Steny Hoyer: “Mr. Chairman, it is regrettable that this bill fails to provide even a modest amount for the gravest humanitarian…”

“Mr. Chairman, it is regrettable that this bill fails to provide even a modest amount for the gravest humanitarian emergency facing the world today, the senseless slaughter of innocent civilians in Darfur. However, both the President and the Secretary of State have called the tragedy in Sudan genocide. And the United Nations has identified it as 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis.' But we still have the opportunity to support an African Union peacekeeping force intended to put an end to the blood shed and we must not turn our backs. How can it be that destruction of 400 villages, the murder of 50,000 civilians, and the displacement of more than one million people is not an emergency worth a modest investment to stop the slaughter? It is true we have provided millions of dollars in humanitarian relief for those already affected by this ongoing horror. But we have not yet adopted the appropriate sense of urgency about ending the murderous campaign of the Sudanese Government and its Janjaweed henchmen.”