Crisis in Haiti

CRISIS IN HAITI

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, let me turn to another area in the world where there is another humanitarian crisis, and that is the country of Haiti. I will be very brief because I have come to the Senate floor many times before to talk about Haiti.

Haitian Prime Minister Latortue was on Capitol Hill yesterday. I had the opportunity to meet with him. The majority leader and the Democratic leader met with him, as well as other Senators. The Prime Minister is a very impressive man. He is a man who faces a very difficult task in Haiti. The U.S. troops are scheduled to leave June 1 to be replaced with U.N. troops.

I will not try to summarize the message from the Prime Minister, but two things he said were very important which I will share with my colleagues. First, the Prime Minister made a very strong case to the Members of the Senate whom he talked to for the passage of a bill Senator Dodd and I have introduced in the Senate, a bill that, according to the Prime Minister, within a relatively short period of time would help create an additional 100,000 jobs in Haiti, 100,000 jobs that are desperately needed.

This is a trade bill Senator Dodd and I have introduced that is pending in the Senate. It has bipartisan support. There is a companion bill introduced by Congressman Clay Shaw in the House of Representatives. I again call my colleagues' attention to this bill and hope we can act on this bill this year. It is a bill that would restore the assembly jobs in Haiti. Haiti at one time had many assembly jobs. After the sanctions were imposed during the Clinton administration, these jobs basically went away. This bill will help restore these jobs. It will make a big difference for Haiti.

The other point the Prime Minister made was the Haitian Government today is in desperate need of cash. They cannot even do little things such as get the electricity back on. I have talked to Mr. Noriega in our administration. I have talked to Secretary Colin Powell. Both are very sympathetic to what is going on in Haiti and the needs of the Haitian Government. Secretary Powell has assured me the administration is trying to reprogram money and to get additional money for Haiti. Everyone agrees and understands the urgent need for this money.

I simply say to the administration, this money is desperately needed now. The new Haitian Government is struggling. They need to show the people of Haiti some immediate victories. If the people of Haiti are to have some confidence in this new Government, if they are to believe in this new Government, if they are to have confidence in the new Government, they have to see something tangible and they have to see it fairly quickly.

I hope our administration will be able to reprogram some money, will be able to set some money aside and get that money to Haiti so this new Government will be able to show the people of Haiti some good faith, be able to show them some victories, and the people of Haiti will be able to see there is, in fact, some hope.

I yield the floor.