Legislative Update

• Foreign Relations Committee Holds Hearing on Lugar-Bayh Bill
• Lugar Statement on House Passage of Farm Bill
• Senate Passes Darfur Peacekeeping Resolution
• Lugar Delivers Speech to 2nd Annual National Summit on Energy Security
• Lugar Introduces Legislation to Continue and Expand U.S. Leadership on HIV/AIDS

Foreign Relations Committee Holds Hearing on Lugar-Bayh Bill

In July, Senators Lugar and Bayh continued their efforts to pass legislation safeguarding the country and preventing dangerous nuclear proliferation. On July 31, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing, in which Senator Lugar participated and Senator Bayh testified, on nuclear security and the creation of an international nuclear fuel bank.

The Lugar-Bayh bill would make it U.S. policy to discourage the development of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities in additional countries, encourage the creation of bilateral and multilateral assurances of nuclear fuel supply, and ensure that all supply mechanisms operate in strict accordance with the IAEA safeguards system and do not result in any additional unmet verification burdens for the system.

To promote their bill, Lugar and Bayh also held a roundtable with members of the press and nuclear nonproliferation experts in the Capitol Building.

“The international nuclear nonproliferation regime has suffered significant setbacks in recent years. It is vital that the United States assign a high diplomatic priority to strengthening that regime,” Senator Lugar said at the July 31 hearing.

“Senator Bayh and I have proposed that the United States and like minded nations should establish a new international system whereby countries that give up their own enrichment and reprocessing programs will be rewarded with a guaranteed supply of reasonably priced fuel for nuclear power generation,” he said.

“We must ensure that the coming surge in demand for nuclear energy does not lead to a surge in nuclear proliferation. In this new reality, more nations will need to secure supplies of nuclear fuel. Our legislation would give these nations incentive to pursue nuclear energy in a way that is safe and reduces the proliferation threat,” Senator Bayh said.

Earlier in the summer, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Lugar-Bayh Nuclear Safeguards and Supply Act, S. 1138. The bill currently awaits Senate consideration.

Read Senator Lugar’s statement from the Nuclear Fuel Bank hearing.

Lugar Statement on House Passage of Farm Bill

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following statement on the July 27 passage of a farm bill by the House of Representatives:

"The farm bill passed by the House of Representatives is a severe blow to taxpayers, most farmers, rural communities, the environment, and U.S. prospects to export products.

"The House bill fails to reform an expensive and broken farm subsidy system. It will send more money to a few select farmers, while continuing to ignore the vast majority of American farmers. The President is justified in stating that he would veto this legislation.

"When the U.S. Senate considers farm policy later this year, I’m hopeful to build a coalition to advance legislation which allows ALL farmers to assure up to 85 percent of their net farm income through a government backed whole farm insurance program. In addition, ALL farmers would have IRA-type savings accounts to cover the balance of any losses. 

"These reforms would also substantially increase rural development, research and deployment of energy from diverse biomass sources, conservation, and nutrition programs, while saving all taxpayers billions of dollars. A broad coalition of humanitarian assistance advocates including Bono, Bread for the World and Oxfam; conservationists such as the Environmental Defense; and obviously taxpayer advocate groups all support ending 70 years of inequitable farm subsidies."

Lugar has introduced the Food and Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st Century Act (FARM 21) which would replace the current market and trade distorting farm subsidy system with a new system of risk management accounts and insurance tools managed by farmers.  The bill, S. 1422, would direct savings into nutrition programs as well as deficit reduction, conservation efforts and renewable energy development.

More details on the Lugar farm bill can be found on the Farm Bill page.

Senate Passes Darfur Peacekeeping Resolution

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution, introduced by Senators Joe Biden and Dick Lugar, urging the President to work with the United Nations and other multinational efforts to increase peacekeeping in Darfur. The passage came on July 31 as the United Nations authorized 26,000 troops and police for Darfur. 

“I commend the United Nations for acting on Darfur yesterday by authorizing 26,000 peacekeeping troops.  Also yesterday, the Senate approved Resolution 276, which asks the Bush Administration to urgently request the necessary funding to cover our portion of the costs of this vital mission,” Senator Lugar said. 

“We state in the resolution that failure of the international community to take all steps necessary to generate, deploy and maintain United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping forces will result in the continued loss of life and further degradation of humanitarian infrastructure in Darfur. History has shown that peacekeeping success depends on size, resources, mandate, mobility, and command structure of the force. And the mission must be accompanied by a peace-building process among the parties in the conflict. We strongly urge our government, as well as others, to act swiftly and robustly.”
  
Senators Biden and Lugar also have pending legislation that would enable the Administration to pay more than $100 million in peacekeeping areas to the United Nations.

Senator Lugar authored legislation passed last year that targets sanctions against parties responsible for continuing the atrocities and war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan. Senator Lugar is also the author of the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act, which was signed by the President on December 23, 2004 (P.L. 108-497). 

Lugar Delivers Speech to 2nd Annual National Summit on Energy Security

On July 12, 2007, Senator Lugar addressed 2020 Vision at the National Press Club. Below is an excerpt from his speech:

A national policy that moved us away from oil dependence would be a powerful statement that U.S. interests were unrelated to any conspiracy theories asserting American intent to dominate oil resources in the Middle East. It would improve our ability to function as an honest broker in regional disputes. It would allow us to assign more policy weight to promoting democratic values and advancing core national security interests, such as non-proliferation.

The urgency of moving to oil alternatives was underscored this week by a report of the International Energy Agency. The report stated that world demand for oil is rising faster than expected, despite the high oil prices that have prevailed for the last four years. The IEA predicted that oil supplies would be “extremely tight in five years time,” largely because of the booming demand for oil in rapidly industrializing nations and the inability of non-OPEC oil-producing countries to increase production to meet demand. According to the report, the developing world’s share of global oil consumption will increase from 42 percent to 46 percent by 2012.

In the near future, we will face increasing risk that the world's supply of oil may not be abundant and accessible enough to support continued economic growth in both the industrialized West and in large rapidly growing economies. As we approach the point where the world's oil-hungry economies are competing for insufficient supplies of energy, oil will become an even stronger magnet for conflict and threats of military action. 

Continue reading the speech...

Lugar Introduces Legislation to Continue and Expand U.S. Leadership on HIV/AIDS

On August 2, 2007, Senator Lugar introduced S.1966, the HIV/AIDS Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2007, which would reauthorize the highly successful U.S. initiative on global HIV/AIDS that is set to expire in 2008. Senator Lugar’s bill would double the initial U.S. commitment by authorizing $30 billion for fiscal years 2009 through 2013. 

“Since the initial legislation was passed in 2003, the United States has reached more than 42 million people with prevention programs and is supporting treatment for approximately 561,000 men, women and children in 15 of the most afflicted countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.  The U.S. is also providing services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and assistance to some of the millions of orphans this disease has created,” said Senator Lugar, Republican leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Effective prevention, treatment and care all depend to a large extent on people knowing their HIV status, so they can take the necessary steps to stay healthy. 

“The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues, yet there is a change led by the American people that is providing hope and touching millions of lives through comprehensive programs of prevention, treatment and care in partnership with host nations.”

As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2003, Senator Lugar led bipartisan Senate efforts to enact the legislation, also referred to as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), that authorized a five year funding level of $15 billion to address the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
           
At the time the legislation was introduced, only 50,000 people in all of sub-Saharan Africa were receiving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment.  Through March 2007, the American people have supported treatment for more than one million men, women and children in Africa. 

Senator Lugar is also the co-author of the Vaccines for the Future Act of 2007, which would accelerate the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect populations in developing countries. Senator Lugar’s bill would require the United States to develop a comprehensive strategy to speed the development, testing and distribution of life-saving vaccines through innovative financial incentives.

For his efforts to bring attention and raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS crisis, Senator Lugar has been recognized by Africare, YouthAIDS, the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa, and the Mercy Foundation.  Under his chairmanship, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined many subjects related to HIV/AIDS, including the intersection of AIDS and hunger, the AIDS orphan crisis, the impact of the disease on women and girls in the developing world, and the implementation of PEPFAR.