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Legislative Round-Up - 1/21/05

I. 109th Congress - Key Committees II. New Bills and Resolutions III. Rice Confirmation Hearing

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APN Legislative Round-Up for the week ending January 21, 2005
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On January 4, 2005, both the House and Senate convened for the start of the 109th Congress.

I. 109th Congress - Key Committees II. New Bills and Resolutions III. Rice Confirmation Hearing

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I. 109TH CONGRESS - KEY COMMITTEES
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House International Relations Committee
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) will return as the Chairman of the HIRC. Rep. Lantos (D-CA) will return as the HIRC's ranking minority member. As of this writing full membership of the committee and subcommittee assignments have not been finalized.

House Appropriations Committee: The structure and membership of the House Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees has yet to be determined. A proposal by House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) to substantially reorganize the Appropriations Committee remains the focus debate and speculation.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) will be the new Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, replacing outgoing chairman Rep. Bill Young, who will remain a member of the Committee. Other returning majority members of the committee are: Reps. Regula (R-OH), Rogers (R-KY), Wolf (R-VA), Kolbe (R-AZ), Walsh (R-NY), Taylor (R-NC), Hobson (R-OH), Istook (R-OK), Bonilla (R-TX), Knollenberg (R-MI), Kingston (R-GA), Frelinghuysen (R- NJ), Wicker (R-MS), Cunningham (R-CA), Tiahrt (R-KS), Wamp (R-TN), Latham (R-IA), Northup (R-KY), Aderholt (R-AL), Emerson (R- MO), Granger (R-TX), Peterson (R-PA), Goode (R-VA), Doolittle (R-CA), LaHood (R-IL), Sweeney (R-NY), Sherwood (R-PA), Weldon (R- FL), Simpson (R-ID), Culberson (R-TX), Kirk (R-IL); and Crenshaw (R-FL). Departing the committee is Rep. Nethercutt (R-WA), who ran for Senate in the past election. New majority members on the committee are Reps. Rehberg (R-MT), Carter (R-TX), and Alexander (R-TN).

On the minority side, Rep. David Obey (D-WI) will return as the ranking minority member o the committee. Full minority membership of the committee has not yet been announced.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee welcomed three new members to its ranks: Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mel Martinez (R-FL), and Barack Obama (D-IL). At the same time, the committee said goodbye to Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Mike Enzi (R- WY), John Rockefeller (D-WV), and Jon Corzine (D-NJ), leaving Republicans with a 2-seat majority on the committee. As of this writing subcommittee assignments had not been finalized.

Returning majority committee members are: Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), George Allen (R-VA), Norm Coleman (R-MN), George Voinovich (R-OH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and John Sununu (R-NH).

Returning minority committee members are: ranking member Joseph Biden (D-DE), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), John Kerry (D-MA), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Bill Nelson (D- FL).

Senate Appropriations Committee welcomed a new Chairman, Thad Cochran (R-MS), who replaced outgoing chairman Ted Stevens (R- AK), who remains a member of the committee. As of this writing subcommittee assignments had not been finalized.

Returning majority committee members are: Arlen Specter (R-PA), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Kit Bond (R-MO), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Conrad Burns (R-MT), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Larry Craig (R-ID), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R- TX), Mike DeWine (R-OH), and Sam Brownback (R-KS). Retiring Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) is replaced by Wayne Allard (R-CO).

On the minority side, Robert Byrd (D-WV) remains the committee's ranking member. Returning majority members are Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Tom Harkin (D- IA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Harry Reid (D- NV), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Dianne Feinstein (D- CA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tim Johnson (D- SD), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Retiring Senator Ernest Hollings is not replaced, leaving the Republicans with a 15-13 majority on the committee.

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II. NEW BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
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- FY05 Supplemental: In early February (close to the release of the 2006 budget) Congress is expected to receive two FY05 Supplemental Appropriations requests from the Administration. One will be devoted to the tsunami. The second will be another Iraq-related supplemental, rumored to include assistance for the Palestinians and Israel.

Note: Following press reports that Israel would soon approach the Administration and Congress to ask for aid to build new high- tech crossing points along the security barrier, on January 18th APN sent a letter sent to President Bush calling on the White House not to provide U.S. funding to pay for such crossing points located inside the West Bank. APN supports an Israeli security barrier built along the Green Line; however, much of the security barrier being built inside the West Bank in order to accommodate the needs of Israeli settlers. American aid to construct crossing points through the barrier in such areas would violate U.S. policy that opposes spending U.S. tax dollars in support of Israeli settlement activity and the perpetuation of Israel's occupation of the West Bank. In addition, funding such expensive crossing point structures would undermine the credibility of the argument that the security barrier is only temporary in nature, and not a permanent addition to the West Bank.

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(IRAN) HR 282: Introduced 1/6/05 by Rep. Ros-Lehtinen and 50 original co-sponsors, entitled the "Iran Freedom Support Act." Referred to the House International Relations Committee.

This very far-reaching piece of legislation includes two major parts. The first would significantly widen the scope of the Iran- Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA). The second would adopt language making it U.S. policy to support pro-democracy forces in Iran and authorizes the President to work with and fund such forces. The bill's language is similar (and in places identical) to what was introduced in the Senate at the end of the 108th Congress as S. 2681. As noted in the 7/23/04 edition of the Round-Up, this bill, introduced by Sens. Rick Santorum (R- PA) and John Cornyn (R-TX), closely parallels (and in many places is identical to) the Iraq Liberation Act (PL 105-338), passed by the Senate on October 7, 1998 - legislation that paved the way for funding of the now highly-controversial activities of Ahmed Chalabi and his associates, and eventually became one of the foundations for U.S. military action against that country.

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(Syria) H. Con. Res. 18: Introduced 1/6/05 by Reps. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Engel (D- NY), "Expressing the grave concern of Congress regarding the continuing gross violations of human rights and civil liberties of the Syrian and Lebanese people by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic." Referred to the House International Relations Committee. (Note: See HR 1828 in the 108th Congress for previous Ros-Lehtinen/Engel-led efforts to sanction Syria).

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(Regional) H. Res. 37: Introduced 1/6/05 by Reps. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Gary Ackerman (D-NY), "Commending the people and the Governments of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Republic of Yemen for their political and economic liberalization efforts and expressing hope that progress will continue and that the efforts of these countries will serve as a model for other Arab countries." Referred to the House International Relations Committee.

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(ISRAEL/OECD) H. Res. 38: Introduced 1/6/05 by Reps. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), "Expressing support for the accession of Israel to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)." Referred to the House International Relations Committee. (See H Res 617 in the 108th Congress).

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III. RICE CONFIRMATION HEARING
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On January 18-19 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for Secretary of State-designate Condoleeza Rice. Below are Middle East- related excerpts from that hearing:

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
HAGEL: ...What do you and the president envision as a new role or a different role for the United States now as a result of the Palestinian elections? For example, are you contemplating a special envoy? How are we going to engage more deeply and widely than we have in the past? Or are we going to? Give this committee some sense of where we're going in the next year.

RICE: We all believe, and most especially the president, that we have a really good opportunity here, given the election of a new Palestinian leader, and given the Israeli Gaza withdrawal plan, which is linked to the West Bank through the four settlements that would be dismantled in the West Bank as well. We think this is a moment of opportunity. That means that there is going to have to be engagement at all levels. I expect, myself, to spend an enormous amount of effort on this activity. I can't substitute for the parties and their willingness to take on their responsibilities, and that's the message that we have to keep sending. We've had to note that how hard this road is going to be was in evidence during this last few days. And we've pressed very hard for the Palestinians to take on terrorism because we're not going to get very far if there is terrorism from the Palestinian militants. But you can be sure that we will have very active engagement because we think this is a time of responsibility. I think I need to, for the time being, demure on the question of a special envoy. No one has objections in principle to the idea of an envoy, but it is a question of whether that is appropriate to a particular point in time in the process that we're involved in.

HAGEL: But as secretary of state, you intend to be very engaged with considerable activity as we go forward?

RICE: Absolutely. Because, Senator, I think we can afford to miss this opportunity if the parties themselves are willing to really take advantage of the opportunity.

Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
CHAFEE: ... in your opening statement you talked about, America seeks justice and dignity in a viable independent democratic state for the Palestinian people. Can you expand at all on viable ? What do you see as a viable Palestinian state?

RICE: Well, there are several ways to think about viability. One is that it has to have territory that makes it viable. It cannot be territory that is so broken up that it can't function as a state, and I think that that's now well understood. Has to have economic viability. And there it probably needs to have economic viability in relationship to other states around it: to Jordan, to Israel and to others. And viability also comes from democratic institutions. One of the things that I think we didn't pay enough attention to in the past is the development of democratic institutions in the Palestinian territories.

At a time when we are promoting the progress of democracy in the Middle East, the Palestinians are a people who should be able to adopt those habits and take them up. They are a talented, in many ways educated population, a population that has tried, even under very limited circumstances, to have some at least pluralism in their politics. And so viability, I think, also has a political or democracy dimension that we need to pay attention to.

CHAFEE: I'm sure that many Palestinian moderates would like to hear more specifics on what might constitute a viable Palestinian state. Are we looking at something, perhaps, along the Geneva Accord lines?

RICE: Well, as the president said when he met with Prime Minister Sharon back in, I think, May, we have to recognize that the parties are going to determine their borders; that it is not for us to prejudge what those borders might be. There has been a lot of negotiation. I think they will need to look at what has been looked at before. But the June 24th, 2002, speech really focused on some fundamentals to get us to the place that discussions of final status would be successful. And those fundamentals now seem to be starting to come into place. The new Palestinian leadership -- I think a Palestinian leadership that, at least in word, is devoted to fighting terror. It needs to be in in deed as devoted to fighting terror. An international community that whenever I talk to people, is quite devoted to and taken with the idea of helping the Palestinians to build those democratic institutions, to reconstruct economically in areas which Israel leaves. We have in Israel a new coalition that was built around the idea that Israel will disengage from the Gaza and from the four settlements in the West Bank. And we now really -- I'd just like to mention the neighbors. The Arab states have responsibilities here, too. And they can't incite violence against Israel on the one hand and call for peace and a two- state solution on the other. And so, we've got work to do with them. But as the fundamentals are beginning to come into place, everyone can be certain that it is a very high priority to seize this moment to try and push toward the day when we have interlocutors who can work on the final status issues.

CHAFEE: In the news today some are calling upon the new Palestinian leadership to be more proactive against some of the violence which is occurring within their own ranks. The previous Palestinian leadership did not intend to do that under Yasser Arafat; the danger being that once Palestinians take up arms amongst themselves, you could have Palestinian civil war. How do you look -- how do we go forward with that dilemma?

RICE: Well, I do believe that Abu Mazen made a good start in what he said, which is that there really is no route to a Palestinian state through violence. And that means that he is appealing, to my mind correctly, to those Palestinians who realize that the use of terror techniques, the use of violence is not going to result in the fulfillment of their national aspirations. Having said that, the people who insist on violence and insist on terrorism have got to be isolated and ultimately disarmed. The Palestinians are fond of saying there has to be one authority, one gun. We can help with that, because the restructuring of the Palestinian security forces is something that we have helped with in the past and should now with other neighbors, like Egypt or Jordan, be helping with in the future. The construction of unified Palestinian security forces that are accountable to the Palestinian leadership and are not, in effect, armed gangs is probably one of our most important tasks. So I don't see it as a matter of civil war, but rather as a matter of the isolation of those who are unwilling to pursue the aspirations of the Palestinian people through peaceful means.

Senator John Sununu (R-NH)
SUNUNU: Do you intend to recommend a financial assistance package for the new Palestinian leadership to restructure their security forces? And is it likely that that request would be part of a supplemental budget early in the year?

RICE: Thank you, Senator. I will look with others when I get to State at precisely how we might fund the obligations that I'm sure we're going to have to undertake to help the Palestinians in this important period of time. Clearly, the training of the security forces is going to be critical. They've got to fight terrorism. They've got to have trained security forces to do it. It will be a good investment to train those forces. I would just note that we have, through indirect assistance, through the United Nations, through nongovernmental organizations, provided a good deal of funding to Palestinian reconstruction, Palestinian humanitarian needs. We also have -- the president approved the funding of $20 million in direct support to the Palestinians just recently to help with their election. So there is a fund flow, and we will look at what more we need. I would hope that some of this would be funded by their Arab neighbors. I have to say that if people really want a peace, if the countries in the neighborhood, as they come and tell me and they come in to tell the president, they tell Secretary Powell all the time, We have got to have peace; you've got to work on behalf of the Palestinians, then there are a number of their neighbors who could really afford to help fund some of these efforts. And I'm sure that I will be actively seeking their support, because that is one thing that the neighbors could do for the Palestinian people.

SUNUNU: Well, that was my second question, is what can the Arab states do to help. Obviously, with $45 or $50 a barrel oil, the economies there and the revenue base there is much stronger than it has been in past years. Is there any specific role that you see for the Arab states in addition to financial resources? One of the issues that was raised in some of our meetings were perhaps the opportunity to assist in the training of the security forces. And let me be clear, there are two different steps to this. One is restructuring the security forces, which will take resources and funding in and of itself, and a lot of political will. And then the second step would be the training of security forces. Is there a particular partner in the region that you think might be best suited to that training role?

RICE: Yes, it appears to me that both the Egyptians and the Jordanians will probably have a role to play. They've played that role before in various ways. And we have had extensive conversations with them, at other times, about playing that role at the conference in Aqaba. And we would want to get them involved. The Egyptians, of course, also have a role to play in helping stabilizing the Gaza, as the Israeli forces withdrawal. And we have talked with them about that. There are other roles that we need the Arab states to play. And I think the most important is, as I mentioned earlier, you can't insight hatred against Israel and say you want a two-state solution. It's just got to stop. They've got to stop it in their media. They've got to stop it in their mosques, because it is a message that is inciting the people who want to destroy the chances for peace between Israel and Palestine -- a Palestinian territory. So we sent that message. And it was probably little noticed, but when we went to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Arabs actually issued a very good statement. And it was on behalf of Arab states, the Arab League, and it was a very good statement. We will be going back to them to remind them of that statement and to ask them to live up to it.

SUNUNU: In addition to the value of that statement, I would mention that one of the things that came up, time and again, was the impact that your visit had on the area and the importance of that kind of high-level engagement. I know you answered some questions with regard to a special envoy. It's something that you have supported in concept. But I would just underscore the value of that high-level engagement, whether it's through a special envoy or your personal commitment.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL)
MARTINEZ: Shifting to the Middle East, I had the opportunity to travel there recently, and also saw the Palestinian election take place. One of the great concerns that seems to be there, as we look to a peace process, is the continued instability in southern Lebanon, the fact that the United Nations resolutions have never been implemented, Syria has never really left the region, the Lebanese government has never really taken over the southern part of Lebanon. And this continues to exacerbate the inability of Israel to not suffer the terrorist attacks, which then creates more instability in the region. Do you think there would be an opportunity for us to more forcefully assert the need for that resolution to be observed by Syria and Lebanon?

RICE: Absolutely, Senator. The Resolution 1546, which we and the French co-sponsored, to put the Syrians on notice that the world expected them to observe the legitimate sovereignty of Lebanon, to begin to remove their forces, to stop terrorism from there, I think was a very important achievement. Secretary General Annan has appointed someone to keep on top of the implementation of that resolution, and that's also very important. Lebanon can be one of the democratic strongholds in the Middle East. And so we need to pay attention to what is going on in Lebanon. And if I just might say one line about Syria as well, I think that it's fair to say that the Syrian government is behaving in a way that could unfortunately lead to long-term bad relations with the United States. It is incumbent on Syria to respond, finally, to the entreaties of the United States and others about their ties to terrorism, about the harmful activities that are taking place from Syrian territory into Iraq, and to act on a number of the steps that were first outlined to them by Secretary Powell, almost three years ago and then by Deputy Secretary Armitage, just very recently. And so this is an important issue with Syria. And I just want to thank the Congress. We do have, thanks to the Syrian Accountability Act, some tools, but we will have to mobilize them, because Syria should not be, but is thus far not a constructive force.

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For more information, contact APN Government Relations Director Lara Friedman at 202/728-1893, or at LFapn@earthlink.net.


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