mr. chairman , i move to strike the requisite number of words . 
i am troubled by the amendment that we have before us today . 
there is , i think , a wide range of opinion that is available for us to debate the merits of a wide range of things in this bill . 
and i appreciate that people are coming forward in good spirit . 
but i appreciate the comment of the gentleman from arizona . 
it was , i want to say , i do not want to say it was my privilege , but i had the opportunity to spend time after the tsunami a couple of weeks after it hit with a bipartisan delegation led by the gentleman from iowa ( mr. leach ) xz4002360 , senator brownback , touring the area . 
i assure you that the testimony about the devastation is , if anything , understated . 
the pictures that we saw on cnn did not do justice . 
but i was struck by the impact of the generosity that was shown by americans in uniform , civilian employees , members of ngos who were there . 
there was some bad publicity initially , surrounding what appeared to be a lack of compassion on the part of the united states with its initial response . 
but that never interfered in terms of the publicity with the work that was done by the united states and our agencies . 
we built amazing goodwill for this country while we helped these traumatized areas heal . 
i think what has been offered by the president , by the committee , is the least that we can do . 
it will pay dividends many times over . 
i think that it would be unfortunate even to bring this proposal to a vote . 
it is sending the wrong signal about the united states ' intention . 
we are certainly , on a per capita basis , not giving more than australia , scandinavia , germany . 
for us to indicate that there is a sense here could only be interpreted as our being callous and unfeeling , i think , is the wrong message to send to these people in these traumatized countries . 
i think it is the wrong thing to send to the international community . 
i will say , mr. chairman , in the course of the visit , i had people who were americans in business , people from the ngo communities , foreign parliamentarians , all talking about the damaged relationship that the united states has , the image that we have in this region , and how amazing they felt the progress was being made by the work that was being done by our country . 
this amendment and any support for it , i think , is sending the wrong signal . 
and i strongly urge its rejection . 
i sincerely hope that it is rejected , if necessary , on a voice vote , if not withdrawn . 
but i hope people make no mistake about how people are watching our actions for the signals we send around the world . 
