Wayne Allard: “I rise today to thank the Foreign Relations Committee for their hard work on the legislation before us. Specifically, I…”

“I rise today to thank the Foreign Relations Committee for their hard work on the legislation before us. Specifically, I am pleased to see included in S. 925, the State Department authorization, a provision relating to the international military education training and foreign military financing for Indonesia. The committee has seen fit, and rightly so, to deny the release of any of these funds to Indonesia without certification from our President that the Indonesian Government has taken effective measures to conduct an investigation into the August 2002 attacks on American citizens and to prosecute those responsible. By now I know that my colleagues in the Senate are aware of the tragedy that occurred last August in West Papua, Indonesia, which resulted in the deaths of two Americans. Justice has still not been found for Rick Spier or Ted Burgeon, and I am grateful that the Foreign Relations Committee has recognized the need for Indonesia and its military apparatus to determine what has occurred. Hopefully, this provision will demonstrate to the Indonesian Government that the United States Senate will not allow this issue to fall to the wayside, and that we remain committed to finding and punishing those responsible.”