Duncan Faircloth: “many people in this Chamber believe that all the foreign aid that we send to other countries is included in this one…”

“many people in this Chamber believe that all the foreign aid that we send to other countries is included in this one spending bill. But this is not the case. I have discovered that domestic agencies are also in the foreign aid business. This amendment will require the General Accounting Office to complete a report about grants to foreign entities by Federal Government agencies. This study will be limited to domestic agencies--those not engaged in foreign affairs or national security matters--and it will track the amount of aid to foreign countries that flows outside the Foreign Operations budget. I took to the floor of this Chamber last week to illustrate the stream of taxpayer dollars that flows to foreign nations through domestic Federal agencies. I pointed out that the Environmental Protection Agency spent $28 million on 106 grants to foreign countries from 1993 to 1995. I revealed that the EPA sent $20,000 to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. The Ministry of Public Security is a national police force that issued shoot-to-kill orders during the pro-democracy rallies in 1989. The purpose of this EPA grant to the Ministry of Public Security was fire extinguisher maintenance. I hope that my colleagues will agree that a nation that developed nuclear technologies--which it sells to countries like Iran and Pakistan--can maintain fire extinguishers without the American taxpayers' money.”