the speaker: on this vote, the yeas are -- on this vote, the yeas are 416, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. without objection, the title is amended.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the chair appoints the following conferees on h.r. 2336. the clerk: mr.s obi, murtha, ms. delauro, mr.s young of florida and ms. granger.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise?

mr. berman: pursuant to the order of the house and h.res. 522, mr. speaker, i ask for immediate consideration of h.r. 1886, the pakistan enduring assistance and cooperation enhancement act of 2009. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 66, h.r. 1886, a bill to authorize democratic, economic, and social development assistance for pakistan, to authorize security assistance for pakistan and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 522, the amendment in the nature of a substitute modified by the amendment pried in house report 111-143, is adopted and the bill is considered read. after one hour of debate on the bill as amended, it shall be in order to consider the amendment in the nature of a substitute if offered by the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, or her designee, which shall be considered read and debatable for 30 minutes, equally divided

between the proponent and an opponent. the gentleman from california, mr. berman, and the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen will be recognized. the house will be in order. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 1886. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. berman: mr. speaker, at this time, i would like for purposes of opening general debate, yield to the chairman of the house armed services committee, of whom we have -- whom we have work very closely with in putting together a bill we can bring to the floor a very good bill, his help and he

help of his staff working with our staff has really been just indy spenceable to the progress of this effort, three minutes to the gentleman from missouri, the chairman of the house armed services committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. skelton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. this measure before the house today is very well one of the most important pieces of legislation we will consider regarding national security. i first must compliment the chairman, compliment his staff as well as the staff of the armed services committee who worked diligently to craft this piece of legislation. it's very important because pakistan is very important. pakistan is important to the middle east and our intentions

there, their cooperation, of course, is so very, very important. this legislation gives economic and democratic development assistance to that country. what is, of course, of great interest to me is the security assistance that we have given pakistan. some $400 million. i will leave it to the chairman, the very able chairman to go into the details, but i must say it not only provides for a lot of training and financing. one part that seems to be overlooked so often is the part that deals with the international military education, which has for a period of time missed out with this country of pakistan, which

again is back on our radar and hopefully will be of great benefit to them as well as to us. it requires certain milestones to be met. under the able leadership of this chairman this is an excellent bill, i wholly endorse it and i hope we get a very, very strong vote because the future of pakistan is a centerpiece that we need to be successful for our efforts and in that part of the world. with that, i again thank the chairman and compliment him as well as all those who worked on it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. berman: i thank the gentleman from missouri, the chairman of the committee for his kind comments and i yield myself three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. berman: mr. speaker, the united states has an enormous stake in the security and

stability of pakistan. we can't allow al qaeda or any other terrorist group that threaten ours national security to operate with impunity in the tribal regions or any other part of pakistan. nor can we permit toe the pakistani state and its nuclear arsenal to be taken over by the taliban. to help prevent this nightmare scenario, we need to forge a true strategic partnership with pakistan and its people, strengthen pakistan's democratic government, and work to make pakistan a source of stability in a volatile region. h.r. 1886 is designed to help achieve these critical goals. this legislation would significantly expand democratic, economic, and social development assistance to help lay the foundation for a stronger, more stable pakistan. the bill provides funding to strengthen the capacity of pakistan's democratic institutions, including its

parliament, judicial system, and law enforcement agencies. it calls for increased assistance for pakistan's public education system, emphasis on access for women and girls, to help ensure that u.s. assistance actually reaches the pakistani people, it requires increased auditing, greater monitoring, and better evaluation. h.r. 1886 also provides critical security assistance to help the government of pakistan in its fight against the extremists that threaten the national security of both pakistan and the united states. to strengthen civilian control of the military, h.r. 1886 requires that all assistance flow through the pakistan's elected civilian government. and to support pakistan's request for additional flexibility, the administration's request for additional flexibility to address pakistan's urgent

security needs, the bill authorizes funds for the pakistan counterinsurgency capability fund or pccf. it includes important provision tissue provisions to ensure pakistan is using our security assistance in a manner consistent with u.s. security interests. an annual determination is required that determines whether pakistan is cooperating with the united states on nonproliferation, is meeting its commitment to combat terrorist groups and has made progress toward this end. contrary to what some suggested, these are not rigid or inflexible conditions that severely constrain the military. we appreciate the urgency of the pakistan, but we are asking pakistan to follow through with the commitments he's already the commitments he's already made it's already made.

for the united states congress and the u.s. administration to work together to develop an integrated and effective assistance plan to advance our mutual interest in a democratic,

a stable, a prosperous pakistan that is a strong partner in the struggle against extremism and which maintains responsible controls over its nuclear weapons technology. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from florida reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. chairman, i'm very pleased to yield to the chairman of the south asia and middle east subcommittee, the gentleman whom i just traveled to pakistan with, mr. ackerman, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. ackerman: i thank the speaker. i rise in strong support of the legislation before us. and i want to thank the chairman for allowing me to work closely on this bill and producing such an excellent piece of legislation. some may be surprised i am in enthusiastic support of this bill to assist pakistan.

over the years i have been una shamedly one of the most persistent and aggressive critics of pakistan's government and of the previous administration's policies in dealing with it. and i remain deeply concerned about much of islam ma bad's behavior,--islamia bad's behavior. to the beliefs that india intends to devour pakistan. none of pakistan's governments have demonstrated a persuasive commitment to internal political or economic reform or anything approaching real acceptance of the rule of law. pakistan has been at best an obstreperous partner on the subject of proliferation, and like many i fail to understand what possible reason they have to justify the stonewalling we faced regarding the a.q. connetwork. i believe to continue the aircraft is akin to a fetish. i am nevertheless a strong

supporter of the bill. why? very simply it's time our partnership with pakistan connects directly to the pakistani people. our previous strategy of depending wholly be upon the government of pakistan to fight a war most of its people detest is not sustainable and i believe contributed significantly to the political instability in that country. this bill sets the stage for the united states to work with pakistan to promote long-term development and infrastructure projects in all areas of pakistan. to establish a real counterinsurgency and counterterrorism strategy and assure u.s. access to individuals suspected of engaging in nuclear proliferation. this legislation will help pakistan gain control of its undergoverned areas and ensure accountability for all u.s. assistance in pakistan. in addition to requiring the president to develop a real security strategy and regularly report back to congress on the effectiveness of our military

assistance, the act prohibits such assistance until pakistan demonstrates its commitment to shared security goals. there are also strong oversights and ordered requirements for the state department and usaid and the requirement for the u.s. comptroller general to report inddentently on the effectiveness of our security asince. this bill is a tremendous step forward for us and/or efforts to bring peace and stability to south asia. i would hope that every member would support this legislation. i thank the chairman. i thank the speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time of the the gentlelady from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'm pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from indiana, mr. burton, the ranking member on the subcommittee on middle east and south asia. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from yun is recognized for five minutes. mr. burton: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: proid. mr. burton: -- without objection. mr. burton: first of all, let me

congratulate our chairman on crafting a bill that in large part is very good. it increases the aid to pakistan by triple in some areas. and i think it's very positive. it deals with economic and humanitarian assistance that will help pakistan build schools, roads, hospitals, and help pakistan's economic infrastructure and all that's good. and i know that the president and the administration supports that as well. unfortunately, here comes the but part, unfortunately the chairman and our democratic colleagues decided to load this bill up with ill-conceived provisions to micromanage u.s. security assistance to pakistan as the ranking member just said. and this is not just my opinion. the secretary of defense, mr. gates, the chairman. joint chiefs of staff, mr. mullen, wrote the armed services

committee last month and here's what they said. the degree of conditionality and limitation on security assistance to pakistan severely constrains the flexibility necessary for the executive branch and the department of defense given the fluid and dynamic environment that exists in pakistan. i'll yield -- >> after yesterday, why wouldn't you? mr. burton: i will. remember last night when i asked you to yield. just to show you what kind of a guy i am, i'll yield in a minute. any how, this is a very difficult time over there. and i would like to say to my chairman, if he could see this, mr. chairman, i hope if you can see this, it's very important that we look at the situation on the ground in pakistan right now. the green, the green area is the area that the government controls. the brown area is the area that the taliban controls. the tan area is where there's a

strong taliban presence. and the yellow is where there's federally supported tribal areas. and of course up here in the north is the blue northwest frontier. if we lose this, if you lose this here, you got a heck of a problem in afghanistan. that's the entire border with afghanistan. if you lose that and the president's goal to stabilize and win the war in afghanistan is going to go right down the tubes. this micromanaging that you're doing in this bill is not going to be helpful. now, i in the past have not agreed with senator kerry. in fact i can't remember ever agreeing with senator kerry. i want to read to you what he said. just to let you know there is some bipartisan opposition. he said, i'll read to you what he said, but senate foreign relations chairman, john kerry, democrat of massachusetts, author of similar senate legislation, senate bill 962, said it's overly restrictive and counterproductive. he sd