Foreign Relations Authorization Act passes House 235-187

Washington, DC – The House today passed HR 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, by a vote of 235-187, with two amendments offered by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.  The Foreign Relations Authorization Act implements President Obama’s foreign policy vision, which emphasizes diplomacy and development in addition to defense.

Congresswoman Johnson’s first amendment establishes and provides financial assistance for exchange programs between the United States and Afghanistan for female legislators.

“As Afghan leaders work to secure a stable democratic future for their country, the international community must work to ensure that Afghan women can safely exercise their full rights as citizens of Afghanistan,” Congresswoman Johnson said.  “My amendment establishes an exchange program between the U.S. and Afghanistan that will not only give female Afghan leaders an opportunity to improve their political and administrative skills, it will enable them to mentor other women interested in public service.”

Congresswoman Johnson’s second amendment expresses that it is the sense of Congress that the prevention and elimination of child soldiers should be a foreign policy goal of the United States.

“Amnesty International estimates that 250,000 children under the age of 18 are currently fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands of children have died as a direct result of being recruited as soldiers,” Congresswoman Johnson said.  “The conditions in which child soldiers are forced to live are appalling—child soldiers are often drugged, underfed, subject to beatings, at risk of rape and sexual abuse, and given little or no access to health care.  We must work harder—much harder—to end this shameful exploitation of children.”

The Foreign Relations Authorization Act authorizes 1,500 new Foreign Service officers and 700 new USAID officers, and it increases the budget of the Peace Corps.  It also strengthens efforts to fight drug-related violence in Mexico and the Caribbean.  Finally it ensures that the U.S. meets its financial commitments to the UN and other international organizations.

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U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla.