December 17, 1973
Page 41962
Mr. AIKEN. I might add that in the State of Vermont private citizens have spent a great deal of time in contributing to the assistance and the development of the country of Honduras.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, one of the shortcomings of our present foreign aid program is the lack of a Latin American policy. This program does not rely upon any major expenditure of Government funds; instead it solicits the contributions of private citizens. At present 34 Governors are actively involved; 41 States are actively represented, not nominally but enthusiastically, with thousands of volunteers. Almost 3,500 volunteers travel in the program and they give of themselves; most pay their own fares to Latin America to build goodwill.
To cut this program is to be penny wise and pound foolish.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield.
Mr. JAVITS. I wish the Senator would add my name as a sponsor of the amendment.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from New York as well as the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. HUMPHREY) be added as cosponsors.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. JAVITS. I feel we should support this amendment because Latin America feels very overlooked right now with our concentration in Europe and the Middle East succeeding our concentration in Asia, as I think they are our closest ally in every way – security, trade, culture, and really the unity of the Americas is the most important single alliance we have. I think this is a very decent way in which to express the fact that we are a member of the American alliance, that we intend to stay there, and that we wish to encourage it.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Senator.
Mr. HUMPHREY. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield.
Mr. HUMPHREY. One of the points I know will be made here is that the administration did not come in with very much to support the effort called Partners of the Americas program. That fact does not detract from the program; it merely reflects the fact that the administration did not understand the importance of this direct contact between the peoples of the United States and the peoples of Latin America.
The State of Minnesota has a partnership program working with the Republic of Uruguay which means a great deal to them. As a matter of fact, the effort in itself started at the community hall in Montevideo, Minn. It has taken on tremendous good will and spirit in our State.
I want to support fully what the Senator from Maine is advocating here, because this amendment, I really believe, gets at what I call the spirit of a foreign aid program; namely, making it more people-oriented and involving the peoples of the respective hemispheres in a mutual relationship which is very productive. I am happy to be permitted to join as a cosponsor.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the distinguished Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished Senator from West Virginia (Mr. RANDOLPH) be added as a cosponsor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I concur with every word spoken in support of the National Association of the Partners of the Alliance. However, as chairman of the subcommittee, I owe it to the Senate to share with its Members some of the information we have received.
From the beginning the Government was to supply only seed money which was to be gradually reduced to nothing by 1976.
Some 500 organizations and major contractors received supportive funds from this bill. All would like to have their funds almost tripled through a line item appropriation but only this one insists on this special treatment.
The Partners did not even bother to come before the committee although hearings were held from March to November.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield on that point? Because I asked the same question myself about this program?
Mr. INOUYE. I yield.
Mr. MUSKIE. To put the matter in perspective, I think it has to be understood that the Partners has been operated in the past on grants from AID. It is not a sophisticated program. It has not been exposed to the legislative process. It is made up of volunteers who have been associated with the program over the years, dealing directly with it. This is not one of AID's favorite programs. They do not like a program that goes off on its own with its own initiative. So AID has undertaken to discourage it.
These gentlemen will become more sophisticated legislatively, but they understand now they made a mistake in not making a presentation to the Senator's subcommittee. The Senator is absolutely right in chiding them for not doing so, but I do not think the program or they should be punished for failing to demonstrate legislative sophistication. Their case is not one which has had the support of AID. But every one of those 41 States – and we have heard from some here on the floor – have enthusiasm for this program. They would all say to you, through me, "The case is clear; we wish it had been made more effectively before your subcommittee, but let us make it now and give us the support we need."
Mr. INOUYE. As the distinguished Senator is well aware, in the contract the following language appears:
A.I.D. recognizes that attainment of the objectives outlined above contemplates continuing A.I.D. financial support for a period of three to five years. Various factors (among them: availability of funds, the performance of NAPA in meeting its objectives under this grant and the degree of progress made toward the Grantee becoming self-sufficient) will determine whether and for how long A.I.D. will continue its assistance.
And a very important provision has been the fund-raising activities by NAPA to cover costs.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, let me make this point. May I say to the distinguished Senator, first of all, that the language he quotes was in an agreement between AID and Partners. AID was not enthusiastic about Partners. So they had no choice but to accept that language or get nothing. But they have, in any case, endeavored to raise funds privately.
I think the distinguished Senator from Vermont (Mr. AIKEN) also has some comment on this.
Mr. AIKEN. Mr. President, the foreign aid program for which we are now appropriating is, I believe, the best one we have had for many years, because for the future it concentrates on multilateral cooperation among the nations. Also it stresses cooperation between people in our own country and private citizens elsewhere who are willing to contribute their own time and money.
The item which the Senator from Maine seeks to restore is an excellent example of cooperation of private citizens. I know many of them who have been into these Latin American countries, contributing their time, their knowledge, and their efforts to help these countries attain better living standards and a better place in world affairs.
If we vote down the amendment offered by the Senator from Maine, we are going voting against one of the principal objectives of the foreign aid legislation which was recently authorized by the Congress.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, may I offer the Senator – on his time, I understand – some other information that bears on a question that concerns me, and that is on the question of the money that is devoted to the administrative expenses of this program? I think this information should be put into the RECORD and should be useful to the Senate.
The administrative side of the Partners program directly assists volunteers in the 41 States involved in the program. The term means more than staff, office rental, telephone, and postage, as administrative support is usually defined. Administrative support as required by the Partners may be defined as follows:
First. Training of volunteers;
Second. Program workshops. How to do it;
Third. Fund raising – national and State basis ;
Fourth. Disaster relief coordination;
Fifth. Assistance to volunteers in development and implementation of projects;
Sixth. Publicity and promotion of the model projects and ideas developed by the partnerships;
Seventh. Shipping liaison – freight;
Eighth. Recruitment of volunteers;
Ninth. Liaison with other international organizations in developing programs of mutual interest in Latin America; and
Tenth. Publication of newsletters and brochures.
The actual staff for the administration in Washington is very small. The tabulation of staff includes only 10 people. Most of the money spent for administration is spent for program- oriented activities. Their meaning is more substantive than the term "administrative expenses" might suggest.
I thought that might be helpful.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I have the same statistics here:
National Association of the Partners of the Alliance Budget calendar year 1973
Administration:
Salaries $176,900
Consultants 40,200
Travel and transportation 20,400
Fringe benefits 14,880
Equipment (rental and repairs) 6,084
Other direct costs 61,642
Total 320,108
Volunteer travel and transportation total 129,894
Grand total 450,000
Incidentally, Mr. President, the top man of this organization is presently receiving $39,600, which makes him second only to the Director of AID.
Mr. President, I have submitted for the consideration of the Senator, an amendment. Has the Senator studied the amendment?
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the difficulty with the distinguished Senator's proposal, may I say, in light of the purposes for which the funds are used, is that in effect it would undercut the program. The volunteer programs of 41 States would not operate in a coherent and integrated way with a staff support of 10 people in Washington. If we further cut that 10, what is going to be the administrative glue to hold them together? The administrative people there have no desire to build an administrative empire, and they have not built one.
I have given the Senator an example of the Maine program. This demonstrates that for $1 of public funds expended, there was $226 worth of benefits generated from the private sector. Those ratios are repeated over and over again.
I am fearful that if we were to agree to the proposal of my distinguished colleague we would eliminate the minimal administration that is necessary to have the program work.
Mr. President, I always want to cooperate. However, I cannot be honest with myself and cooperate with that kind of restriction.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I agree that the amount involved is infinitesimal as compared to the $5 billion in the pending bill. However, in view of the fact that we have not received any formal testimony from the organization, if the Senator could call upon the Administrator or the President and have in my hands, say by tomorrow morning, some information that would indicate the need for this amendment – which, incidentally, is three times the amount that AID proposed – or some justification as to how they propose to do this and present an up-to-date report as to the failure or success of the fund raising efforts, I would be very pleased to take the amendment. However, the House has no provision for this.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I think that is a reasonable request. I will do my best to have it fulfilled by tomorrow morning.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment of the Senator from Maine. (Putting the question.)
The amendment was agreed to.