Don Bacon: “I claim the time in opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chair, I do recognize the concerns of Mr. Huizenga. I think they…”

“I claim the time in opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chair, I do recognize the concerns of Mr. Huizenga. I think they should be corrected, but there is a lot of goodness in this program as well. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Earlier this year we mourned the murder of Alexei Navalny by Putin, an anticorruption activist and courageous leader of the political opposition to Putin of Russia. Navalny's legacy of leadership has been recognized and honored all around the world. While many are familiar with the renowned life of Alexei Navalny, most do not know he first came to America in his early twenties under a congressional exchange program for emerging world leaders, the same program this amendment now seeks to defund. The Congressional Office for International Leadership was founded in 1999 to promote democracy and accountable governance. For more than two decades, COIL has been investing in the best and brightest young leaders from around the world to show them how government of, by, and for the people functions and remains accountable to the people it serves. Since 1999, COIL has introduced more than 30,000 young leaders to the United States of America to see firsthand what self-government looks like at the Federal, State, local, and Tribal levels in all 50 States, all for about $6 million a year. I have hosted three of those delegations, two from Vietnam, and one from Papua New Guinea.…”