supportive in all respects of this legislation, but I have no information to the contrary. I just think it is important that we move this legislation.
I actually had copies of my statement made available so that all Members could look at it if they cared to, but I wanted to say that I think I had the good fortune to be involved in what was then called the Frost-Solomon Task Force, although I entered that process midway. My understanding is that Mr. Price also had some involvement probably before I did and that certain staff, right here behind me, were in fact a participant in that effort.
In short, I think that we provided very substantial and quite significant assistance to the parliaments that were emerging from the Warsaw Pact countries and certain other parliamentary bodies like those in Albania. That was done primarily with the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, largely from CRS, with the expenditure side being handled by USAID.
We have attempted to accommodate some of the concerns about cost so that there is, for example, no need for a direct appropriation for this proposed commission during fiscal year 2005. There is a change in the membership from five to four. At this point the minority has not objected to that, which I appreciate.
The International Relations Committee would take some work to facilitate the work of the commission before October 1, 2005, at which time we would hope there would actually be a direct appropriation. Working for some period of time to eliminate any constitutional difficulties, we continue to rely for major expenditures through the appropriations to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
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In the meantime, if this legislation is enacted, the HIRC staff can craft a plan of activity for the commission and to make an assessment over those countries that would be potential beneficiaries. I think the logical place to start would be the countries of the West Balkans—Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and, if possible, Serbia and Montenegro.
As I mentioned, I visited Albania as a part of the original Frost-Solomon Task Force, and Ukraine was also a part of that. They could well be considered under a new program. I think that Georgia, with a new pro western government and parliament, is certainly another country to receive very strong consideration, and eventually we may find that it will be quite appropriate to do work in North Africa and parts of the Caucuses and maybe even Central Asia.
I will I think simply ask unanimous consent that my entire statement be made a part of the record. Hearing no objection, that will be the order.
I turn now to the distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Wexler, the gentleman from Florida.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bereuter follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DOUG BEREUTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA, AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE
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As the primary original co-sponsor of the resolution before us, I first want to thank my friend, the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Price, for working with me and introducing this new resolution to establish the House Commission for Assisting Democratic Parliaments.
Having been involved in the Frost-Solomon Task Force, which undertook a similar effort a decade ago, I am enthused to offer this new initiative. Mr. Frost joins us as an original co-sponsor of this resolution, and Mr. Dreier was an original co-sponsor of an earlier version of this legislation, which was introduced on February 26, 2004.
The Frost-Solomon Task Force allowed the House of Representatives to help develop needed research and infrastructure capabilities in the parliaments of the newly emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.
That effort drew on the expertise of Members and staff, especially from the Congressional Research Service.
The task force provided modest donations of information technology-related office equipment and reference materials for parliamentary libraries, thereby facilitating the establishment of independent research services.
The task force also helped those parliaments develop parliamentary procedures and legislative information systems to inform Members and the general public about parliamentary activities in a timely and open fashion. At a modest cost, we were able to help these parliaments become effective legislatures and play their crucial part in a democratic system.
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Largely because of its success, the Frost-Solomon Task Force was terminated in 1996. However, while most of those countries that received aid have indeed become full-fledged democracies, others still need a helping hand. The Price-Bereuter Resolution aims to provide that assistance.
The resolution to create a House Commission for Assisting Democratic Parliaments that is before us today—H. Res. 642—differs slightly from a similar measure—H. Res. 543—that was marked up in this subcommittee two months ago.
This new resolution sets the membership of the Commission at nine House Members—five majority and four minority.
The Commission itself will come into being immediately upon adoption of this resolution by the full House. However, given the current budget environment, we recognized that it would be difficult to fund its activities in the upcoming fiscal year. Therefore, this new resolution authorizes appropriations to fund the Commission's activities beginning in fiscal year 2006.
In the interim, we express the sense of the House that the Committee on International Relations should undertake work to facilitate the work of the Commission before October 1, 2005.
My expectation is that the HIRC staff would work with the Members of the Commission to craft a plan of activity for the Commission in fiscal year 2006. My sense is that this preliminary task should be limited to those countries that come under the jurisdiction of this Subcommittee, plus, possibly, the special cases of Afghanistan and a sovereign, democratic Iraq.
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I think the logical place to start would be the countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and, if possible Serbia and Montenegro. Albania was part of the original Frost Task Force, as was Ukraine, which could also be considered under this new program. Georgia, with a new, pro-Western government and parliament, is certainly another country to receive very strong consideration.
In addition to identifying countries that would benefit from this program at the beginning of fiscal year 2006, the HIRC should estimate the cost of providing the necessary assistance.
That estimate should include both technical assistance, which would be provided by the staff of the Commission and its Members, and equipment assistance, which would be provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Those estimates, plus an estimate of the necessary staff for the Commission, will be used to formulate an appropriate request for funding for fiscal year 2006 to the Committee on Appropriations.
In conducting these assessments, the Committee should draw on the expertise in congressional support agencies like the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, House Information Resources, and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House. I expect that this task will require visits to the countries involved by staff of the Committee and of the support agencies.
As I mentioned, once the Commission commences its activities, it will have its own small staff. Because much of the expertise that these parliaments require can be found in the House and its support agencies, the resolution would allow congressional offices to detail employees to the Commission.
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Recognizing that many of those who worked so effectively and energetically on the initial Frost-Solomon Task Force have retired or are about to retire from congressional employment, the resolution also would allow the Commission to use those retirees as consultants, so that the Commission and the recipient parliaments can benefit from their years of expertise.
In addition to providing expert advice from Commission members and staff, the resolution envisions a modest assistance program to provide parliaments with information technology-related equipment and with reference materials so that they can establish a research service and a legislative information system. Furthermore, when the Commission identified needs in selected parliaments, it could recommend that USAID provide certain equipment, materials or technical assistance to enable those parliaments to become more efficient and transparent.
While the Commission initially should focus on the countries under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee, the resolution does not limit its scope.
Once established, this program could expand to assist parliaments in other qualified countries in the North African and Central Asian areas, and perhaps in other parts of the world.
I was pleased to play a small part in the Frost-Solomon Task Force in the 1990s by participating in our trips to Albania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic that reviewed the results of the assistance provided.
Today, we have an opportunity to further assist in the emergence of democratic parliaments by enabling this House to share its expertise and to work with USAID to provide the necessary assistance.
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So, this afternoon I urge my colleagues to favorably report to the full Committee House Resolution 642, the Price-Bereuter-Frost Resolution to create the House Commission for Assisting Democratic Parliaments.
Mr. WEXLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it is a wonderful idea, and I would just defer to Mr. Price at the appropriate time if that is okay.
Mr. BEREUTER. I would ask unanimous consent that Mr. Price be allowed to take the witness table and make any comments that he would like to offer. He is a driving force with myself, and in fact he is the person who made the actual suggestion that we sit down and work together and try to see if we could extend the good work that was done some time ago.
Mr. Price, my distinguished colleague, you are recognized.
Mr. PRICE. I thank the Chairman. I do want to very sincerely thank the Chairman for working so closely and cooperatively on this resolution, anticipating what changes might need to be made to gain the widest possible approval and coming up with a new draft and a process here to approve that draft in very short order
I am grateful for that, and I am very hopeful now that we will be on the path to indeed putting this commission together before the year is out and getting the work underway with a head start in the next Congress.
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As Mr. Bereuter has said, we were both involved in the Frost-Solomon Task Force about a decade again, and as far as I know there is no foreign assistance project in modern times that delivered more goodwill and more of a sense of cooperation in partnership with our country and with our Congress for so little in the way of a monetary investment than that Frost-Solomon Task Force.
It took us into these eastern European countries, took staff members who could work on library assistance, on computer assistance, on the kind of infrastructure that these parliaments needed. It gave that kind of hands-on support and assistance at a time when those parliaments were emerging from decades of communist rule and had a lot to do with those parliaments becoming independent, well-functioning institutions.
This was very rewarding work, and I do believe that another round of this activity is in order. I totally agree with Mr. Bereuter's comments as to the likely countries that would be the candidates initially, and then who knows where we might turn. The main criterion, of course, is going to be the existence of a freely functioning democratic parliament that is in a position to benefit from this kind of assistance and support.
With this resolution and the formation of a commission from interested members of this body from both sides of the aisle, I believe we will have a powerful instrument for championing democracy and for reaching out to the countries that want and need our partnership and support.
I thank the Chairman and thank Mr. Wexler for his words of support and look forward to working with this Committee and other interested colleagues in making this happen.
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Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Price follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DAVID PRICE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
I would first like to thank Mr. Bereuter, the distinguished Chairman of this committee, for working so closely with me on this resolution, and for signing on as the primary, original co-sponsor.
(Doug) and I were both involved in the parliamentary assistance efforts undertaken by the Frost-Solomon Task Force and I am both pleased and honored to be working with him again in a similar capacity.
(Doug) has already explained how this resolution—642—differs from a measure we introduced earlier this year so I will not reiterate the points he has already made.
I do, however, want to emphasize that the substantive intent of this resolution (and its earlier version) is to serve our foreign policy goal of helping to establish democratic institutions in other countries.
As one who participated in the Frost-Solomon Task Force, I found our work immensely rewarding and was struck by the ways the parliamentary leaders we worked with looked to the U.S. Congress for inspiration.
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We developed significant goodwill in the countries we helped—goodwill that still exists today.
That work has arguably never been more important than it is today. We have a tremendous opportunity before us to continue to serve not just as a model, but as a partner in the effort to strengthen democracy.
Members of these newly formed parliaments and the people they represent have chosen democracy. I believe it is our duty, as champions of democracy everywhere, to help them build strong and enduring institutions.
I hope you will join me and Chairman Bereuter in supporting this resolution.
Mr. BEREUTER. Thank you, Mr. Price.
Mr. Wexler, do you have any questions for Mr. Price or otherwise?
[No response.]
Mr. BEREUTER. I would just say one thing that I forgot to mention before. There are provisions in here which will provide that some of the very valuable people that work for CRS on this effort that have recently retired or are about to retire could be retained on a contractual basis.
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I think it would be a shame not to be able to use their expertise because they were a key part of making it successful and in causing our oversight visit to these parliaments some time later be so successful in making assessment as to how we could improve the program over a period of time.
Mr. PRICE. Mr. Chairman, if I may also add just one thought?
Mr. BEREUTER. Yes. You are recognized.
Mr. PRICE. We will have an appropriations task to do in the next appropriations cycle. We will not need a separate appropriation in this cycle, and you have drafted the bill to take that into account. However, we have worked very hard to craft this bill so as to meet the constitutional requirements in terms of the separation of powers.
As a member of the Legislation Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, I am certainly prepared to gain the support, to work for the support of the commission itself and then, as you said, we will be going to USAID when the time comes for material assistance to these countries.
It is a little intricate. It will probably involve two appropriations bills, but I am confident that with this authorizing resolution we will be prepared to move ahead effectively.
Mr. BEREUTER. Thank you, Mr. Price. You are in a critical position, and I will be cheering you from the sidelines, but silently until September 1, 2005.
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Are there amendments to be offered?
[No response.]
Mr. BEREUTER. If there are no amendments, the Chair will now entertain a motion that the resolution be reported favorably to the Full Committee.
Mr. WEXLER. So moved.
Mr. BEREUTER. I thank the gentleman.
The question that occurs on the motion to report the resolution, H.Res. 642, favorably. All in favor will say I.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Mr. BEREUTER. All opposed will say no.
[No response.]
Mr. BEREUTER. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and the bill is reported favorably.
The staff is directed to make any technical and conforming amendments, and I thank my colleague for coming.
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Is there anything that you want to bring up for the good of the order?
[No response.]
Mr. BEREUTER. It is a great opportunity, but thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your help.
Mr. Price, thank you for appearing.
The Subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank you, staff.
[Whereupon, at 3:21 p.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]