Richard Lugar on Foreign Policy Republican Sr Senator (IN)

Voted YES on enlarging NATO to include Eastern Europe.

Voted YES on killing a bill for trade sanctions if China sells weapons.

Voted YES on cap foreign aid at only $12.7 billion.

Voted NO on limiting the President's power to impose economic sanctions.

Voted NO on limiting NATO expansion to only Poland, Hungary & Czech.

Voted YES on $17.9 billion to IMF.

Voted NO on ending Vietnam embargo.

Multi-year commitment to Africa for food & medicine.

In an effort to reduce hunger in sub-Saharan Africa, urges the President to:
1. set forth five-year and ten-year strategies to achieve a reversal of current levels of hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, including a commitment to contribute an appropriate U.S. share of increased bilateral and multilateral poverty-focused resources for sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on health (including HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment), education, agriculture, private sector and free market development, democratic institutions and the rule of law, micro-finance development, and debt relief; and

2. work with the heads of other donor countries and sub-Saharan African countries and with private and voluntary organizations and other civic organizations to implement such strategies; and calls for

3. Congress to undertake a multi-year commitment to provide the resources to implement those strategies; and

4. the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to report on such implementation.

Urge Venezuela to re-open dissident radio & TV stations.

• WHEREAS for several months, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has been announcing over various media that he will not renew the current concession of the television station "Radio Caracas Televisión", also known as RCTV, which is set to expire on May 27, 2007, because of its adherence to an editorial stance different from his way of thinking;
• WHEREAS President Chavez justifies this measure based on the alleged role RCTV played in the unsuccessful unconstitutional attempts in April 2002 to unseat President Chavez, under circumstances where there exists no filed complaint or judicial sentence that would sustain such a charge under Venezuelan law;
• NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate--
• (1) expresses its profound concern about the transgression against freedom of thought and expression that is being committed in Venezuela by the refusal of the President Hugo Chavez to renew the concession of RCTV
• (2) strongly encourages the Organization of American States to respond appropriately, with full consideration of the necessary institutional instruments, to such transgression.

Call for Burma's junta to release political prisoners.

• WHEREAS Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has dedicated her life to the peaceful, non-violent movement for democracy and reconciliation in the Union of Burma;
• WHEREAS Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy won a majority of parliamentary seats in Burma's last election held in 1990;
• WHEREAS the State Peace and Development Council of Burma refuses to cede power and permit representative government and has detained Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 11 of the last 17 years;
• WHEREAS the ruling military junta has committed numerous, well-documented atrocities against the people of Burma;
• WHEREAS Aung San Suu Kyi continues to promote peaceful dialogue and reconciliation despite mistreatment from the State Peace and Development Council;
• WHEREAS the United States recognizes and supports the dedication and commitment to freedom demonstrated by Aung San Suu Kyi:
• NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate--
• (1) honors Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for her courage and devotion to the people of the Union of Burma and their struggle for democracy; and
• (2)calls for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners by the State Peace and Development Council.

Develop a strategy to protect civilians in Darfur.

A resolution calling on the United States Government and the international community to promptly develop, fund, and implement a comprehensive regional strategy in Africa to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian operations, contain and reduce violence, and contribute to conditions for sustainable peace in eastern Chad, northern Central African Republic, and Darfur, Sudan.

Let Ukraine & Georgia enter NATO.

Congressional Summary: A resolution expressing strong support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to enter into a Membership Action Plan with Georgia and Ukraine:

1. reaffirming support for enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to include democratic governments that are able to meet the membership responsibilities;
2. that NATO's expansion contributes to its relevance;
3. that Georgia and Ukraine are strong allies that have made important progress in the areas of defense and democratic and human rights reform;
4. that a stronger relationship among Georgia, Ukraine, and NATO will benefit those countries and NATO member states; and
5. that the United States should take the lead in supporting the awarding of a Membership Action Plan to Georgia and Ukraine.

Legislative Outome: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.