Reprod Freedom News. 1997 Feb 28;6(4):4.
With a 53-46 vote on February 25, the Senate approved a resolution to speed up the release of funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for its overseas family planning programs. The resolution, which had been passed by the House on February 13 (see RFN VI/2), will make money budgeted for fiscal year 1997 available on March 1, 4 months earlier than originally scheduled. Under the omnibus budget bill approved at the end of September 1996, funding was to have been withheld until July 1--a full 9 months into the fiscal year--unless President Clinton made a finding that the delay was harming the functioning of the US family planning program. Based on a report from USAID, which found that the delay would cause at least 17 programs around the world to suspend their services and result in significant and permanent damage to US population-control efforts, President Clinton issued the finding in support of moving up the release of funds. The Senate did not consider a House-passed provision that would have barred family planning programs that receive US money from providing abortions, even if they paid for the procedures through other sources of funding.
2月25日，参议院以53票对46票通过了一项决议，以加快向美国国际开发署（USAID）提供资金，用于其海外计划生育项目。该决议已于2月13日在众议院获得通过（见《生殖健康新闻》第六卷第二期），将使1997财年预算的资金于3月1日可用，比原计划提前4个月。根据1996年9月底批准的综合预算法案，资金本应扣留至7月1日——即财政年度整整9个月后——除非克林顿总统认定这种延迟正在损害美国家庭计划生育项目的运作。根据美国国际开发署的一份报告，该报告发现延迟将导致全球至少17个项目暂停服务，并对美国的人口控制努力造成重大和永久性损害，克林顿总统发布了这一认定，以支持提前发放资金。参议院没有考虑众议院通过的一项条款，该条款本可禁止接受美国资金的计划生育项目提供堕胎服务，即使它们通过其他资金来源支付手术费用。
