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Population Report Winter 2002 Printer-friendly version of this page News From Capitol Hill: Bush Turns His Back on Family Planning In late May, the House finally passed its version of the FY 2002 Supplemental Appropriations bill after debate over general budgetary issues and controversy over measures to address the status of support for UNFPA. Two amendments were passed in the House Foreign Opperations Committee to attempt to address the funding of UNFPA. The first amendment that passed was introduced by Representative Lowey (D-NY) and Representative Kolbe (R-AZ). The Lowey/Kolbe amendment would have required the Administration to release UNFPA monies by July 10, unless UNFPA's China Program was discovered to violate U.S. laws. The State Department sent a team to China in late May to study UNFPA's program there - Remember that in January, the Administration placed a hold on the funding due to false claims of the UN program supporting coercive family planning programs in China. The second House Committee amendment, introduced by Representative Tiahrt (R-KS), undid the Kolbe/Lowey language previously adopted by permitting the President to refuse to fund UNFPA even if it is determined that the UN programs do not violate U.S. laws. Ultimately, BOTH amendments were deleted from the bill when it reached the House floor during final passage - leaving the final FY 2002 Supplemental Appropriations bill deafeningly silent on the issue of US support for UNFPA. The Senate version of the FY2002 Supplemental Appropriations bill included the Lowey/Kolbe language which would require the President to give UNFPA the Congressionally allocated $34 million by July 10th, finding that its work in China does not violate any US laws. A conference committee comprised of House and Senate members from the Appropriations Committees will convene to iron out differences between their two versions - including the differences concerning releasing UNFPA funding. Simultaneously, the State Department team who recently visited UNFPA family planning programs in China, will be completing their final report to submit for evaluation. The status of releasing the funding for UNFPA's programs is uncertain. What we do know is that Bush continues to turn his back on family planning. Back to Spring 2002 Population Report Photo courtesy of David and Lucile Packard Foundation Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club