The Department Of State, Foreign Operations And Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2007)

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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Madam Chairman, I don't have any amendment at the desk, but I do wish to rise in support of the 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and to commend the committee, particularly the chairwoman from New York, for the fine work that has been done to get the bill to this point.

I want to bring attention to a very important aspect of the bill: funding for trade capacity building. This bill raises the Federal appropriation level to $214 million. That is $87 million more than the administration requested.

Obviously there are many different points of view on trade in this body, but I think all of us can agree that we must do everything possible to enable developing countries to facilitate trade with the world.

Most people think of trade infrastructure projects when they think of trade capacity. But facilitating trade goes well beyond that. These funds will help developing countries with labor and environmental law enforcement and provide technical assistance for better trade access in remote areas.

Trade capacity assistance is a relatively new tool in the trade arena, but it h as recently played an important role in the implementation of trade and will continue to play a critical role as we consider several free trade agreements with developing countries that are eligible to receive capacity building from our Nation.

I thank the chairwoman for maintaining the commitment to trade capacity funds in recent agreements, and I hope to work closely with the committee on follow-up and oversight of trade capacity funds, past and in the present.

Hopefully, in the near future, we wi ll have the opportunity to consider this on the floor with countries such as Peru, Panama and Colombia. All of these nations need trade capacity assistance, but Colombia is arguably the country with the most intense and persistent challenges.

I look forward to working closely with the committee and USAID to see that we dedicate some of the increased funds in this bill to help Colombia meet critical needs, like assistance for its Fiscalia, the Office of the Attorney General. The Fiscalia bears the overwh elming responsibility of continuing the progress towards security and peace in Colombia, with investigations of murders and kidnappings, particularly those of labor leaders, and managing the legal process of the demobilization of paramilitaries and the FARC. The Fiscalia needs as much support as we can offer it if it is going to expeditiously carry out the hundreds of investigations and legislative demands that it must meet as an independent agency of justice.

I hope my colleagues who share my concern o ver violence in Colombia, particularly in remote areas populated by African Colombians and attacks against labor leaders, will support the 2008 Foreign Operations bill and join me in calling for trade capacity funds specifically dedicated to those countries who are cooperating with us to make strides toward a more secure hemisphere.

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