April 15, 2005
The Honorable
Lamar Alexander
302 Hart
Building
United States
Senate
Washington,
DC
Dear Senator Alexander,
Thank you for speaking, on April 14, in support of
the President’s request for financial aid to the Palestinian people and
the Palestinian Authority. As you point out, nongovernmental organizations
cannot provide the services that are necessary for security and the
President should be allowed to directly fund specific needs of the P.A.
We commend you for taking the time to meet with Finance Minister Fayyad
and to understand the remarkable accomplishments that are being made by
him and other Palestinian professionals.
We agree with your concern that the House action
undercuts the President who has shown that he is seriously committed to a
negotiated resolution of the conflict that leads to two viable states
living side-by-side in peace and security. In our meetings with
Congressional offices we are appealing for bipartisan Congressional
support for President Bush and Secretary Rice as they engage with the
parties and international community to end this tragic conflict that is a
threat to us all.
We have notified the Tennessee people on our
grassroots network about your floor remarks and we hope they write you
with appreciation. I look
forward to discussing how we might work cooperatively toward our shared
objectives.
Sincerely,
Corinne
Whitlatch
Executive
Director
=====================================
II. SEN. ALEXANDER (R-TN) ON THE RECORD--provided by
Americans for Peace Now
=====================================
On April 14th, during discussion of HR 1268, Sen.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) spoke on the Senate floor in strong defense of
aid to the Palestinians and specifically aid to the Palestinian
Authority:
“I rise to discuss an individual who the Senator
from Colorado and I met when we were part of a bipartisan delegation led
by the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, a couple of weeks ago. On that
trip, we visited a number of countries... What we saw was very
impressive, as were those people we were introduced to.
But from my way of thinking, there was no one more impressive than the
Finance Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, who
instituted a number of reforms to fight corruption and bring
transparency to the finances of that Authority.
"This remarkable individual was born Palestinian, and his family fled
the West Bank for Jordan in 1968. He studied at the American University
in Beirut. He later received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of
Texas at Austin. He worked for the Federal Reserve in St. Louis and the
International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He became the IMF
representative to the Palestinian Authority and moved to Jerusalem in
1995. Then, in 2002, he was named Finance Minister of the Palestinian
Authority.
"What is remarkable is that all of us either know or suspect that when
Arafat was in power, there was gross corruption with the moneys that
came into Palestine. Mr. Fayyad has done the following things: He
centralizeed control of the Palestinian Authority's finances.
Previously, agencies had collected the money and kept it. That meant,
for example, that education was poorly funded since it collected little
money. Mr. Fayyad forced all the incoming funds to be put into the
general treasury and disbursed by the Finance Minister.
"The next thing he did was direct deposits for
Palestinian security forces. Previously, money was given in plastic bags
to commanders for them to distribute. Obviously, this led to what might
generously be called a lot of mismanagement of those funds. Now soldiers
are much happier because they get their pay on time, and the government
is sure the money is going where it should. The soldiers and the
government both know the money is not going to somebody who didn't earn
it.
"Public budgeting: He issued the first publicly detailed budget for the
Authority, which totaled about $1.28 billion. The Ministry now issues
public monthly reports of the government's financial status.
"Eliminating graft: Due to his efforts, revenue of the Palestinian
Authority is up from $45 million to $75 million, largely because money
that was skimmed off the top in the past is going into the treasury where
it belongs. I am not just saying this today because I want to give a pat
on the back to Mr. Fayyad, who, in taking these steps, has shown a great
deal of courage. I am sure there are a good number of people in the
Palestinian territory who were skimming money off the top before who are
not going to be happy with him now. I am bringing this up today because it
has to do with a vote we are about to take here in the Senate.
"The bill before us, the supplemental appropriations bill, provides $200
million of the President's request for aid to the Palestinian territories.
There is another $150 million in the normal budgeting process. Unlike the
House version of this supplemental appropriations bill, our version--the
Senate version as it is coming to us--preserves the President's waiver
authority that would allow him to designate a portion of those funds as he
sees fit by the use of the Palestinian Authority. I believe that
policy--the Senate policy—is the right policy. In other words, our policy
would permit our President, President Bush, to decide that Mr. Fayyad and
the government of the P.A.could properly spend this money. Some people are
saying they stole money over there before. Yes they did. Yasser Arafat is
dead and buried. It is time to make a new start.
"The Finance Minister has made great strides to
ensure that funds are publicly accountable. We will be able to keep track
of where our taxpayer money goes. The Palestinian Authority needs some
money. There is no poorer part of the world than the Gaza Strip. Someone
has to provide security in the Gaza Strip. We look to the Palestinian
Authority to do that if the Israelis pull out. Someone has to provide a
social services safety net for these poor people so they are not tempted
to join with the terrorists. We look to the Palestinian Authority to do
that.
"Why in the world would we keep our President from making the decision
that would give the money to the Palestinian Authority, which is the group
we are counting on to provide security and to provide the social safety
net?
"Nongovernmental organizations can provide valuable help in support of
what the Palestinian Authority is doing. If we are going to do business
with the Palestinian Authority, and are going to expect them to be
accountable for keeping things safe and providing a basic level of social
services so people are able to eat, we should deal directly with them. At
the very least we should give the President of the United States the
authority, as the Senate bill does, to deal directly with the Palestinian
Authority.
"I am happy with what our Committee on Appropriations has done. I disagree
with what the House of Representatives has done, and I suppose the matter
will go to conference. I hope in the conference the
Senators will insist on the Senate provision, and I hope our House Members
will see the wisdom of giving our President the discretion to give the
money to the Government that we are going to hold
accountable."
