Our Western Hemisphere

OUR WESTERN HEMISPHERE -- (Senate - January 18, 2007)

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, let me thank my colleague from Utah for his remarks and for joining us on this trip, this official trip which Senator Reid, our majority leader, put together. Senator Bennett is correct. Members of Congress have to make a decision early in their career: Are they going to travel? I think it has been one of the most valuable experiences of my public life. I have made a point of always announcing in advance where I am going and why I am going, giving full disclosure so that people know. I can say without exception that every time I have taken a trip, carefully planned, I have come back with a better knowledge of the world and a better appreciation of our home.

I have learned things on these trips I just could not appreciate reading in a book. I have met people on these trips who have changed my life. I don't say that loosely; I mean it.

Over 15 years ago, I met a man in Bangladesh named Muhammad Yunus. We had gone to Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries on Earth. This economics professor took us out to show us that he was testing a concept from his economics class called micro credit. He believed--this professor believed--that if you loan a small amount of money to the poorest people on Earth, they would pay it back, and that that small amount of money would change their lives. A simple concept, but he was out to prove it would work, and he proved it over and over again until that concept reached 100 million people on the face of the Earth. That man was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I met Muhammad Yunus on an official trip. I have fought for micro credit ever since, and I consider him a real inspiration to my public life.

The same is true about Africa. When I finally was able to go to Africa, looking at micro credit food programs, I was hit smack dab between the eyes by the global AIDS crisis. It changed my public service. I came back and established the first bipartisan global AIDS caucus on Capitol Hill and have fought every single year to fight for more money to fight this scourge, this epidemic of AIDS. We have now put together an additional $1 billion in money added to budgets, $1 billion to be spent around the world saving lives. It has made a real difference, and it was the result of an official trip where I saw firsthand what AIDS was doing to that great continent of Africa.

So I would say to my colleagues and my critics, I believe that Members of Congress should be compelled and required to travel overseas every single year and should account for their travel and account for their refusal to travel. We have to understand that these trips help us in public service, help to project the image of our country, and help us to reach a new level of understanding with leaders around the world. This trip was no exception.

Why would we go to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru? Of all places on Earth, why would we go there? The first trip by the majority leader, Harry Reid, was scheduled to this region of the world, and I know that many of the leaders down there were surprised, as well, to see us. It is one of the poorest places on Earth. Bolivia is the second poorest nation in our hemisphere next to Haiti. The people there struggle to survive, the majority of them on fewer than $2 a day.

We met with indigenous Bolivian Evo Morales, now President of that country, elected in a free election. We fear that he will lean toward the Chavez model of government, and we hope he will be more open minded. This trip helped us to deliver a message. As Senator Conrad mentioned earlier, he has misgivings about his relationship with the United States. I think what we had to say to him in our meeting with him, and Senator Harry Reid's insistence that we respect the sovereignty of his nation, was important, a very important thing for him to see.

Bolivia itself is a fascinating country in many respects--very entrepreneurial, with a sense of street justice which you don't find in many poor countries around the world. But I left there with a better understanding of the challenges facing them.

Going on to Ecuador, there was a special meeting with the President-elect, now President Rafael Correa. I felt a special attachment to President-elect Correa because in the year 2001 he received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana. We joked about it, and we joked about his experience living in the United States. That evening I got to meet his wife born in Belgium. She served as a special education teacher in Champagne, IL. I say that because those linkages between the United States and the new leadership of Ecuador are valuable. He saw America firsthand. He said to his friends in Ecuador: What I like about America is they don't ask you your mother's lineage. They just want to know who you are, not whether you come from some aristocratic stock.

That is a good lesson to learn in America. It is a good lesson to apply around the world. It says a lot about us and our values.

We went on to Peru as well. There aren't a lot of delegations that visit Peru. I am glad we did. President Garcia is a real friend. In World War II Peru was one of our earliest allies, and they are proud of it. Our standing with Peru as a nation couldn't be better, and it gets better by the year. It tells us, though, that we have critics around the world.

First, let me say if someone stopped me on the streets of Chicago and said: Senator Durbin, why in the world did you go to Bolivia and Ecuador and Peru, I would ask them one question: Do you think narcotics are a problem in America? I know the answer. The answer is obvious: a big problem. Not just a problem for law enforcement but for families and children, a great expense and a great danger caused by these narcotics, and the Andean region of the world that we visited supplies 100 percent of the cocaine that comes to the United States.

When Senator Reid and Senator Bennett and others and I went to these countries, we sat down with our Ambassadors, we sat down with the Drug Enforcement Agency, we sat through classified briefings and talked about our cooperative efforts with these nations to stop this flow of narcotics. That is a priority for this Senator, and I am sure it is a priority for many others. By meeting and encouraging these leaders to continue to cooperate with the United States, I think it is going to help to make our Nation safer. When we hear firsthand from the President of Bolivia that he believes he is being shortchanged in bilateral assistance from the United States compared to other countries, it is a legitimate point and one that we brought home and one on which we will follow through. We want to make sure the flow of narcotics is reduced. We want to make America safer, reduce drug crime, and it starts with an understanding between Senators and leaders in these countries that we have the same goals.

Let me say one thing before I turn it over to our majority leader. How do we project the image of the United States? We believe that five or six Senators bringing that message is an important part of it but a tiny part of it. When we visited Bolivia, Senator Reid, I believe, asked the question: What is the presence of Cuba in Bolivia? The answer is an important one for us to reflect on. Today, out of about 20,000 medical doctors in Bolivia, 1,500 come from Cuba, another 5,000 classroom teachers come from Cuba. When we asked, in Bolivia, our Ambassador what are we doing, he said the United States is making substantial investments in infrastructure. Stop for a moment and think about it. Which version of the world, which message, will have more impact: A message delivered to a person in Bolivia in a clinic or a classroom or a message delivered on a sign next to a stretch of concrete? Not to diminish the importance of infrastructure, but the fact is those Ambassadors of Mr. Castro's view of the world are going to have an impact on the people they help far beyond what impact we will have by building this infrastructure.

Senator Reid makes it a point on his trips and I make it a point on mine to meet with Peace Corps volunteers. We had great meetings in Ecuador. Some of these great American kids--I shouldn't call them kids; young men and women, some not so young--who are Peace Corps volunteers literally spent over 12 hours on an overnight bus to make it to a luncheon. We had a great time. We talked. I had a chance to meet a couple of them from the State of Illinois. Andrew Wiemers from Galesburg was one of them. We talked about the challenges we faced, and we talked about how proud we were that they were, for little or no money, giving 2 years of their lives to tell the American story by giving, by helping. They are making a difference. But around the world, there are only 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers. I think we can do more, and I think we need to do better. We can stretch ourselves and stretch our message out to parts of the world that have the wrong message of the United States.

When John Kennedy was President, he took a hard look at Central and South America for the first time, understanding that in the history of that region, many times our Government and private interests in the United States have exploited it. He created a new opportunity. He called it the Alliance For Progress. And President Kennedy's name is sacred now in this part of the world because of his recognition that they were not just our neighbors but our friends and potential allies.

We have to renew that conversation. It starts with official trips such as these. It starts when we bring our message back to the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. But it can't end there. We have to make sure the legislation we consider, the policies of this country, and our relationships continue to grow.

I will say to those who criticize the official trips by Members of Congress, they don't understand the world in which we live. We have a special responsibility to learn about this world, to tell our message to people around the world and come back with our knowledge and share it with our colleagues. It is important for us as Members of Congress to spend time together in these settings. It builds friendships and alliances and relationships that on the floor of the Senate I have already seen in a few short weeks have paid off. That level of comity, that level of dialog, leads to a more civilized Senate and a better work product at the end of the day.

I thank Senator Reid for inviting me to be part of this trip, and I yield the floor.

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