mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
i want to congratulate the gentleman on this , his first bill to be brought to the floor of the house of representatives . 
i think it is indicative of the good work that he and his staff are doing . 
mr. chairman , i want to talk about the funding of programs that are under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee that i chair , that is , the subcommittee on foreign operations , export financing and related programs . 
it totals $ 2.7 billion . 
however , approximately $ 1 billion of that is offset with a cut to previously appropriated funds . 
the remaining $ 1.75 billion is provided as emergency spending and includes $ 656 million for tsunami recovery . 
the committee 's overall recommendation for all the programs under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee on foreign operations , export financing and related programs is $ 1.2 billion less than the president requested . 
however , with the $ 1 billion offset , less than half of the president 's request will impact the federal deficit . 
let me say once again that i do strongly support the objectives that the president seeks to achieve with this request as it relates to afghanistan , the middle east , the ukraine and the tsunami-devastated areas of asia . 
but i did tell chairman lewis that i would scrutinize this request , and the result of that scrutiny is what is before the members today . 
we have assigned the highest priority to programs that can be implemented and executed during 2005 and that are not likely to be funded by other donors . 
the resulting recommendation is a balanced approach to supporting the president 's request and provides much-needed emergency appropriations to further the fight against terror and provide disaster assistance . 
let me explain further the recommendation for the programs under the foreign operations jurisdiction . 
we broke the president 's request down into three different categories . 
the first includes programs that are true emergencies , such as replenishment of funds that were reprogrammed previously for tsunami disaster assistance and poppy eradication in afghanistan , funds for the humanitarian crisis in darfur and in asia , and funds to train afghan police , funds that are necessary to improve conditions that would enable us to bring our troops home as soon as possible . 
total emergency spending under this first category is $ 1.75 billion , as i already indicated . 
the second category of funds includes those programs requested by the president that we have determined to not be an emergency , but are important to u.s. leadership abroad . 
additionally , this category includes reconstruction resources to stabilize and improve conditions in afghanistan and the middle east which support our efforts to bring our troops home , funds to support the democratic movement and government in ukraine , and funds for programs in the west bank and gaza . 
we have provided $ 995 million in this second category of nonemergency spending and have offset these funds with the rescission of prior foreign assistance appropriations , specifically funds that were appropriated for turkey in the fiscal year 2003 supplemental bill . 
i think my colleagues recognize that we are faced with unique opportunities in the middle east and afghanistan . 
our leadership can have positive influence in both the west bank and gaza , in ukraine , in indonesia and sri lanka and , of course , in afghanistan . 
i saw a press report recently from indonesia , the world 's most populous muslim country , that showed that the backing for osama bin laden had dropped from 58 percent in 2003 to 23 percent today . 
i believe part of that is due to the efficiency and the generosity of u.s. relief efforts after the december tsunami . 
as chairman of the foreign operations , export financing and related programs subcommittee , i am repeatedly reminded of how much we as a nation do each year to provide disaster assistance and relief . 
it is encouraging to know that at least one important muslim country has started to take notice . 
finally , the last category includes programs requested by the administration that we determined were less urgent and could be considered in the 2006 budget process . 
this category totals $ 1.2 billion in funding and includes fiscal year 2006 operating costs of our programs overseas and large construction projects that can either wait for consideration or would have a possible revenue stream , making them ideal projects for world bank and asian development bank funding . 
these programs total $ 616 million for afghanistan , $ 200 million for the new global war on terror partners fund , the new $ 200 million solidarity fund , and $ 45 million in debt relief for countries affected by the december tsunami . 
let me say that the funds we are providing in the foreign assistance chapter must be considered an investment in security both in the region and on american soil . 
it is also a responsibility to our future . 
we must not be faced 20 years in the future with the knowledge that we looked at the opportunities of a taliban-free afghan government , a democracy-oriented government in the ukraine , a middle east craving freedom and representative government , only to turn away and leave them to their own meager means with no u.s. influence . 
mr. chairman , i urge that this legislation be adopted . 
i believe that this is a good bill and a well written one . 
