House Approves Landmark Bill To Expand Diplomacy, Prevent War: Quaker Lobby Praises Bill

For Immediate Release
Washington, D.C.
June 11, 2009

For the first time in years, the House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that would significantly boost U.S. capacities to help prevent and respond to international crises, the Friends Committee on National Legislation reported today. The Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 2410), approved by a vote of 235 to 187 today, authorizes a significant expansion of the Foreign Service to support U.S. diplomacy and development, directs the United States to pay down its debt to the United Nations, and strengthens the United States' commitment to prevention of deadly crises around the world.

Key provisions in the legislation would enable the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to hire 2,200 new Foreign Service Officers to fill vacancies in under-resourced embassies abroad and better prevent crises from emerging. The bill would also authorize hundreds of millions of dollars in new funds for a civilian response corps, as well as require the Secretary of State to develop a government-wide strategy to prevent genocide and mass atrocities, as called for by the Albright-Cohen Genocide Prevention Task Force.

"Too often in the past the U.S. response to mass atrocities has been ad hoc," says FCNL Executive Secretary Joe Volk. "A unified government strategy that focuses on early and effective prevention would enable the United States to truly say 'never again' to such human disasters."

The Quaker lobby expressed disappointment at several sections of the bill that could have the effect of undermining the effectiveness of U.S. strategies to prevent war. In particular, FCNL is concerned about language added to the bill on the House floor that could undermine the president's diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East and increase chances of a war with Iran.

FCNL also concerned about the implicit endorsement of U.S. military aid. Yet the lobby did express support for human rights monitoring and reporting requirements included on military assistance sent to Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean governments and the increased oversight of military aid. "We appreciate this bill's effort to implement rigorous oversight of U.S. military aid, including an assessment of the human rights impact of these weapons," said Lora Lumpe, FCNL Lobbyist. .

"This an important piece of legislation," reports Bridget Moix, lobbyist on the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict. "It fully authorizes the increases in diplomatic and development personnel that President Obama has requested, emphasizes the importance of crisis prevention, and puts in place a strategy to truly avert mass atrocities and the deadly conflicts that lead to them. The House has taken a very important step. Its time now for the Senate to act."