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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived
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Africa: Urgent Action on Aid
Any links to other sites in this file from 1995 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
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Africa: Urgent Action on Aid
Date Distributed (ymd): 950927
Washington Office on Africa
URGENT ACTION
House, Senate Conferees Meet to Decide Africa Aid
September 27, 1995
Calls and faxes to members of the House and Senate Foreign
Operations Subcommittee are urgently needed to safeguard
U.S. FY 1996 assistance to Africa.
Members are likely to begin meeting tonight or tomorrow to
develop a consolidated foreign operations bill that will
include direct assistance to Africa and funding to aid
agencies and multilateral programs from which Africa
benefits.
Background
The House Foreign Operations Appropriation Act (H.R. 1868)
contains only $528 million for the Development Fund for
Africa (DFA) and $11.5 million for the African Development
Foundation. The DFA, currently funded at $802 million,
assures that aid to Africa supports sustainable development
and poverty alleviation projects. The ADF, currently funded
at $17 million, supports small grassroots development
efforts.
The Senate Foreign Operations Appropriation Act (S. 961)
contains higher amounts of assistance--$672 million for the
DFA and $14 million for the ADF--but neither DFA nor ADF
are allocated as separate accounts. The absence of this
separate status means that both become susceptible to
policy shifts away from sustainable development and to
further reductions by the administration.
Action
Please call or fax a letter to the chairs of both
subcommittees, and to your own Member of Congress if their
name appears on the list below. Urge members to include
the following in the consolidated bill.
* Maintain the Development Fund for Africa ($672 million)
and the African Development Foundation ($14 million) as
separate accounts funded at the Senate levels.
* Maintain funding for the concessionary loan component of
the World Bank, International Development Association ($775
million).
Senate Conferees
Name * Phone * Fax * Religion * Key Staff Person
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) * 224-2541 * 224-2499 * Baptist
* Robin Cleveland
Arlen Specter (R-PA) * 224-4254 * Jewish * Paul Wolfe
Connie Mack (R-FL) * 224-5274 * Catholic * Ellen Bork
Phil Gramm (R-TX) * 224-2934 * 228-2856 * Episcopalian
* Mike Champness
James Jeffords (R-VT) * 224-5141 * 228-1182 * Congregational
* Laurie Heim
Judd Gregg (R-NH) * 224-3324 * 224-4952 * Congregational
* Vas Alexopoulus
Richard Shelby (R-AL) * 224-5744 * 224-3416 * Presbyterian
* Terry Lynch
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) * 224-4242 * Catholic * Tim Reiser
Daniel Inouye (D-HA) * 224-3934 * 224-6747 * Methodist
* Keith Gouveia
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) * 224-4744 * 224-9707 * Jewish
* Sharon Waxman
Tom Harkin (D-IA) * 224-3254 * 224-9369 * Catholic
* Joe Biegner
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) * 224-4654 * 224-8858 * Catholic
* Julia Frifield
Patty Murray (D-WA) * 224-2621 * 224-0238 * Catholic
* Pam Norick
Mark Hatfield (R-OR) * 224-3753 * Baptist * Karen Mattson
Robert Byrd (D-WV) * 224-3954 * 224-8070 * Baptist
* Debra Wood
House Conferees
Sonny Callahan (R-AL,1) * 225-4931 * 225-0562 * Catholic
* Nancy Tippings
John Porter (R-IL) * 225-4835 * n.a. * Presbyterian
* Rob Gustafson
Bob Livingston (R-LA) * 225-3015 * 225-0739 * Episcopalian
* Tripp Funderburk
Jim Lightfoot (R-IA) * 225-3806 * 225-6937 * Catholic
* Adam Sullivan
Frank Wolf (R-VA) * 225-5136 * 225-0437 * Presbyterian
* Anne Campbell
Ron Packard (R-CA) * 225-3906 * 225-0134 * Mormon
* Chris Peace
Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) * 225-5802 * 225-2356 * Catholic
* Martha Harrison
Michael Forbes (R-NY) * 225-3826 * 225-3143 * Catholic
* Jim Doran
Jim Bunn (R-OR) * 225-5711 * 225-2994 * Nazarene
* Jerome Hartl
Charles Wilson (D-TX) * 225-2401 * 225-1764 * Methodist
* Kathleen Murphy
Sidney Yates (D-IL) * 225-2111 * 225-3493 * Jewish
* Steve Marchese
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) * 225-4965 * 225-8259 * Catholic
* Carolyn Bartholomew
Esteban Torres (D-CA) * 225-5256 * 225-9711 * Unaffiliated
* Nancy Alcalde
David Obey(D-WI) * 225-3365 * n.a. * Catholic * Joseph Crapa
SAMPLE LETTER
September 27, 1995
Dear Foreign Operations Appropriations Conferee:
As you meet to reconcile the differences between H.R. 1868
and S. 961 the Washington Office on Africa offers the
following recommendations for your consideration:
1) Maintain the Senate development assistance funding
level and its proportional approach to reducing specific
accounts.
2) Retain the House identification of the African
Development Foundation and the Development Fund for Africa
as separate accounts. These agencies were originally
initiated to protect a specific amount of funding and
organizational integrity separate from the State Department
short-term political priorities and focussed on long-term
sustainable development for the poorest of the poor and
developing countries in Africa. The need for such emphasis
has not diminished or changed. In fact, in light of the
severe reductions in development assistance in general and
or Africa in particular, it is even more important that we
maintain those targeted agency structures.
3) Maintain the Senate level funding for the multilateral
banking and development agencies. Support for multilateral
approaches is one of the best investments the U.S.
government can make. These leveraged contributions mean
that every dollar goes much further toward implementing the
international goals of sustainable development and
humanitarian assistance. The International Development
Association (IDA) of the World Bank is especially important
to Africa. Without these resources, many African countries
would have no other option for credit for essential
development projects.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Dan Hoffman President of the Board, Washington Office on
Africa; Director, Africa Office, Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ)
*******************************************************
This material is made available by the Washington
Office on Africa (WOA). WOA is a not-for-profit
church, trade union and civil rights group supported
organization that works with Congress on Africa-related
legislation.
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