Congressional Update – September 2007

Despite President Bush’s veto threat, on September 6th the Senate voted, as part of the FY 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, to overturn the Global Gag Rule and other destructive policies impeding U.S. family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and HIV/AIDS assistance. The Senate version of the foreign aid bill already included key provisions identical to those in the companion House-passed bill, including an exemption for contraceptives from the Global Gag Rule and a repeal of the abstinence-only funding restrictions for HIV prevention programs. However, by a vote of 53-41, the Senate went a step further and voted to repeal the gag rule entirely. As a result, the bill would help to correct some of the most egregious and harmful aspects of U.S. international FP/RH policy.

This Senate vote marks the first time since the Global Gag Rule has been in force—from 1984 to 1993 and again since 2001—that both the House and Senate have passed legislation to repeal or modify the restriction that has wreaked havoc on family planning efforts, especially in Africa. The Senate’s stance is significant in light of the all-important showdown that looms with the White House over President Bush’s promised veto of the entire $34 billion foreign assistance bill because of the gag rule provisions.

The Senate voted on three FP/RH amendments during the floor debate on the foreign aid bill. Links to the rollcall votes follow each amendment.

• Boxer-Snowe amendment to overturn the Global Gag Rule/Mexico City Policy (GGR)—The bipartisan pro-family planning amendment overturns the GGR, by prohibiting the President from refusing to fund foreign organizations solely because they provide medical services (e.g. abortion with non-U.S. funds), including counseling and referral, that are legal in their countries and are legal in the United States and from imposing free speech restrictions on foreign NGOs not imposed on U.S. organizations receiving assistance under the foreign aid program. Adopted on a vote of 53 to 41.
  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00319
  
• Brownback amendment to repeal contraceptives exemption from the GGR—The anti-family planning amendment offered by Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) proposed striking the language incorporated in both the House and Senate bills that exempted contraceptives from the GGR's restrictions. Rejected on a vote 53 to 41.
  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00320
  
• Brownback amendment to delete pro-UNFPA modification of Kemp-Kasten language—The anti-UNFPA amendment reinserts the original 1985 legislative restriction known as Kemp-Kasten that has been improperly used by President Bush to deny U.S. funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) for the past five years. Regrettably, passage of the Brownback amendment ensures makes it unlikely that UNFPA will receive a U.S. contribution in FY 2008. Adopted on a vote of 48 to 45.
  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00318

Finally, no challenge was mounted on the Senate floor to a provision in the bill that provides more flexibility and fosters greater effectiveness in the fight against HIV/AIDS by nullifying the current requirement that mandates at least one-third of U.S. HIV/AIDS prevention funding be limited to "abstinence-until-marriage" programs. The House-passed bill contains the identical language.

The State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill passed on a vote of 81 to 12. The bill now proceeds to a conference committee where the House and Senate versions will be reconciled and sent to the President. Then the issue will turn to Bush's threatened veto of the entire $34 billion foreign assistance spending bill over the Global Gag Rule provisions.

(Read the veto threat in the "statement of administration policy" at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-1/hr2764sap-s.pdf)