Haiti Debt Relief And Earthquake Recovery Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 4573) to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the United States Executive Directors at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other multilateral development institutions to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to cancel immediately and completely Haiti's debts to such institutions, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the Senate amendments is as follows:

Senate amendments:

On page 3, line 4, after ``provision'' insert: ``, before February 1, 2015,''.

On page 3, lines 18 and 19, strike ``relief'' and all that follows through ``Haiti.'' and insert: ``relief and debt service relief for Haiti and, before February 1, 2015, to provide grants for Haiti.''.

On page 4, line 7, after ``Haiti's future'' insert: ``and future generations''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) each will control 20 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.

GENERAL LEAVE

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California?

There was no objection.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I would like to thank the majority leader for bringing this bill to the floor promptly following its passage in the Senate, and I thank my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee, especially Chairman BARNEY FRANK, Ranking Member SPENCER BACHUS, and Subcommittee Chairman GREGORY MEEKS, for their support for this bill. I also thank my senior legislative assistant, Kathleen Sengstock, and the Financial Services Committee's senior professional staff member, Daniel McGlinchey, for their work on this bill.

I first introduced this bill after the terrible earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12. I have visited Haiti twice since the earthquake, and I have seen the widespread devastation it caused. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, that is USAID, 230,000 people were killed and 1.3 million people were displaced from their homes. There is a desperate need for clean water, food, shelter, and basic sanitation. Three million people, one-third of the country's population, were affected by the quake.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, as of March 1, Haiti owed $828 million to multilateral development institutions. This included $447 million to the Inter-American Development Bank, $284 million to the IMF, $39 million to World Bank Group's International Development Association, and $58 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In addition, Haiti owed approximately $400 million to other individual countries.

H.R. 4573, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010, would free Haiti from the burden of international debt. The bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors at multilateral development institutions to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to seek to achieve three things: number one, the immediate and complete cancellation of all debts owed by Haiti to these institutions; second, the suspension of Haiti's debt service payments until such time as the debts are canceled; and, three, the provision of emergency, humanitarian, and reconstruction assistance to Haiti in the form of grants so that Haiti does not accumulate additional debts.

The bill also directs the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State to use all appropriate diplomatic influence to secure the cancellation of all remaining bilateral, multilateral, and private creditor debt owed by Haiti.

This bill passed the House on March 10, and the Senate passed it with an amendment on March 26. The amendment specified that Haiti should receive aid in the form of grants until February 1, 2015. After that time, multilateral development institutions may resume aid in the form of new loans. I believe 5 years is a reasonable amount of time for Haiti to be able to recover without the burden of debt service payments on new loans.

I therefore support the Senate amendments, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 4573, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010.

H.R. 4573 takes a good first step towards the goal of eliminating Haiti's uncollectible debts so the country can start to rebuild. Removing this burden will also help Haiti begin the process of becoming a self-sustaining economy.

Nearly identical legislation has already been agreed to by the House under suspension of the rules. The Senate made only two minor changes to the bill to ensure that our commitment to Haiti remains unchanged and it stays focused. One change was that it sets an explicit time period for future grants for Haiti, and the other ensures that assistance provided helps not just today's Haitians but also ensures help for future generations. This is a very sensible, commonsense approach. I support these changes.

I also want to recognize the members of the International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittees and the staff of the committee for their bipartisan efforts on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) as much time as he may consume.

Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues, Representative Maxine Waters, Chairman Frank, Representative Greg Meeks, and Representative Spencer Bachus, for their bipartisan work on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, as a result of the extraordinary results of January 12, 2010, 230,000 people were killed and more than 1.3 million people were displaced, unable to return to their homes in Haiti. And still today while things are getting better, a desperate need for food, water, and medical care exists. The people of Haiti are facing an enormous struggle to recover from an earthquake at a time when the country was already among the poorest in the world.

This bill supports a humanitarian need through fiscal assistance by allowing our Treasury to cancel the $828 million debt owed by Haiti. This is the decent and humane thing to do, and I ask my colleagues to once again support this measure.

Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I encourage strong support of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, there's been considerable progress mobilizing international support for Haiti since the introduction of this bill. Multilateral development institutions have already begun to take steps to reduce or cancel Haiti's debts. And on March 31, the United Nations hosted the International Donors Conference for Haiti where leaders of the world's nations pledged $9.9 billion in aid, including $5.3 billion for the first 2 years. I'm encouraged by this progress, and I'm inspired by the outpouring of support for Haiti from the international community.

The people of Haiti are poor, but they are physically and spiritually resilient. I know with the support of the international community they will recover from this tragedy and create a better future for their children.

Mr. Speaker and Members, in fact, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, and Haiti has experienced extreme devastation for many years. It was just 2008 when they were hit with four hurricanes and they had not had the opportunity to even try to recover from those hurricanes. At that time, there were many deaths, many houses were destroyed, the roads and the bridges were destroyed. And coming on the heels of that, they were confronted with this most devastating earthquake.

There are those who look at Haiti and say we don't know whether or not this nation can survive. There are those who say, you know, they had problems with governance. They have lived under dictators. They have lived under a Catholic priest who practiced liberation theology where there was a coup d'etat that ousted him, and it goes on and on and on.

But there are many of us who look at this earthquake as opportunity. Despite the severe loss and the devastation, we believe that there is now a real commitment by the world community to come to the aid of Haiti. We believe that there is a real commitment to governance in a new way. We believe that there is a real commitment not only by USAID, the State Department, and the government of our own country, but by other governments around the world to include Haiti in the redevelopment.

And so despite the devastation, I think that many of us are looking forward to the opportunity to help Haiti become the country that it can become. This is going to be a lot of hard work, but this debt relief will go a long way toward helping in that redevelopment.

With this debt relief that means that Haiti will not have to repay debt. They can invest that money in health and education and infrastructure; and despite the fact that I spent many hours working not only on this debt relief bill but working with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I've learned a lot working with the Jubilee Committee and with Mr. Bachus about what we can do if we cooperate. And that we have been doing.

And so we move forward to help redevelop Haiti, and I would appreciate the support and the vote of my colleagues for this debt relief legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) that the House suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill, H.R. 4573.

The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the Senate amendments were concurred in.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

END

Source