Commending the people of the Republic of Haiti for holding democratic elections on February 7, 2006, and congratulating President-elect Rene Garcia Preval on his victory in these elections.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from American Samoa for recognizing me. I also want to call attention on our side of the aisle to my colleagues, Congresswoman Waters, Congresswoman Lee and my good friend, Congressman Delahunt, who have always been carrying the ball on the

issue of Haiti and the U.S. response to Haiti and the U.S. friendship with Haiti. I really take my hat off to all of them.

I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 353, which praises the people of Haiti for their recent elections and congratulates Rene Preval on his victory. I commend my friend and colleague, as I mentioned, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, for introducing this resolution, and I am pleased to be an original cosponsor. I am pleased that my district, the 17th District in New York, has a very large Haitian community in Spring Valley, New York; and I know they are all eagerly anticipating better things for Haiti and U.S.-Haiti relationships.

After a history of instability, poverty and democratic setbacks, Haitians poured onto the streets last month to cast their votes, demonstrating their desire for a better future. And after a contested vote counting period, the front runner in the presidential election, Rene Preval, was declared the winner with nearly 52 percent of the official vote, compared to less than 12 percent for his closest contender. Now, such a large margin of victory gives Mr. Preval a strong mandate and legitimacy to reform and rebuild Haiti's institutions and fractured society.

Yet the challenges are vast. The same massive underlying problems still plague Haiti, and a second round of elections looms in the coming weeks.

While the Haitian people and government have the ultimate responsibility for ensuring their future, we in the United States have a duty to assist in every aspect of Haiti's political, economic and social state-building. Moreover, given Haiti's proximity to our borders, we have an overwhelming interest in doing so.

Now is the time for the United States to tangibly demonstrate that it stands with the Haitian people in their quest for democracy and stability. Therefore, together with Chairman Burton and a bipartisan group of subcommittee colleagues, I recently called for us to seize this limited window of opportunity by providing $50 million extra money in fiscal year 2006 supplemental assistance for our neighbors to the south.

Elections signal the beginning of a transition, not an end. It is thus my hope that the Appropriations Committee will ensure that Haiti's enormous needs are met. This is the least we can do to help the Haitian people at this critical time.

I also call on the administration to work with the citizens of Haiti, their newly elected government and the international community to help Haiti advance on its path of freedom and prosperity. And I urge Secretary of State Rice to attend Preval's upcoming inauguration.

And finally, I reiterate my congratulations to the people of Haiti for their successful elections and to Rene Preval for his victory. I would like to highlight that President-Elect Preval is visiting Washington today, as the gentleman from Florida mentioned. And I look forward to meeting him and offering my full support for Haiti's quest for national reconciliation, democracy and development. I am proud to be the ranking Democrat of the International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and I look forward to working with my colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from American Samoa. I will not take the full 2 minutes.

I just want to say that I am very excited that since I have become the ranking Democrat on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the International Relations Committee, this is actually the first bill that has come to the floor.

It is a very, very important bill, because as was mentioned by all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, the relationship between the United States and Haiti is a very important one and a very special one.

And we have had lots of successes in the relationship, and also lots of failures through the years. I think that we want to, on a bipartisan basis, build on successes, and as everyone has mentioned before, the people of Haiti have spoken. They have had a democratic election. We talk a lot about democratic elections. We have it right here in Haiti in the Western Hemisphere, and overwhelmingly the people of Haiti have chosen Mr. Preval as their leader.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is incumbent upon those of us in the United States Congress and the administration and all of us working together to make sure that Mr. Preval succeeds and that more importantly the Haitian people succeed, and that democracy succeeds in Haiti, because it is not simply a matter of another country and what do we care whether it is a success or a failure. We do care and we should care, because Haiti is so close to the United States in terms of geography, because Haiti is right in our hemisphere, because Haiti is an important country, because there are many Haitian Americans in the United States with ties to the old country.

And that is why it is really just so important that we in the United States, and we talk about protecting democracy all over the world, and well we should. But I think right in our own back yard we have a lot to do.

So I want to thank Mr. Faleomavaega and all of the others who have spoken; Ms. Waters, whose resolution this is; Congresswoman Ros- Lehtinen, with whom I have collaborated on so many important things, for all of their hard work and for all of us speaking of one mind here on both sides of the aisle that we want the U.S.-Haitian relationship to improve and to be successful.

Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution, I urge a unanimous vote of all our colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I want to express my commendation and appreciation to the distinguished chairman, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for his leadership and support of this legislation, and also our senior ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos). I do also want to thank my distinguished friend

and colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for her management and being on the majority side in support of this legislation.

Of course not least of all, the author of this legislation, my very dear friend, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), who is the sponsor, the chief sponsor and author of this proposed resolution.

Mr. Speaker, it was my privilege to travel several times to Haiti with one of our distinguished and senior colleagues of this institution, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers). I can appreciate the many problems and issues facing the good people and the leaders of the country of Haiti. I do want to say I rise in strong support of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom in the Nation's capital, democracy is once again blossoming in the troubled island nation of Haiti.

After a tumultuous 2 years under an interim government, the people of Haiti recently went to the polls en masse to elect a new President and a new legislature. After some delay, Mr. Rene Preval was declared the victor in the presidential contest. He is due to be inaugurated after the second round elections for the remaining seats in the National Assembly that are being held. These are scheduled for sometime next month.

Mr. Speaker, once again Haiti has a new chance to emerge from years of conflict and despair and grinding poverty to build a country that reflects the resourcefulness of its people and leaders. The task is tremendous. Haiti still lacks a professional police force that respects human rights and is trusted by the populace.

The murderous drug-dealing organizations continue to control parts of the capital and threaten instability in other parts of the country. Many schools are not in operation and most hospitals are little more than way-stations for the morgue. Infrastructure is virtually almost nonexistent.

Mr. Speaker, although the challenges before him are awesome, I think our President-Elect Preval is singularly capable of addressing these issues, but he cannot and he should not do it alone.

Our own government, the United States, working through the United Nations with our bilateral partners must redouble our efforts and financial commitment to Haiti so that the consolidation of democracy and the rebuilding of the country's economy have a reasonable chance of succeeding.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the President's budget proposal for Haiti for next year fails miserably in this regard. At a time when we should be deepening our commitment to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the President proposes to cut core development spending to Haiti by about 20 percent.

I am hopeful that as a result of the efforts of my colleagues, especially including our newly elected ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), we will be able to remedy the administration's shortsightedness through a Foreign Operations appropriations process. Indeed, given the extraordinary opportunity presented by these elections, I hope my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee in this and the other body will consider adjusting the pending emergency supplemental appropriations bill to include funding for the urgent needs of the Republic of Haiti.

In the meantime, I look forward to the April second-round elections and the overdue inauguration of Haiti's newly elected president.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), the distinguished ranking member of our Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), the distinguished lady and the chief sponsor of this legislation, my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I gladly yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), one of our most distinguished senior members of the Committee on International Relations, and certainly a champion of human rights and my dear friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege and certainly an honor for me to give the rest of my time to our distinguished ranking member of our Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), to summarize the various aspects of this important legislation. And certainly I want to again thank my good friend, the gentlewoman from Florida, as the manager of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, for their collegiality, I thank them very much.

I again thank the distinguished gentleman from American Samoa for his leadership, but as well the commitment that he brings to this Congress of internationalism and international cooperation. Likewise, my appreciation for my good friend Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for the leadership she brings to this committee and, as well, her compassion for issues dealing with human rights.

I want us to be reminded of the fact that Haitians fought alongside Americans in the course of our freedom. So I want to applaud Congresswoman Waters for knowing our history and, as well, appreciating the pivotal role that Haiti and Haitians play in the security of America and the friendship of America. I remind you again that when we were fighting for our freedom, Haitians were alongside of us fighting, shedding their blood, and allowing us to be free. So our American history and Haitian history are intertwined, and we have a legitimate reason for looking and ensuring the democracy, the justice, and the freedom of the people of Haiti.

Let me also acknowledge the fact that many times our interaction with Haiti has not been the best. I traveled to Haiti with the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Conyers, and we traveled before the elections occurred, met with the interim government, met with many of the different party leaders and others seeking to have a fair election.

It was not a very easy trip. There were accusations. There were suggestions that the government was trying to keep some of the candidates off of the ballot.

What I will say about Mr. Preval is that he stayed the course. Even in the midst of all that turmoil, he continued to campaign. Even with threats against his candidacy, he continued to campaign.

I think we should appreciate as well the comfortable relationship that he has with former President Aristide. He does not bring hostility to his leadership, but at the same time he brings his own leadership, his own mantle, if you will, of guidance of the people of Haiti.

So I too join my voice in congratulating the soon-to-be president on his inauguration and hoping that we will help him establish an excellent police force, one that provides safety for the Haitian people.

And I would ask, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, that we would join in the authorization and the encouragement of the Appropriations Committee to be able to provide that funding. I would ask that the Judiciary Committee, along with the appropriators appropriately associated with the authorizing committee, really focus in on assisting Preval, along with, of course, the Committee on International Relations, in this whole question of law enforcement and a secure, trained police force. As well, the education of the children is important, clean water.

And I too believe that there is optimism as 2.2 million people voted on February 7. But we need to encourage trade; as well, we need to make sure that the Haitians who are in the United States feel safe to return. And if they do not feel safe, Mr. Speaker, I hope that as we look at immigration reform, we will add Haitian parity to the bill, which means that those who are in fear of their life who are still here in this country would have the opportunity to attain their status. Many of them are detainees because their particular status does not equate to other provisions, if you will, such as those in Cuba.

Let me also say that I hope that the extra money that the ranking member spoke of, $50 million and more, will be added to the Haitian appropriations.

And then, of course, I hope that we will have a representative delegation with good intentions and good will that will visit and represent the United States as they attend the inauguration of Rene Preval.

Might I say that there is legislation going through the House that calls, offered by Congressman Kucinich, of which I am one of the cosponsors, to establish a Department of Peace.

It is interesting that I would say that in the course of debating or congratulating Haiti and its election, but maybe that is a valuable department to have, because maybe we can then promote peace.

Might I just say in closure, I thank the Speaker very much, and I thank the gentlewoman, the manager of the bill. I congratulate the Haitians and I support H. Con. Res. 363; I congratulate the author, Ms. Waters, and I look forward to better days for the Haitian people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for yielding, and I really welcome the enthusiasm and the optimism that have been expressed by the Congresswoman from California and the gentleman from Florida.

I am pleased to cosponsor this resolution. However, I have served as an observer in past elections in Haiti, elections that prompted great hope, but resulted in great disappointment. So I believe for a moment it is important to reflect, and I would quote the words of Luigi Einaudi, who was tasked by the OAS to mediate between the opponents

of the former president of Haiti, Mr. Aristide, and I am going to quote his words.

This is a gentleman who knows Haiti well and Washington well: ``Haiti is a tragedy, and it is a tragedy of partisanship and hate and hostility. These were divides among Haitians, and they are also divides among Americans because Haiti came to symbolize within the United States a point of friction between Democrats and Republicans that did not facilitate bipartisanship or stable policy or communication.''

In the end, he was unsuccessful. Aristide was overthrown in February of 2004, and Haiti continued to descend into violence and despair. But it wasn't Einaudi that failed. Haiti's political class bears much of the responsibility for this tragedy because of their self-serving and cynical refusal to place nation over people in exchange for self- aggrandizement.

But here we also have our share of responsibility. A recent New York Times story entitled ``Mixed U.S. Signals Helped Tilt Haiti Towards Chaos'' should be essential reading for all of us, and I will insert this article into the Record.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, American Ambassador Dean Curran, once referred to the ``chimeres of Washington.'' A chimere in Haiti is a thug hired to intimidate one's political opponents. And different Haitian political actors, both Aristide and his opposition, had their chimeres in Washington.

It has been my experience that there has been more advocacy than neutrality about Haiti on the part of the United States. Too often we join the zero-sum game of Haitian politics. We picked sides and supported them at the expense of Haiti and its long-suffering people.

For example, some here, working in coordination with Aristide's opponents, would place so-called ``holds'' on U.S. assistance in Haiti, blocking aid for the police, for the judicial system, for human rights observers, for election monitors; and Haiti's fragile institutions collapsed, starved from the outside and rotted from the inside.

I would note, and it is important to note this, that many of these holds were placed during the term of Rene Preval when he was the president in the past. Others who supported Aristide failed to recognize his shortcomings and deficiencies and failed to encourage him to put forth a positive vision for the Haitian people. The end result was that Haiti's fate was not only decided in Haiti, it was also decided here in Washington.

But now, with this most recent election, Haiti does have an opportunity to move past its past, and we have the same opportunity here in Washington. For Haiti to have a future, two things must happen: First, the Haitian political class must act like small ``d'' democrats and make a priority the needs of the Haitian people; and second, Americans must put our differences aside and commit to a bipartisan policy of noninterference in Haiti's internal politics.

I want to participate in that. I have had conversations with groups whom I have had profound differences about Haiti with in the past, such as the International Republican Institute. And maybe I am naive, but I sense an emerging consensus that we must come together on the part of all who have an interest in Haiti and encourage a new and constructive approach.

I am not saying that the U.S. should abandon Haiti, far from it. In fact, we should increase our aid. But I would recommend that we should provide assistance through multilateral organizations like the United Nations.

Yesterday we met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who agrees that the international community must provide a deep and sustained commitment to Haiti. In fact, I believe that Haiti should be the first test case for the United Nations' new peace-building commission, and the U.S. should give it its full support. And I have to admit that for the first time I do see a glimmer of hope for Haiti, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make that a real ambition.

Mr. Speaker and Members, I thank the gentleman from American Samoa, and I would like to thank the Chair of the International Relations Committee, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the ranking member of that committee, my colleague from California, Congressman Lantos, and the Chair and ranking member of the International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Congressman Burton and Congressman Engel.

I would also like to commend Congressman Foley, and before I talk a little bit about our visit, I would like to thank many Members of Congress: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who cochairs the task force on Haiti with Congressman John Conyers and the Congressional Black Caucus; Congressman Delahunt; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky; the many Members of Congress who have fought and stayed with the problem and did not give up.

Haiti, and the people of Haiti have suffered mightily. The struggle between the haves and the have-nots is legendary, the rich versus the poor, the elite versus the rejected, the mulattos versus the blacks.

Haiti needs a break. Haiti has experienced economic dislocation. It has experienced devastating hurricanes. But the people of Haiti have worked and they have believed in democracy. And so the people, on February 7, 2006, they went to the polls and they voted. More than 60 percent of the people of Haiti registered and they voted. They demonstrated their commitment to democracy.

Oh, they had all kind of obstacles. On that day there was a shortage of election workers and polling places, and there were long lines that caused voters to have to wait for hours before they could exercise their right to vote. But they voted. And they did what they had to do. They walked for miles and they voted. And in the end, President Preval emerged victorious.

The people of Haiti voted, including the Lavalas Party, the party that had elected President Aristide. They voted in large numbers. They are the predominant party in Haiti. And despite their lingering concerns about the way in which their democratically elected president, Mr. Aristide, had been removed from office, they did not boycott the elections. Despite the obstacles and the inconveniences of the election, they were determined to cast their vote and have their voices heard.

The people of Haiti elected Mr. Rene Garcia Preval. The people of Haiti simply want what all democracy should afford: fairness, justice and equality.

Haiti is a poor country. Haiti deserves our support. Haiti deserves the support of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Haiti deserves bilateral support.

The people of Haiti want investment and trade. The people of Haiti do not deserve to have their will undermined by the powerful elite who are well connected to the power brokers in the U.S., Canada and France. We can encourage investment in Haiti and support fair wages and decent housing and public education for all of the children.

Mr. Preval is a smart, capable leader who loves Haiti. We need to support him and help him to develop Haiti.

Mr. Foley and I just returned from a trip to Haiti where we met with President-Elect Preval. President Preval was a gracious but determined host. President Preval recognizes that he has a great responsibility, but he is not deterred.

President Preval is hopeful and optimistic. And since his election, people are out cleaning the streets. The uniforms are back on the children. They are going to school. Business and commerce was going on in the marketplace. I have great hopes for Haiti.

When we spoke with Mr. Preval, he talked about investment. He wants to create jobs. He talked about the fact that they must have electricity. We must encourage support from the World Bank and from the International Monetary Fund and from our own country to help them get the electricity.

The people must have clean water. They need a new water system there. They do not want to spend their money on an army. They want a well- trained police force and community policing. There is much to be done. There is reconciliation to be had. But we are hopeful.

We congratulate the president and we thank the Members of Congress for all the support that they have given.