Sean Patrick Maloney: “I rise today in support of international family planning. Today international guests from Kenya, Albania, Nigeria…”

“I rise today in support of international family planning. Today international guests from Kenya, Albania, Nigeria, Colombia, and Bangladesh will be visiting offices and participating in a forum cosponsored by the Congressional Caucus on Women'S Issues on why family planning matters. They will testify with personal stories from the field on how important family planning is in saving women's lives. In 1998, this body cut all U.S. funding for UNFPA and drastically cut USAID. Along with many of my colleagues, we fought back by introducing legislation to reinstate the U.S. contribution to UNFPA. We were successful last year in securing $25 million. This year it is time to go back to the future, back to 1995 levels for international family planning. I hope my colleagues will take advantage of our international guests visiting with us today and take the time to speak with them on what family planning programs give to communities around the world. I hope they will support our bill H.R. 3634, the Saving Women's Lives Through International Family Planning Act.”