Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I have come to the floor to speak about a bill that Senator Baucus and I have introduced today. It's called the Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010.

The purpose of our bill is to help Haiti recover from the devastation it suffered in the massive earthquake that struck the country in January.

How we respond to natural disasters says a lot about ourselves, whether it's flooding in Iowa or an earthquake in Haiti.

The idea behind the bill is simple. First, we extend current trade preferences for Haiti through fiscal year 2020, to provide more certainty for companies doing business either in Haiti or with Haitian partners.

Second, we grant additional duty-free access to the U.S. market for targeted categories of textile and apparel products. That will help to draw more investment into Haiti's economy and thereby promote long-term job creation, economic development, and political stability.

Our bill is a bipartisan, bicameral compromise. It is the product of 3 months of collaborative negotiations among the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees and with representatives of the U.S. textile industry and the Haitians themselves.

We also reached out to members of Congress who have constituent textile and apparel interests, to ensure that their concerns were addressed.

Our ability to reach agreement on the bill is a testament to the good will and good faith of all those involved in our negotiations.

The result reflects a careful balancing of interests, including Haiti's interest in spurring more investment in its economy, the interests of our trading partners in Central America in maintaining existing trade relationships, and our own domestic textile interests.

We took special care to address the sensitivities of our domestic producers.

In fact, I have a letter here from the two leading U.S. textile industry organizations. Their letter expresses support for our bill and encourages the Senate to pass the bill in an expeditious manner by unanimous consent.

Finally, I want to make special mention of my colleagues from states with textile interests, and to thank them for their constructive input in developing this legislation.

Without their engagement and support, we would not have arrived at the compromise bill that is being introduced today in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

This is a balanced bill that addresses an urgent priority in the Western Hemisphere.

I ask my colleagues to give the bill their unanimous support when it comes before the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD

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