Student Loan Affordability Act of 2013

Mr. President, I rise to discuss the Increasing American Jobs through Greater Exports to Africa Act of 2013.

I am introducing this bill along with my partners from the last Congress. Senator Chris Coons from the State of Delaware is in the Chamber, the chair of the African Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senators John Boozman, Ben Cardin, and Mary Landrieu have joined us in this bipartisan effort. We expect Representatives Chris Smith and Karen Bass will soon introduce companion legislation in the House.

This is a very straightforward, commonsense piece of legislation.

It is about creating jobs, American jobs. Every $1 billion in exports from America supports over 5,000 jobs. This bill seeks to expand U.S. exports specifically to Africa by 200 percent in real dollar value over the next 10 years. The African market is ripe for greater American commercial engagement. In the past 10 years, people do not believe this, but they should take a look at the facts. In the past 10 years, six of the worlds fastest growing economies were located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the next decade, 7 of the top 10 will be in Sub-Saharan Africa. The mental image which most Americans have of Africa is completely out of date. Africa is growing, not only in population but in economic activity. The middle class of Africa is growing as well. Their appetite for goods and service puts an opportunity before us to export from America and to create good jobs in our country with exports to Africa.

In the last decade, the number of Africans with access to the Internet has doubled. From 1998 to today, the number of mobile phones on the continent has grown from 4 million to 500 million. Seventy-eight percent of Africa's rural population now has access to clean water. Over the last 10 years, real income per person in Africa has increased by more than 30 percent. Positive health outcomes are increasing. Enrollment in school is growing.

These are signs of a growing middle class and what the World Bank has called the brink of an economic takeoff in Africa. As my colleague and friend Senator Coons has noted, in a report he recently released on the topic, economic growth in Africa has risen dramatically in recent years. But the continent's vast economic potential has not yet been fully realized by the U.S. Government or the American people.

That report from Senator Coons could not have been more timely and accurate as far as I am concerned. I can tell you, American companies are eager to get into the African market. They should be. But they often face a private finance system that is stuck, thinking about Africa through the prism of the past: wars, famine, strongmen dictators.

I have met with these company leaders, large and small companies alike. They tell me the same thing: The U.S. does not have a coordinated strategy for Africa. Others do. China and others are gaining a foothold in Africa at the expense of our workers. Yesterday, the Ambassador from Algeria came to see me. It is a country that has a fascinating background, colonized like most of the countries in Africa. It went through a storied period of independence in the 1960s and has French roots. The Ambassador said: We pride ourselves, we believe we speak better French than the people living in France. That is their past.

I asked them about their future. I said: What is the presence of China in Algeria today? He said: It is a growing presence. When it comes to the infrastructure of Algeria, it is China that is playing a major role. It is China that is loaning the money to Algeria to build the roads and the bridges and the airports. But there is a catch. You want

to borrow the money from China? There will be Chinese architects, Chinese engineers, Chinese contractors, and half the workforce will be Chinese.

Pretty soon they will have become part of Algeria. The next time there is a decision, whether it is for a telecommunications system, whatever it might be, you can bet the Chinese, with a history of working with the Algerian Government, will be first in line.

They know what is happening there. Africa is developing its economy and they are part of it. They see Africa from two or three different perspectives. First, obviously, it is an opportunity to sell things. It is a market. Second, it can provide basic resources and energy needed by the Chinese. Third, as the middle class grows in each of these countries, the appetite for more and more economic activity will grow.

There was a time when America knew that too. There was a time when we visited the four corners of the world looking for those same opportunities. We are sitting back now and watching. As we watch, China is moving. As I have said many times, the U.S. system of export, promotion, and finance is so poorly coordinated that it is a shame we are losing so many opportunities.

We have dozens of government agencies that are supposed to be working on this problem. I called many of them in my office. It was the first time some of them had met one another. They are supposed to be working together. This bill we are introducing will fix it. It would require a coordinated government strategy to help increase U.S. exports to Africa.

Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of this strategy would be vested in a single position, one coordinator. No more agencies tripping over one another. No more competing priorities. Every day we delay, China and, I might add, India and others will fill the void if America does not step forward.

Since 2009, China has been Africa's largest trading partner. It has flooded the continent with billions of dollars building high-profile construction projects. Often the assistance comes in the form of concessional loans, loans that, frankly, suggest you can borrow $100 million, you only have to pay back $70 million. That practice distorts markets, puts our companies in America at a disadvantage.

Between 2008 and 2010, China provided more to the developing world than the World Bank, to the tune of $110 billion. Currently, China's exports to Africa outnumber America's three to one. The Chinese get it. Should America not get it? Through this engagement, the Chinese are becoming major players all over Africa. I defy you to find a country in Africa where the Chinese are not already a part of the economy and part of the economic conversation.

Recently, Senegal's President Macky Sall told President Obama exactly that in a meeting at the White House, arguing the West should pay as much attention to Africa as China does. I have heard the same thing firsthand, not just from the Algerian Ambassador but from the former President of Ethiopia. Across the continent, it is the same question: Where is the United States?

This bill answers the question. No longer would Africans wonder why American companies were not doing business there. The bill bolsters U.S. Government ability to support these companies, maintains a solid presence of U.S. commercial Foreign Service officers. It is going to help small and medium businesses in the United States compete in Africa. It will increase the focus of the Export-Import Bank, giving it greater incentive to aggressively counter those concessional loans. It will help the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation more quickly process applications so we can be competitive.

Last Congress we almost passed this bill. One would almost think that it is a no-brainer. But, unfortunately, we did not. One Senator objected. He had the courage to come to the floor and voice his objections. I appreciate that very much. But at the same time, on the other side of the aisle, Senators Johnson, Coburn, and Corker were working with me to pass the bill. So we have not given up on making this a successful bipartisan effort.

I think the United States cannot stand by the sidelines just to say we believe in a market economy, get the government out of the picture is to overlook the obvious. The Chinese Government is in the picture, and they are running circles around American companies because of it. In thinking about the issue, we must also not ignore the interests of the Africans themselves--something sometimes our competitors do not focus on.

Chinese engagement comes with a price. China gobbles up natural resources that are needed many times for that growing domestic economy. The infrastructure projects, as I mentioned, often come with Chinese professionals: architects and engineers and workers. When local labor is used, African workers often suffer poor labor standards, if the Chinese are in charge. Environmental standards are ignored. They should be a priority all over the world. We also have to factor in the cost of having to replace products and goods much sooner because, sadly, the Chinese workmanship as well as the quality of their goods does not match what the United States can bring.

I also wish to mention a growing problem that stems from China's presence in Africa; that is, the resurgence of elephant poaching and ivory trafficking. Several recent New York Times articles have highlighted tens of thousands of elephants have been slaughtered.

One may say: I thought we solved this a few years ago with a worldwide ivory ban. It turns out ivory is so popular in the Chinese culture in part of its burgeoning population, one item is sought as an ultimate status symbol in China: Ivory. Reports are that as much as 70 percent of the ivory harvested from slaughtered elephants is smuggled to China. In fact, there is growing evidence that ivory poaching actually increases in elephant-rich areas where the Chinese construction workers are building roads.

Even more troubling, the Chinese demand for ivory funds some of the most despicable actors in Africa. Much of the proceeds from the illegal ivory trade ended up in the hands of Joseph Kony and his murderous group the Lord's Resistance Army. I recently went to Uganda and met two of the victims of Joseph Kony. He is a madman. He has used his beatific visions to generate an Army of slaves, literally soldier slaves. I met one of them, a young man who was dragged out of his African village in Uganda.

Everybody was lined up at the village as Kony and his soldiers stood around with their automatic weapons. They said to this young man: You are going to join our army here or we are going to kill you. Before you join the army, though, there is one thing we have to ask you: Who would you spare among the members of your family here? We are going to kill the rest of them. Which one would you spare?

The young man said, after some hesitation: My father. They walked over and killed his father first. That is the kind of ruthless madman we are dealing with in Joseph Kony. Believe me, President Obama has recently put a target on his back. We are going after this man. We have driven him out of Uganda. We believe he is in the Central African Republic. I saw firsthand while visiting there what we are doing to make sure his reign of terror comes to an end very quickly.

It turns out Kony's reign of terror has been fed and financed by the Chinese demand for ivory. He is poaching ivory from the elephants, slaughtering them in the area and using this ivory to keep his men in arms and for their reign of terror to continue.

The Increasing American Jobs Through Greater Exports to Africa Act has something for everyone to support. It is good for the American economy, helps U.S. businesses create jobs, it is good for U.S. foreign policy, keeps America in a position of global leadership. It is good for the people of Africa by making superior American products and services the standard in their future.

I urge my colleagues to sign on to support this important effort. While we wait and do nothing, the Chinese are acting every single day and America is falling further and further behind.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, once again, on July 1, millions of college students will see the interest rate double on their student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent unless Congress takes action. Borrowers will pay an estimated $1,000 more in interest on their loans each year of repayment if Congress fails to act.

Student loan debt is second only to mortgage debt for American families. Now is not the time to add to student loan debt by allowing the interest rate on need-based student loans to double. I am pleased to introduce the Student Loan Affordability Act with my colleagues Senator Al Franken, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senator Sherrod Brown, and Senator Bernie Sanders to maintain the current 3.4 percent interest rate for the next 2 years, as we work towards a long-term solution in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Last Congress, we narrowly averted a doubling of the interest rate on need-based student loans. It took thousands of calls, letters, and rallies from students and parents across the country and our concerted effort to negotiate a bipartisan solution. However, we were only able to get a temporary, 1-year fix.

The budget passed by the House Republicans assumes a doubling of the interest rate. In stark contrast, the budget resolution we passed last month accommodates legislation to keep rates low.

We need to come together to develop long-term solutions to the growing burden of student loan debt, the rising cost of college, and the need to improve higher education outcomes so that students complete their degrees and get the full benefit of their investment in education. Everyone agrees that college costs are too high and climbing higher. Families will be priced out of a college education, even with grants and loans, if we do not take real action on curbing cost increases.

What we can do right now is reassure students and families that we will not allow the interest rate to double this July at a time when interest rates are at historic lows.

Student loan debt affects millions of Americans. Two-thirds of the class of 2011 graduated owing student loans, with an average debt of $26,000. Student loan debt has passed the $1 trillion mark--exceeding credit card debt. Moreover, the students and families we are trying to help with the Student Loan Affordability Act have demonstrated economic need. Indeed, approximately 60 percent of the dependent students who qualify for subsidized loans come from families with incomes of less than $60,000.

The question before us is will we make the student loan debt burden worse by allowing interest rates to double or will we take action to protect low and moderate income students.

We need to act fast. July 1 is only 81 days away. I urge all our colleagues to join us in supporting the Student Loan Affordability Act.

Mr. President, today, along with my colleague Senator Whitehouse, I am introducing the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act of 2013.

For nearly a decade, I have worked to give the fishermen of my state full participation in the management of the fish stocks that they rely on for their livelihoods.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act established eight regional fishery management councils to give fishermen and other stakeholders the leading role in developing the fishery management plans for federally-regulated species. As such, the councils have enormous significance on the lives and livelihoods of fishermen. To ensure equitable representation, the statute sets out the states from which appointees are to be drawn for each council.

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the State of Rhode Island was granted voting membership on the New England Fishery Management Council, NEFMC, as NEFMC-managed stocks represent a significant percentage of landings and revenue for the state. However, while Rhode Island's participation in the New England fishery remains important, its stake in the Mid- Atlantic fishery has become more critical. Yet, it does not have voting representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, MAFMC, which currently consists of representatives from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Rhode Island's stake in the Mid-Atlantic fishery is hardly incidental. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, data, Rhode Island accounted for approximately 20 percent of the commercial catch from this fishery in 2012, and its landings are greater than the combined total of landings for the States of New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. In fact, New Jersey is the only state currently represented on the MAFMC that lands more MAFMC-regulated species than Rhode Island.

While Rhode Island is represented on some policy-setting committees on the MAFMC, its position on those committees is not guaranteed nor does the state have a vote on matters as they come before the full council. Having that representation can be critically important to Rhode Island as decisions are made on critical stocks like squid, which comprised 40 percent of the state's annual landings in 2012 according to NOAA data, and is a major part of our commercial fishing sector.

This legislation offers Rhode Island that voice. Following current practice, the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act would create two seats on the MAFMC for Rhode Island: one seat appointed by the Secretary of Commerce based on recommendations from the Governor of Rhode Island, and a second seat filled by Rhode Island's principal State official with marine fishery management responsibility. To accommodate these new members, the MAFMC would increase in size from 21 voting members to 23.

There is precedent for this type of change. North Carolina was added to the MAFMC through an amendment to the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996. Like Rhode Island, a significant proportion of North Carolina's landed fish species were managed by the MAFMC, yet the state had no vote on the council.

With mounting economic, ecological, and regulatory challenges, it is more important than ever that Rhode Island's fishermen have a voice in the management of the fisheries on which they depend. I look forward to working with Senator Whitehouse and my other colleagues to restore a measure of equity to the fisheries management process by passing the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act.

I rise to thank Senator Durbin of Illinois for his leadership on these vital issues. You just heard in the comments he made the reach and scope of his vision. I am so impressed with the breadth and depth of his engagement first on behalf of American workers.

The Senator recognizes so clearly that 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside our country, and we have to have a coordinated, capable, competent export strategy in order to continue to access the most promising, most rapidly growing markets in Africa. The 54 countries of the continent of Africa provide enormous opportunity as their growing middle class, increasing access to their human and mineral and natural resources create opportunities for us to grow jobs in the United States.

Nearly 10 million new jobs are supported in the United States by exports to the rest the world. But as Senator Durbin has wisely seen and pointed out, our competitors are beating us in the race to access these great opportunities. The Chinese, the Brazilians, the Russians, the Indians, in every country on the continent they are present, they are investing, and they are growing.

Senator Durbin rightly recognized that China has eclipsed the United States as the leading trading partner for Africa. There are real consequences for Africans and for African countries because, sadly, often Chinese investments bring with them Chinese contractors, workers, and a different approach to values: priority in terms of development, a lack of focus on transparency, on human rights, on the environment. As Senator Durbin detailed in his comments, the consequences can even be so far-reaching as conservation and the impact on wildlife and the ultimate consequences of supporting the worst actors on the continent, folks such as Joseph Kony.

But let me turn, if I might briefly, to the bill which I am proud to cosponsor with Senator Durbin, which focuses on trying to ensure that more than 10 U.S. Government agencies responsible for export promotion have a coordinated strategy. One of the principal points of Senator Durbin's bill, which I am proud to cosponsor, challenges the executive branch to sustain and increase our investment in the Foreign Commercial Service, to sustain and increase our resources through entities such as OPIC and Ex-Im and ask the executive branch to create a coordinator to ensure that all of this is done responsibly and in a cost-effective way.

Other things I mentioned in the trade report, which Senator Durbin was kind enough to quote and to reference, are that in the United States we have an enormous African community which can be strategically vital as American businesses seek to access these growing opportunities across the continent of Africa.

We also look to bolster support for agencies that finance U.S. commercial engagement overseas. Our competitors--in particular, the Chinese--have a very different approach to financing exports. The United States needs to better coordinate and align to act as one Nation.

The goal that is set in this legislation--a 200-percent increase--is an ambitious goal. The goal is to increase U.S. exports to Africa in the next 10 years. If we were to accomplish this goal in a cost- effective way--through more responsibly coordinating the investments we are already making in these Federal agencies to better coordinate the private sector efforts of the United States--think of how many jobs we might create, how many countries we might better connect to the United States. Think of how many towns and workplaces across this country would benefit.

I thank Senator Durbin today for his leadership, the clarity of his vision, and the breadth of his engagement and investment of time. Someone in his position has so many other issues on which he could be investing his time. Over his entire service here in the Senate of the United States, he has been passionate about clean water for the continent of Africa and passionate about high-quality jobs for the workers of the United States. In this bill he finds a way to make good on both of those passions, improving the lives of Africans across a growing continent and improving the lives of workers across our Nation.

I thank the Senator for his leadership, and I am proud to join him today in cosponsoring this reintroduced bipartisan, soon-to-be bicameral, commonsense bill. Let's hope all of our colleagues will help to take it up and pass it in this Congress.

Mr. President, I would like to thank the Senator from Illinois not only for the chance to help with this effort, but more importantly for his steadfast work to strengthen our bond with the countries of Africa.

We were on the floor last year talking about the importance of this bill--the importance of creating a comprehensive trade strategy with Africa. I know the Senator from Illinois made a valiant effort to get our bill through at the end of the last Congress, but he ran into some resistance. It is my hope that as we re-introduce this bill, we can assuage any outstanding concerns and get this bill passed early in this session.

As the Senator from Illinois stated, Africa is home to many of the few emerging bright spots in a tough global economy. In fact, an article from The Economist this week called it the ``hottest frontier.'' They are right. Within the next decade, Africa will be home to 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world--Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Rwanda, Mozambique and Angola. The Economist article pointed out that by 2020, more than half of African households will have enough income to spend some on non-essentials and that within three decades, the continent will have a larger working age population than China.

When I served in the House, I was on the Africa Subcommittee and traveled often to the continent. I still make trips there to visit with their leaders and the top issue on every meeting agenda continues to be trade. Many African leaders are very concerned about China's increasing footprint in Africa and want the U.S. to be more engaged and involved in their economies.

So, the eagerness and willingness to be good trade partners on the part of African nations is there. They want our goods and services because Africans know they are high quality. The desire for American products, along with our ideals, is strong. The only thing missing is a cohesive strategy on our end. That is what we are aiming to create with this legislation.

This bill will develop a comprehensive strategy to create American jobs by increasing exports of U.S. goods and services to Africa by at least 200 percent in real dollar value over the next 10 years. It increases our ability to help U.S. companies expand into African markets without adding to our debt. So it is a win-win for our economy. It will create jobs here at home

and bring in additional income instead of increasing our debt.

When we talk about job creation, free and fair trade is a vital component to a successful plan. Sixty percent of American exports came from small and medium size businesses. That is huge. Small business is the backbone of our economy. The bottom line is that trade equals jobs.

As I already mentioned, China is bullish on Africa. We need to be too. China is outpacing us in exports to Africa by an alarming 3 to 1 pace. By 2009, China had surpassed us as the African continent's largest trading partner. This bill lets us establish a plan that will allow us to compete with nations like China that are already extremely active in the African market. And that will help our small companies create jobs.

My home State, Arkansas, stands to benefit greatly through the creation of a comprehensive trade plan with Africa. Free and fair trade is an important component to our State's economy. Arkansas exported $5.6 billion in merchandise overseas in 2011, up 7 percent from the previous year. In 2008, over 1,500 companies exported goods from Arkansas. Over \1/3\ of exports were from small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. An effective trade strategy with African nations will help us build on that significantly.

So again, increased trade equals increased jobs at home. America needs jobs. That is what this bill is about. That is why we need to move it quickly in this session.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2013 with my colleagues and friends, Senator Charles Grassley, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Tom Udall and Senator Ron Wyden.

This bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in the last Congress, will support the Obama administration's Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime by providing the Department of Justice with crucial tools to help combat the international drug trade. As drug traffickers find new and innovative ways to avoid prosecution, we must keep up with them rather than allowing them to exploit loopholes as our laws lag behind.

This legislation has three main components. First, it puts in place penalties for extraterritorial drug trafficking activity when individuals have reasonable cause to believe that illegal drugs will be trafficked into the United States. Current law says that drug traffickers must know that illegal drugs will be trafficked into the United States and this legislation would lower the knowledge threshold to reasonable cause to believe.

The Department of Justice has informed my office that with increasing frequency, it sees drug traffickers from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru who produce cocaine in their countries but leave transit of cocaine to the United States in the hands of Mexican drug trafficking organizations such as the Zetas. Under current law, our ability to prosecute source- nation traffickers from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru is limited since there is often no direct evidence of their knowledge that illegal drugs were intended for the United States. But make no mistake, drugs produced in these countries fuel violent crime throughout the Western Hemisphere as well as addiction and death in the United States.

Second, this bill puts in place penalties for precursor chemical producers from other countries, such as those producing pseudoephedrine used for methamphetamine, who illegally ship precursor chemicals into the United States knowing that these chemicals will be used to make illegal drugs.

Third, this bill will make a technical fix to the Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act which was signed into law last year and increases penalties for the trafficking of counterfeit drugs. The fix, requested by the Department of Justice, puts in place a ``knowing'' requirement which was unintentionally left out of the original bill. The original bill makes the mere sale of a drug that happens to be counterfeit a federal felony offense regardless of whether the seller knew the drug was counterfeit. Under the original bill, a pharmacist could be held criminally liable if he or she unwittingly sold counterfeit drugs to a customer. Adding a ``knowing'' requirement corrects this problem.

As Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control and as a public servant who has focused on law enforcement issues for many years, I know that we cannot sit idly by as drug traffickers find new ways to circumvent our laws. We must provide the Department of Justice with all of the tools it needs to prosecute drug kingpins both here at home and abroad.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.