Haiti Economic Recovery Opportunity Act of 2004

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
HAITI ECONOMIC RECOVERY OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2004

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2261 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report the bill by title.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (S. 2261) to expand certain preferential trade treatment for Haiti.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I am very pleased we are moving forward today with passage of the Haiti Economic Recovery Opportunity Act. Congressman Clay Shaw in the House and I have been working on Haiti trade legislation for some time. I thank Congressman Shaw for his support. I also want to give my sincere thanks to Senators Lindsey Graham and Ernest Hollings. Without their help and support we would not have been successful in our efforts today. Let me take a moment to mention all of our cosponsors as well: Senators Biden, Breaux, Chafee, Coleman, Daschle, Dodd, Durbin, Bob Graham, Hagel, Jeffords, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lugar, Bill Nelson, Gordon Smith, Sununu, and Voinovich. I thank them for their support and their efforts in getting this bill passed.

This bill can really change things for Haiti. Once it is signed into law, it will make a very real, very lasting difference in a country that is the poorest in our hemisphere-and one that has an 80-plus percent unemployment rate and a less than $400 per capita income for individuals.

This bill is going to use trade incentives to encourage the post-Aristide government to make much needed reforms, while encouraging foreign direct investment-the most powerful, and yet underutilized, tool of development. This bill, quite simply, will create thousands of jobs-one of the most important things for the Haitian people right now.

The people of Haiti want to work. They are good workers-they are hard workers. They are industrious. This bill is going to give them the chance to have jobs. It is going to give them a chance at economic recovery through economic opportunity. In the last decade, Haiti has gone from over 100,000 assembly jobs to less than 30,000 today. Our bill helps create jobs by providing duty-free entry to apparel articles assembled in Haiti contingent upon Presidential certification that the new government is making significant political, economic, and social reforms.

The bill also caps the amount of duty-free articles at 1.5 percent of the total amount of U.S. apparel imports, growing to 3.5 percent over 7 years. Currently, Haiti accounts for less than .5 percent of all U.S. apparel imports, and although these provisions seem modest by U.S. standards, in Haiti they are substantial.

This bill is not the "silver bullet" for Haiti, because there is no silver bullet for Haiti. Rebuilding Haiti is going to require time, attention, and determination on the part of the people of Haiti, the countries in the region, and ultimately the entire international community. But, passage of the Haiti Economic Recovery Opportunity Act is a powerful indicator that Haiti has the support necessary to move forward.

I yield the floor.