Sex In The Public Square - Congress Votes to Repeal Global Gag Rule - Comments

Senator Leahy Speaks

JanieBelle — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:41:49 -0700

Senators should know that there are provisions in this bill concerning international family planning that the President has said he will veto. That is no surprise, since these provisions are no different from what was contained in past bills Senator McConnell and I brought to the Senate floor. They are supported by a majority of Senators, but not enough to override a veto.

Again, these same provisions have been in the State, Foreign Operations bill year after year. Each year, the President says he will veto the bill because of them. And each year, they get resolved in conference with the House. This year will be no exception.

I'm wondering if maybe the sticking point is the amendment on cluster bombs .

Senate-Passed FY2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
Includes Leahy-Feinstein Reforms
To Restrict The Sale Or Transfer Of Cluster Bombs

WASHINGTON (Friday, Sept. 7) – The Fiscal Year 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill passed late Thursday night by the Senate includes a measure, sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), that for the first time would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs, which continue to take a high casualty toll among innocent civilians.

Leahy is the chairman of the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, which drafts the annual funding bill for the State Department and U.S. foreign aid programs. Specifically, the spending bill requires that no military funds will be used for the sale or transfer or cluster bombs, unless the cluster bombs have a failure rate of one percent or less, and the sale or transfer agreement specifies that the cluster bombs will be used only against clearly defined military targets, and not where civilians are known to be present.

“Sensible standards can greatly reduce the gruesome casualties these weapons needlessly inflict on innocent civilians,” said Leahy, who long has led also on curbing the use of anti-personnel landmines. “Congress is taking the lead with these sensible and workable steps to set reliability standards for cluster munitions that are transferred or sold, and to keep them from being used among civilians. We hope the Administration will support this approach. This can be the start of a process and an example that can be a model for other nations to follow.”

“The Senate yesterday voted to approve a measure to help protect civilians from the dangers of cluster bombs,” said Feinstein, a leading member of the Appropriations Committee. “These volatile relics of the Cold War have taken their lethal toll on civilian populations all over the world for too long – from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. It’s time to put an end to this needless death and suffering. And today’s vote by the Senate to restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs sends a message to the rest of the world that we’re ready to do our part to protect innocent men, women and children from these de facto landmines.”

Currently, the arsenal of the U.S. military contains 5.5 million cluster bombs, or 728 million bomblets – many of which have a failure rate of one percent or higher.

Accurate

JanieBelle — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:26:06 -0700

Near as I can tell you are correct, Elizabeth. The bill is apparently in conference committee to resolve a difference between the bill as passed by each house of Congress. It seems like there is an amendment at issue in the Senate bill by Senator Patrick Leahy, though I'm not sure which one as he added several. (My source is the same as yours.)

His Holiness, The Glorified Houseplant Who Would Be Caesar has threatened to veto the bill, and it's unclear whether the bill has enough support in the HoR to override that, though I'm pessimistic at this point given your numbers.

I'm currently still trying to track down more info., and whether there's some sort of major organized pressure being brought to bear on the dissenting House members.

Good news for a change!

Elizabeth — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:53:56 -0700

The vote in the Senate happened on Sept. 6, and it went beyond what was passed by the House, so does that mean that there is now a conference committee that needs to resolve the differences? That would seem to be the case based on this summary of H.R. 2764.

If this does not incur a veto I'll be amazed given this Statement of Administration Policy.

It's worth noting that a two-thirds majority of the House would be needed to override the veto (the rule is 2/3 of the chamber where the bill originated) and the House vote was 241-178. Seems they'd need to turn up 46 more votes if I did my math right and understand the situation correctly (neither is a given at this moment!).

So, can they do it?

Access Denied

JanieBelle — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:38:27 -0700

Just found this, trying to determine if the threatened veto actually went through.

The Access Denied website.

Congress Votes to Repeal Global Gag Rule

JanieBelle — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:29:43 -0700

A great big peek above our garters to Chris at SitPS for pointing us to Heather, and to Heather at Scarleteen for pointing us to this:

Via Tod Preston at RHRealityCheck:

Last night, despite President Bush's veto threat, the Senate passed the FY 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (by a vote of 81-12) that includes significant provisions overturning destructive policies on family planning and HIV/AIDS. Thanks to the leadership and commitment of Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the Senate bill not only includes the identical measures in the House-passed bill (H.R. 2764) -- exempting contraceptives from the Global Gag Rule and repealing the abstinence-only funding restrictions for HIV prevention programs -- it goes even further by repealing the Gag Rule entirely.