Issue: H.R. 2848 Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2014. Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended (2/3 required).
Result: Passed in House, 384 to 37, 10 not voting. Died in Senate. GOP and Democrats scored.
Bill Summary: Section 101 (of Title I) authorizes FY2014 appropriations for the expenses of the Department of State and the Foreign Service, including personnel costs; worldwide security protection; information technology systems; the construction, maintenance, and security of U.S. embassies and overseas facilities; educational and cultural exchange programs; conflict stabilization operations; the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; protection of foreign missions and officials; and for the Office of the Inspector General.
Other sections authorize assessed contributions to International Organizations (Section 102) of $1.4 billion; contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (Section 103) of $1.9 billion; funding for International Commissions (Section 104); and full funding ($118 million) is authorized for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (Section 105).
Analysis: According to the executive summary posted on the GOP.gov’s website, “H.R. 2848 authorizes overall reduced appropriations for the Department of State at fiscally responsible levels, while fully funding critical embassy security enhancements.” [Emphasis added.]
In light of the Benghazi fiasco, H.R. 2848 does place a proper emphasis on improving embassy security. However, embassy security is only one component of the vast internationalist operation run by the State Department.
Although conducting foreign affairs is a proper function of the federal government, authorized by the Constitution (Article II, Section 2), much of the State Department’s program is unconstitutional. With the outbreak of World War II, the Establishment’s Council on Foreign Relations was able to take working control of the State Department and has maintained that control ever since. (See Freedom First Society’s Masters of Deception.) Following the War, the State Department has expanded primarily to support the Internationalist agenda of making the U.S. subservient to Insider-dominated “world authorities” (such as the CFR’s creation, the United Nations) — in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) receives only a minor part of the spending authorized in this act for unconstitutional internationalist purposes. However, the overwhelming bipartisan acceptance of the internationalist, leftist NED demonstrates that our current political leadership is deceiving America.
The National Endowment for Democracy was created in 1983 by an act of Congress as a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation, ostensibly to promote democracy abroad. The U.S. government would provide the primary funding for NED through annual appropriations.
The NED was structured to perform as a grant-making foundation to provide support to other private NGOs. Half of its funding goes to four U.S. organizations: the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and the International Republican Institute (IRI) (formerly the National Republican Institute for International Affairs). The NED awards the other half of its funding to hundreds of NGOs abroad.
Although this structure is designed to create the impression that the federal government is not making the decisions, you can bet that the NED and the NGOs it funds with taxpayers’ money serve the Internationalist Establishment. Indeed, the NED’s longtime president, Carl Gershman, was for several years a member of the Establishment’s Council on Foreign Relations.
A Yale and Harvard graduate, Gershman began his career as a socialist, serving from 1970 to 1974 as a national leader of the Young People’s Socialist League. From 1975 to 1980 he was the executive director of Social Democrats, USA. During the Reagan administration, Gershman served as the U.S. Representative to the United Nation’s Committee on human rights.
In its early years, the NED supported Communist revolution in South Africa through pro-ANC groups. Among the internationalist NGOs, the NED supports today is Search for Common Ground, with headquarters in Washington, DC and Brussels. Search for Common Ground also receives funding from the Rockerfeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller family, the United Nations Development Programme, the U.S. State Department, and the World Bank.
What a sham! An internationalist Establishment that helped the Soviets seize and maintain power, enabled the Chinese Reds to take control of mainland China, and even helped Castro come to power in Cuba wants to promote democracy abroad.
In the absence of a long overdue housecleaning conducted by constitutionalists, the functions of the State Department should be cut back severely. Authorizing the Department at “fiscally responsible” levels simply hides the problem.
We have assigned (good vote) to the Nays and (bad vote) to the Yeas. (P = voted present; ? = not voting; blank = not listed on roll call.)