Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act of 2010

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 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, as amended.

Madam 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 materials thereon.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.

Today, Madam Speaker, we consider an issue that is close to all of our hearts. Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake on January 12 of this year. The country, which was finally making strides to more stable economic and political growth after so many failed governments of the past, was rocked by a natural disaster of historic proportions. The images from the disaster are fresh in our minds. The immediate needs of the people are clear, and the desire of the global community and the average American citizens to help Haiti recover as fast as possible are clear and give us all hope.

Earlier today, I joined with President Obama and other members of this House at the White House in restating America's commitment to stand by our brothers and sisters in Haiti, and to lend them a hand up to get back on a path to economic growth and social healing. In speaking with President Preval today, I told him that Haiti debt relief was but the first of a broader set of initiatives that we will undertake to enable the people of Haiti to rebuild their country, their lives, their businesses, and their communities.

As Chair of the International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee, I am proud to have moved this bill successfully in a strongly bipartisan manner. I thank the woman whose name will appear on this bill who has worked very hard to make this bill happen, the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) who has been a long and strong supporter for Haiti.

Forgiving Haiti's debts to the World Bank, the IMF, the IDB, and IFAD is good policy and is the right thing to do. But forgiving these debts alone will not deliver the desperately needed tents to provide shelter from the impending rainy season. Debt relief alone will not rebuild roads, hospitals, churches, schools, and the physical infrastructure that Haiti needs to get back to work. Debt relief alone will not heal the physical and psychological wounds of the injured and traumatized or develop the human capital the country needs so desperately. As our agencies, from USAID to the Treasury Department, to the State Department, to our Armed Forces, to average citizens from around the country, lend support to Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, we must not lose sight of the longer-term needs of this country, its government, and its people.

Indeed, we are now moving to the second and third phase of a long and arduous process; namely, moving from the immediate rescue and survival concerns, though they are still critical, to reconstruction and ultimately long-term economic recovery. Doing this will require leadership of the Haitian people and government as they take ownership for the future they care to build. It will also require effective coordination of our aid and development efforts to limit waste, duplication and, ultimately, loss of goodwill.

As we do all of this and as implementation is planned, special attention

needs to be paid to the need to rebuild Haiti's human capital. Several of our government agencies are already at work doing this, and I will keep pressure on them, as I am sure others in this House will, as well as the development banks and international financial institutions, to ensure that they invest heavily in developing the people of Haiti and the institutions of Haiti, to enable them to effectively govern and set their own path to a brighter future with dignity and independence.

Lastly, I will keep the pressure on the international institutions to deliver the necessary resources to Haiti without adding to that nation's long-term debt burden. In over 200 years of independence, Haiti has always been saddled with unsustainable debts, whether extraordinarily high debt obligations owed to the French as a condition of independence in the early 1800s, as is often brought out by Congressman Green of Houston, or from international institutions unscrupulously saddling the people of Haiti with debts diverted by dictators in the second half of the 20th century, or over $1 billion in debts still owed today, despite the country having earned $1.2 billion in debt forgiveness from the international institutions last year.

The people of Haiti have worked far too long and far too hard to repay debts they had little say in accruing and which have yielded very little benefit to the average citizen. This cynical game of debt accrual and debt forgiveness must end, and as Chair of the International Monetary Policy Subcommittee, I will be doing my part to see that happens. The people of Haiti deserve better than that and deserve a chance to invest in their own futures.

March 8, 2010.

Hon. Barney Frank,

Chairman, Committee on Financial Services, Rayburn House

Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Frank: I am writing to you concerning H.R.

4573, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of

2010, introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters on February 2, 2010.

This bill contains provisions within the Rule X

jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the

interest of permitting your Committee to proceed

expeditiously to floor consideration of this important bill,

I am willing to waive this Committee's right to mark up this

bill. I do so with the understanding that by waiving

consideration of the bill, the Committee on Foreign Affairs

does not waive any future jurisdictional claim over the

subject matters contained in the bill which fall within its

Rule X jurisdiction.

Further, I request your support for the appointment of

Foreign Affairs Committee conferees during any House-Senate

conference convened on this legislation.

Please include a copy of this letter and your response in

the Congressional Record during consideration of the measure

on the House floor.

Sincerely,

Howard L. Berman,

Chairman.

I want to thank the ranking member of the full committee as well as the ranking member of the subcommittee for the cooperative spirit in working together in getting this bill to where it is today. Thank you for working in a very bipartisan manner to this point.

At this time, I would like to yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) who is the author of this bill and who has been a longtime supporter for the people of Haiti.

It is my honor to yield 1 minute to the distinguished Chair of the Financial Services Committee who has led us this far, the gentleman from Massachusetts, the Honorable Barney Frank.

Madam Speaker, it is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, a longtime fighter for Haiti, the Honorable Barbara Lee.

Madam Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?

It is my pleasure now to yield 1\1/2\ minutes of that to the gentlelady from the great State of Florida, the Honorable Corrine Brown.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to one who is called from the Caribbean, the gentlewoman from the great State of New York, the Honorable Yvette Clarke.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes the hardworking gentleman from the great State of Texas, the Honorable Al Green.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee.

(Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

It is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, a longtime fighter for Haiti, the gentleman from New Jersey, the Honorable Donald Payne.

I yield 2 minutes to the Chair of the subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere, the gentleman from New York, the Honorable Eliot Engel.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Let me just first thank the chairman of the committee, Barney Frank, Ranking Member Bachus, and again my ranking member on the International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee, Mr. Miller. We came together because of the hard work and dedication that the gentlelady from California put forward in writing this bill to make sure we did the right thing for the people of Haiti. This is one of those times where you are proud of being a Member of Congress, working together for the good of human beings.

Though oftentimes we say that Haiti is poor, when I think of Haiti, they are rich; rich in spirit, rich in human capital, rich in hope. These are a people suffering the most unimaginable tragedy, which still have the hope and desire of moving forward, who have overcome and survived all of the things that Mr. Bachus and others have said today, when you think about it, from the very beginning of their independence.

Indeed, the people of Haiti are a rich people, and we are doing the right thing today and sending the right message to the people of Haiti, that we will stand by you, not just for the short haul, but for the long haul.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to be a Member of Congress and proud of my colleagues who have worked so hard to get this bill done, and I am proud that we are doing the right thing by the great people of Haiti.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the ranking member for yielding, and I want to commend him for his work on this legislation. I also want to commend Chairman Waters and Chairman Meeks for their work, and other Members who I think have worked in a bipartisan way for an excellent legislation and a very worthy legislation. I rise in complete support for the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery Act.

If you picked a country and a capital in a country anywhere in the world which could least deal with a devastating earthquake, it would be Port-au-Prince, Haiti. You could not visualize a worse scenario.

The immediate legacy, other than which you have witnessed on the TV screens here in America, is that there will be virtually a generation of orphans who have lost their parents. That alone would be a challenge for any country. Think of New Orleans and what a challenge that has been for our country. For Haiti, it is a monumental undertaking. And, quite frankly, it is hard to visualize in our lifetime seeing Haiti recover.

The human tragedy following that earthquake is overwhelming. As Haiti's citizens seek to rebuild, I think it is very important for us to stand with them and alongside them. And I commend the administration for their efforts since the earthquake. Many of our agencies are there. Many of our charities are there. Many of our church groups are there. Many of our NGOs are there: the Jubilee Act, Melinda St. Louis, her organization; Tom Hart of the One Campaign. I think those two organizations have done a wonderful job of highlighting the need not only in Haiti, but in many of the impoverished countries.

The first measure we can take--other than the efforts that we have witnessed, many American volunteers and government efforts--to ensure that all of Haiti's remaining resources are devoted to reconstruction and not to development loans that it is unrealistic to expect can ever be repaid, this legislation is a part of that step.

Haiti's impoverished condition dates back to its origins under French colonial rule, to 1804, 205, 206 years ago, when Haiti's citizens won their independence in a revolution similar to our revolution from the French colonial regime. France imposed a blockade and imposed and extracted a promise of $21 billion in reparations, and that is $21 billion in today's currency. That is greater than the debt incurred at that time by the United States, a much bigger government. So Haiti, when they were born as a country, they were immediately impoverished, and their enslavement continued. I will say that.

The amazing thing, if you look at that debt that the French imposed and you read about it, part of the debt was repayment for compensation for property, which included the slave population. I mean, that's amazing. That's amazing. That is something that we can't go back and do anything about, but we can certainly do something today. But when the French lost their ability to enslave that population, they extracted, because of their navy, a blockade and that debt.

With the country's economic productivity being drained, since its inception, to pay this enormous debt, which has never been paid off, never paid off because there were other debts added, economic development stifled since 1804.

Sometimes we say, Why Haiti? Why is it so poor? Why has it always been so poor? It never stood a chance.

In more recent times, and one would think that things couldn't get worse than that, Duvalier, under his dictatorship, was responsible for more than 40 percent of the additional loans to Haiti. I mean, think about loaning to a dictator who is suppressing his people. We have seen that in Africa and other places, and it is an absurdity that we ought to address in Haiti and we ought to address in other places because, in that way, countries that did that contributed. The brutal regime further despoiled the country by diverting funds borrowed for development to their own personal enrichment to bank accounts out of the country.

With this history, it is no surprise that Haiti was deeply impoverished since the beginning, their foundation as a nation. And this bill by Ms. Waters and others takes a very fine first step toward the goal of eliminating Haiti's uncollectible debts so that the country can begin, for the first time, really, the process of becoming self- sustaining, and they are going to need a lot of help.

The text to be considered says the Treasury Secretary should direct U.S. representatives at international financial institutions to work with their

colleagues to try to achieve cancellation of debt owed by Haiti to those institutions. Since any cancellation would take months to accomplish, it seeks suspension of debt payment services until the cancellation takes place. None of these institutions realistically expects Haiti to service its debt at a time Haiti is lying in ruins.

As a former Treasury Under Secretary before our committee last week said, it is a ``cruel hoax'' on both the people of developing countries and on the taxpayers of donor nations to pretend that even without an earthquake, Haiti, a country whose citizens subsist on a dollar or two a day, is ever going to be able to pay back billions of dollars in development loans.

The United States has always been a benevolent and caring country. Even during our current economic challenges, we have not lost our compassion. In fact, our present travails have, in some respects, I believe, given us a greater appreciation for the desperation and suffering of those facing challenges and hardships in Haiti, although theirs are much greater than anything that we are undergoing.

The United States, and let me stress this, if you don't hear anything else, if you are thinking about voting against this bill, hear this: The United States has forgiven all of its bilateral debt to Haiti. What we are asking is we are asking others to do what we have done. What we are doing with this is directing the Secretary of the Treasury to use his voice and influence to seek debt cancellation from others. Among them are Venezuela and Taiwan. By far, Venezuela is the largest bilateral creditor. Taiwan is a distant second. Forgiving the debt Haiti owes to multilateral agencies is consistent with our principles, and we can lead by example while we lend a helping hand.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, this bill before us contains some minor changes to the bill that came out of the Committee on Financial Services, all of which I support. The changes don't add any cost. They don't change the intent of the bill.

Added at the end of original committee text is a section very similar to the bill that the Senate passed last week by unanimous consent. The section says the Secretaries of State and Treasury should support the creation and use of a multinational trust fund that could include and leverage any future U.S. aid to Haiti, and that aid ought to be in the form of grants, not loans, and that the Secretary of the Treasury should seek a speed-up in interbank transfers at the Inter-American Development Bank so they may be used in Haiti's recovery.

These are sensible steps, and I support the changes and I commend my colleagues who are also here in support of this very worthy legislation.

Madam Speaker, I would like unanimous consent for an additional minute on each side.

Madam Speaker, I now ask unanimous consent to yield our 1 minute to the majority.

This is a very historic occasion.

I would like to thank Congresswoman Waters for her continued and persistent leadership on debt relief for countries around the world.

I thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Meeks of New York, for his persistence and guidance on passing this bill so quickly with Mr. Bachus and Mr. Miller. Thank you for your commitment and for your interesting and very good idea about putting Americans to work.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support this legislation to acknowledge that we are talking about a country right now that has only 20 percent of the revenue that it needs to run its nation. They need seed. They need fertilizer. They are living some 80 percent below the poverty line, owing some $709 million in debts to multilateral financial institutions--$447 million to the Inter-American Development Bank--and also to countries such as Venezuela. This legislation will, in essence, help us clear the slate of all of those debts, and it will help us track what the United States has done.

I would like to take this time to thank all of the first responders, USAID and so many who stood tall when Haiti called. Today, in the White House, it was good to be able to acknowledge those first responders from around the world, from around the Nation, in addition to the United States military.

Helping them with this debt relief over all the land will allow the President to focus on building and on rebuilding--rebuilding Port-au- Prince, rebuilding the suburbs in the outlying areas--and to focus on creating jobs for the Haitian people and on bringing contractors there who will work with Haitians in a joint venture with agencies. So the relief of this debt, I believe, is an enormous step in making a difference in the lives of Haitians.

I want to thank you and ask support of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4573--the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010. As, a co-sponsor of this bill, I strongly believe that it is a necessary step to ensure a successful recovery in Haiti.

Haiti's long term development is currently hampered by its debt burden. January's earthquake struck Haiti during a time of economic vulnerability. Before the earthquake, Haiti was, by far, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Before the earthquake, Haiti also has among the world's lowest levels of gross domestic product per capita. An estimated 80 percent of the population lived under the poverty line with 54 percent living in abject poverty, according to the CIA World Factbook. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, more than two-thirds of the labor force is believed to not have formal jobs, and just 62.1 percent of adults over age 15 are literate. Additionally, 18 percent of Haitians did not live to the age of 40.

Yet, despite the destruction wreaked by multiple tropical storms in 2008, Haiti's economy and infrastructure-building seemed to be turning a corner in recent years, aided by international support and debt relief programs.

In fact, according to the New York Times, ``Haiti was one of only two Caribbean countries expected to grow in 2009. There were hopes of a tourism revival, reinforced by the announcement that a new Comfort Inn would open there this May. In a sign of its growing structural sophistication, Haiti even recently announced that it would begin collecting better national statistics, with the help of the International Monetary Fund, so that it could better assess and calibrate its economic policies.'' The earthquake on January derailed this progress.

As this legislation states, the Government of Haiti cannot afford to invest in reconstruction and development efforts while continuing to make payments on debts owed to multilateral financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Inter- American Development Bank and to other international creditors.

Prior to the earthquake, debt service payments to multilateral financial institutions and other international creditors already were a tremendous burden that interfered with the ability of the Government of Haiti to meet the needs of its people.

On June 30, 2009, the World Bank announced that Haiti qualified for and received $1.2 billion in debt relief from the IMF, the World Bank, and other multilateral financial institutions. In order to qualify for this debt relief, the Government of Haiti successfully developed and implemented a comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, under the direction of the IMF and the World Bank.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, despite previous debt relief, Haiti still owes a total of $709 million in debts to multilateral financial institutions, including $447 million to the Inter-American Development Bank, $165 million to the IMF, $39 million to the World Bank, and $58 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

According to the IMF, Haiti owed Venezuela $167 million and Taiwan $92 million at the end of September, 2008; furthermore, the amounts of these debts may have grown since that time. The cancellation of Haiti's debts to multilateral financial institutions and other international creditors will allow the Government of Haiti to use its meager resources for essential reconstruction and development efforts.

As important as this legislation is, it is only one part of a much larger American assistance response to the earthquake. America will continue to respond with humanitarian assistance to help the people of this struggling island nation rebuild their livelihoods. I send my condolences to the people and government of Haiti as they grieve once again in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As Haiti's neighbor, I believe it is the United States' responsibility to help Haiti recover, and build the capacity to mitigate against future disasters.

To date the United States Government has contributed over $402 million in earthquake response funding for Haiti. It has also deployed approximately 17,000 military personnel in support of the relief effort. Subsequently, as part of the new Government of Haiti-led effort, the U.N. World Food Program will provide commodities, non- governmental organizations will manage distributions, and U.S. military will provide security escorts.

America and her allies have already initiated a comprehensive, interagency response to the earthquake. The State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, USAID--all worked overnight to ensure critical resources were positioned to support the response and recovery effort, including efforts to find and assist American citizens in Haiti.

Once again I stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti and will do everything in my power to assist them with rebuilding their country and livelihoods. I am proud of our first responders and pledge that America's long term commitment to Haiti will live up to the standard that the first responders set.

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.

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.

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

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.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) such time as he may consume.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010.

Representatives Meeks and Waters wasted no time responding with this legislation. They have been the most stalwart proponents of the Haitian people, and the Haitian people are very fortunate to have them on their side. I want to applaud them for their efforts with this act.

As the Members of this body know, on January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered approximately 15 miles southwest of the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. What followed were 50 aftershocks with magnitudes over 4.0, all occurring within 24 hours.

As of now, the Haitian Government has estimated 230,000 deaths and 300,000 injured. Additionally, 700,000 people have been displaced in the Port-au-Prince area. Damage caused by the earthquake is estimated between $8 billion and $14 billion, with reports speculating that reconstruction costs could approximate $14 billion.

As the people of Haiti strive to put the pieces of their lives and the country back together, Congress clearly needs to help. This bill would have the Secretary of the Treasury instruct the U.S. representatives at the World Bank, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other multilateral institutions to use their influence at these institutions to reach an agreement on relieving Haitian debt to these entities and to suspend Haiti's debt service payments until those debts are canceled.

Additionally, U.S. representatives at these institutions would advocate that future aid provided to Haiti be grant-based to avoid placing the country immediately back in debt as they seek to rebuild. In the shadow of a tragedy this size, this is an important first step, but I think the body must consider how much more can be done.

So often American efforts to provide aid to impoverished nations come in the form of a check, which does provide a significant boost, but the goal here is to mitigate the impact of the disaster on the people. I hope this body can look at areas where American resources and know-how can be invested in Haitian society. In addition to feeding the people and providing shelter and medical care, we can leverage American resources so that we aren't simply sending a check.

Americans are the most generous people in the world. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the citizens of this country have raised tens of millions of dollars to help the Haitian people. We should also be looking to send our heavy machinery and engineering capabilities along with qualified American workers--many of whom have been out of work themselves--to assist the Haitian people rebuild their nation quicker and more effectively.

We will be holding a hearing next week in Financial Services to discuss many of these issues, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on ways that we can further leverage our Nation's great resources.

In conclusion, I want to thank Representatives Waters and Meeks for introducing this legislation. You have been strong advocates, and I really applaud you for the efforts. I thank you for allowing me to participate here tonight.

I strongly urge support of this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, am I correct that we have 7 minutes remaining?

Mr. Meeks, I would be happy to yield 4 minutes of our time to you because I see you have numerous speakers, and I think you could probably utilize that time in additional speaking.

I yield myself 1 minute at this point in time.

As I have spoken to my good friends, Mr. Green, Mr. Meeks and Ms. Waters, about introducing legislation to

help employ American workers in Haiti, we are going to be giving--and other groups are giving--tremendous amounts of money to Haitians and to the Haitian Government to basically rebuild. We all believe that it is important, with the amount of American workers, especially construction industries, that we have that are unemployed, to utilize many of our dollars to send the expertise and skills we have in contractors and workers and laborers from the United States to work with the labor and the Haitian people to rebuild their country.

I want to commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for working with me on this. We are close to having legislation done. Ms. Waters, I spoke to you today, and we will be getting that to all of you to review before I introduce it. Hopefully we can bring this up in committee within a couple of weeks to start implementing American manpower and resources to help the Haitian people, and also, at the same time, to benefit those Americans that are out of work.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I would be happy to yield 4 of our minutes to my good friend from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from Alabama.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

My daughter, Elizabeth, lived with me here in Washington for about 4 years. She was one of the directors for a group called Witness for Peace, which is a human rights organization.

I recall very well a trip she led of a group to Haiti. She spent a week in Haiti with individuals from the United States, looking at the situation that the people were in and trying to come up with ways that we could help the people of that country.

My daughter passed away about 2 years ago, and I am proud to be part of this bill because she believed in this. She believed in the people. She believed that there was a lot of good that the American people could do for people in this part of the world. So I am just glad to chair this side of the hearing tonight. I would like to do it in honor of my daughter, if you don't mind.

I yield back the balance of my time.