Russ Feingold: “I was disappointed to read in the report on this bill that the Committee on Appropriations directed ``that no funds be…”

“I was disappointed to read in the report on this bill that the Committee on Appropriations directed ``that no funds be made available for the Africa Crisis Response Force,'' an earlier title of what the administration now refers to as the Africa Crisis Response Initiative [ACRI]. This language would prohibit the administration's flexibility to use up to $15 million of the peacekeeping account for this initiative. The ACRI, in my view, is an inventive proposal on the part of the administration. It seeks to expand the capacity of qualified African militaries to respond to peacekeeping needs in Africa by merging the resources of the United States and several of our European partners to provide peacekeeping training. The ACRI would help create effective, rapidly deployable peacekeeping units that would be able to operate together. Such an initiative could ultimately reduce the burden on U.S. resources in the event of a major humanitarian or other crisis in the region.”