James T. Callahan: “I also am opposed to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, let me start off by saying that everyone in this Chamber and everyone…”

“I also am opposed to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, let me start off by saying that everyone in this Chamber and everyone in this Congress, if not everyone in this country, is concerned about human rights violations throughout the world. Some come before us and talk as if we are not concerned about that when they offer these amendments. Let me assure you that we are all just as concerned as the gentleman from Missouri about the possibility of any human right violations anywhere. So this is not the issue. The issue is whether or not we are going to tell Kenya that we disagree with what they have been doing with respect to improving the position of human rights violations. Mr. Chairman, let me say that the Department of State has contacted me as late as this morning and they say to me, 'We object to the amendment that would prohibit aid to the Government of Kenya because it denies its citizens the right to free and fair elections. While we share Congress' concern about Kenya's human rights record, much of our assistance is directed to projects to improve Kenya's human rights performance, including its electoral practices. Passage of this amendment would undercut our efforts to build democratic institutions and promote good government.'”