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94–133—PDF 2015

S. HRG. 113–622 

THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY 

ACT AT 14: THE ROAD AHEAD 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 30, 2014 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Finance 

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

RON WYDEN, Oregon, Chairman 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado 

ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania 

MARK R. WARNER, Virginia 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania 

JOSHUA SHEINKMAN, Staff Director 

CHRIS CAMPBELL, Republican Staff Director 

(II) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Wyden, Hon. Ron, a U.S. Senator from Oregon, chairman, Committee on 

Finance .................................................................................................................. 1 

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from Utah ................................................. 3 

ADMINISTRATION WITNESS 

Froman, Hon. Michael, United States Trade Representative, Executive Office 

of the President, Washington, DC ...................................................................... 5 

ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL 

Froman, Hon. Michael: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 

Responses to questions from committee members ......................................... 26 

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G.: 

Opening statement ........................................................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 

Wyden, Hon. Ron: 

Opening statement ........................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 

COMMUNICATIONS

African Coalition for Trade ..................................................................................... 41 

African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation ................................................ 47 

American Sugar Alliance ........................................................................................ 57 

CBI Sugar Group ..................................................................................................... 67 

The Esquel Group .................................................................................................... 73 

Embassy of Malawi, et al. ....................................................................................... 80 

Embassy of the Republic of Mauritius ................................................................... 83 

National Pork Producers Council ........................................................................... 91 

PVH Corp. ................................................................................................................ 95 

(III) 

(1) 

THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY 

ACT AT 14: THE ROAD AHEAD 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, Washington, DC. 

The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 2:12 p.m., in 

room SD–215, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Ron Wyden 

(chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Present: Senators Stabenow, Cantwell, Cardin, Hatch, Crapo, 

Thune, and Isakson. 

Also present: Democratic Staff: David Eggleston, Legislative Fellow; Jason Park, International Trade Counsel; and Jayme White, 

Chief Advisor for International Competitiveness and Innovation. 

Republican Staff: Richard Chovanec, Detailee; Everett Eissenstat, 

Chief International Trade Counsel; Rebecca Eubank, International 

Trade Analyst; Kevin Rosenbaum, Detailee; and Shane Warren, 

International Trade Counsel. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RON WYDEN, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM OREGON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. 

I would like to start this afternoon by thanking Ambassador 

Froman for joining us here today to discuss the African Growth 

and Opportunity Act. 

The President and the administration, in my view, have done a 

significant amount of good work with respect to America’s economic 

relationship with sub-Saharan Africa, and the Finance Committee 

is looking forward to continuing to work with you, Ambassador 

Froman, as we pursue these issues in the days ahead. 

More than 14 years ago, the Congress passed the African Growth 

and Opportunity Act, which, of course, is known as AGOA. For the 

first time, the United States established a trade policy that was 

specific to sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA was designed by a bipartisan 

group of lawmakers with the goal of fostering opportunities for African entrepreneurship and strengthening its job-creating trade 

ties with our country. Today the law allows almost all products 

from eligible African countries to be imported duty-free. 

AGOA, in my view, has been a success, and it ought to be renewed and strengthened in the same way that it was established, 

colleagues, and that is through bipartisan work and cooperation. 

Our hearing is especially timely, because African leaders arrive 

in the Nation’s capital next week as part of the AGOA forum. So 

now is a good time to begin to assess how AGOA and other prefVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:54 Apr 27, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\94133.000 TIMD
2 

erence programs like the Generalized System of Preferences fit into 

the larger trade puzzle. 

Much, of course, in sub-Saharan Africa has changed in the 14 

years in which AGOA has been implemented. In the wake of the 

great recession, Africa is a bright spot in the global economy. Over 

the past decade, economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa has bested 

the world’s average growth rate by 2 percent. In that time span, 

six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies were in Africa. 

There is also clear evidence that AGOA has been a success. In 

2000, trade between the United States and Africa stood at less 

than $30 billion. It more than tripled over the following decade as 

exports diversified and grew, supporting job growth in both our 

country and in Africa. Some of the growth in trade was the increase in West African oil production and exports which would 

have occurred with or without AGOA. But even if you choose to 

take oil out of the equation, AGOA is responsible for significant 

growth and diversification among African exports. 

While AGOA is going to remain a program that is primarily intended to help Africa chart its own economic course, AGOA benefits 

our country as well. As sub-Saharan African economies have 

grown, in part because of this program, the region’s buying power 

has gotten stronger. That is good for American exporters. 

There are more than 100,000 red, white, and blue American jobs 

tied to AGOA. American exports to sub-Saharan Africa grew about 

250 percent since the program’s inception, particularly benefitting 

aerospace, auto, and agricultural jobs here at home. 

The expiration of AGOA in September 2015 gives this Congress, 

the administration, and other stakeholders a chance to see where 

the program stands, to look at what works, and to develop plans 

to help AGOA adapt to Africa’s fast-changing economic landscape. 

The evaluation process has to start early. That is why the Finance Committee is choosing to hold this hearing more than a year 

before AGOA’s expiration date. African apparel manufacturers who 

benefit from the program often receive orders up to 9 months in advance, but they are not going to get these orders if there is uncertainty about when AGOA expires. Failing to renew and perhaps reshape AGOA in a timely manner could reverse important economic 

gains made over the last decade and a half, and no member of this 

committee, Democrat or Republican, wants that to happen. 

The Congress needs to explore ways to improve AGOA to further 

drive growth in a broader range of African exports. One method to 

consider is expanding the array of products that AGOA covers. Another option is making it easier for producers to draw from a bigger 

variety of sources in the manufacturing process. 

Our goal should be for AGOA to help increase the value of Africa’s exports and promote growth and diversity in even more African countries. That way they can better compete with the economic 

hotbeds in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. 

It is also important to recognize that, even with enhancements, 

AGOA is not a silver bullet for development. It has to be part of 

an overall strategy to increase trade ties, boost investment, and 

particularly cut burdensome red tape. The administration has recognized this as a priority as well, launching programs such as 

Power Africa and Trade Africa. 

3 

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Millennium 

Challenge Corporation, and the Export-Import Bank, in my view, 

all play significant roles in a comprehensive American approach to 

African development. The committee will do its part by looking for 

ways to enhance AGOA’s impact in the months ahead. 

The fact remains that it is Africa and Africa alone that holds the 

power to continue to increase its people’s living standards. The best 

way to accomplish that is to improve governance on the continent. 

Improving governance, strengthening the rule of law, cutting needless and burdensome regulation—all of these will help Africa attract investment. 

I want to conclude by simply saying that any AGOA 2.0 ought 

to be crafted in a way that complements efforts by African governments to improve the lives of their people. Fortunately, there are 

promising ideas to be heard. This committee is looking for ways to 

put them into practice. Senator Hatch and I have already had discussions about how we can work together in a bipartisan way. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Wyden appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hatch, we look forward to your statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ORRIN G. HATCH, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM UTAH 

Senator HATCH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Welcome, Ambassador Froman. We appreciate you and the hard 

work you are doing. This is an important hearing, and I appreciate 

you coming and agreeing to participate. 

Before addressing today’s topic, I really want to discuss our efforts to renew Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA. I have been 

raising this with you and the administration now for years, and, 

frankly, I cannot quite understand why the administration does not 

get behind you and get this done. 

I joined with my colleagues in the House and the Senate on a 

bipartisan basis to come up with the Trade Priorities Act. That bill 

renews and modernizes TPA. It is a bipartisan bill. It is something 

that makes a lot of sense. But shortly after introduction, the Finance Committee held a hearing on the bill, and, at that time, they 

wrote to you, Ambassador Froman, and formally requested that 

you appear at the hearing. 

Despite the President’s call for TPA renewal, no one from the administration attended. At the time, I noted how important it was 

for the administration to publicly and forcefully advocate for congressional renewal of TPA, and, over the next several months, I 

urged you and others in the administration to be more active in advocating for TPA—for TPA renewal, that is—making it clear that 

the legislative window was rapidly closing. Despite my various 

calls for action and the calls of other Senators on this committee, 

the administration’s efforts have been anemic in this regard. As a 

result, we are, 6 months later, no closer to considering TPA legislation than we were in January. 

Now, I do not have to tell you, Mr. Ambassador, that without 

TPA, the administration lacks congressional authority to negotiate 

and conclude trade agreements, and, if the administration chooses 

4 

to negotiate and conclude a trade agreement, such as the TransPacific Partnership, even in principal, without having TPA, they 

are going to be doing it without Congress’s authorization, and I 

would like to see Congress involved. 

And if this happens, I doubt Congress would grant such an 

agreement the fast-track procedural benefits associated with TPA. 

At that point, Congress may simply consider the agreement on its 

merits under its regular rules and procedures, and that might not 

be very good, at least considering some of the past things that have 

happened. 

I think the President’s trade agenda is at risk if we do not do 

this. Now, I am disappointed in the efforts I have seen thus far, 

and I hope they will improve in the future. I support AGOA. 

Mr. Chairman, I ask that my full remarks be placed in the 

record. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, so ordered. 

Senator HATCH. But I am for AGOA. It is something that we 

ought to do, something we must do. We do that because it is a 

great thing for African countries that are involved, and it is the 

right thing for us as well. So I am going to support that as strongly 

as I can and support you in your efforts to get that done. But I 

really want to bring home once again how important TPA really is, 

and we should not keep putting it off. 

I presume the President, if he wants to do it at all, will probably 

try to do it in the lame duck session. It is called lame duck for a 

variety of reasons, one of which is, hardly anything ever gets done 

there. That has not always been the case. There have been some 

things done there. 

But I am really concerned about it, because I think that it puts 

you and your work way behind, as far as I am concerned, at least 

as far as getting congressional approval, which is essential in these 

matters. 

But in any event, Mr. Chairman, I intend to support you and 

Ambassador Froman on AGOA and get that done as soon as we 

can. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Hatch. I just want you to 

know of my very strong interest in working closely with you on 

trade policy. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Hatch appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. What we are doing now is talking to all of those 

who have had a great interest in trade policy, and this is business 

and labor and environmental people and people who are concerned 

about health causes and digital goods. The list—Senator Isakson, 

because he has been very involved in this area—goes on and on. 

The whole point of these discussions, apropos of Senator Hatch’s 

important concern here, is the better the TPA, the better future 

trade agreements are going to be, and that is enormously important to my State, where about one out of six jobs depends on international commerce. And the trade jobs pay better than do the nontrade jobs. 

I just want Senator Hatch and all our colleagues on both sides 

of the aisle to know that we are going to pursue very vigorously 

these discussions with all of those who have had an interest in 

5 

trade policy so we can get the best, best possible TPA, because we 

know that is going to pay big dividends as we go forward with a 

whole host of these trade issues. 

So thank you, Senator Hatch. 

The sole witness at our hearing today will be the United States 

Trade Representative, Michael Froman. It is his second appearance 

in front of the committee in recent months. We thank you for that. 

Ambassador Froman, it is our usual practice, as you know, to 

make your prepared statement a part of the record, and we would 

like to ask you to use 5 minutes or so to summarize your concerns, 

because I know colleagues have a number of questions. 

So, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL FROMAN, UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE 

PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ambassador FROMAN. Thank you very much, Chairman Wyden, 

Ranking Member Hatch, members of the committee, and thank you 

for inviting me here today to testify about AGOA. 

AGOA, as you have noted, has been the cornerstone of America’s 

economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa for the past 14 

years, and it has had some very important successes. U.S. imports 

from AGOA countries have grown from $8.2 billion in 2001 to $26.8 

billion in 2013, a threefold increase. 

Non-oil AGOA trade has increased almost fourfold during the 

same period, from $1.4 billion to almost $5 billion. U.S. direct foreign investment stock in sub-Saharan Africa has also increased 

from approximately $9 billion to $35 billion. And, according to the 

African Coalition on Trade, AGOA-related investment has resulted 

in the creation of some 300,000 jobs in sub-Saharan Africa and almost 120,000 jobs here in the United States. 

But there clearly is more work to be done. Utilization of AGOA 

is low and uneven. The bulk of U.S. imports under AGOA come 

from a handful of countries, and, although we are beginning to see 

diversification, exports under the program are still concentrated in 

a relatively few sectors. 

Finally, while the growth in exports has been impressive over the 

life of AGOA, in absolute terms, the level of exports is quite low. 

We can and must do better. And, to that end, last August I 

launched a comprehensive review of AGOA to examine both its successes over the last 14 years, as well as areas where it might be 

improved. And, as we undertook this exercise, we were mindful too 

that the Africa of 2000 is not the Africa of 2014. 

Six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa, and African countries are increasingly moving away from unilateral preference programs and entering into reciprocal trading relationships, including with the European Union. As we think about 

AGOA’s future, we need to consider how the U.S.-Africa trade relationship should evolve over time as well. 

We draw three main conclusions from our review. First, while 

tariff preferences are important, they are not sufficient. African 

countries face constraints to trade that include inadequate and 

high-cost infrastructure, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors; burdensome customs procedures and other border 

6 

barriers impacting Africa’s regional and global trade; difficulties 

complying with agriculture safety and marketing standards, including sanitary and phytosanitary standards; limited skilled labor; 

and low productivity and competitiveness in non-oil value-added 

products. And, despite growing business interest in Africa, AGOA 

countries also continue to face difficulties finding partners in the 

United States. 

For AGOA to reach its full potential, it must be situated at the 

core of a comprehensive trade and investment strategy, an AGOA 

compact that targets the full range of supply-side constraints to 

trade in Africa, that creates new markets for African products, harnesses growing private-sector interest in trade and investment, and 

promotes regional integration and value-added production. 

Now, this also includes moving forward with implementation of 

the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement concluded in Bali last year, 

which, by OECD estimates, could lower costs for developing countries in trade by up to 15 percent if fully implemented. 

Second, there are some areas in which the AGOA program itself 

can be updated and improved. This, of course, is the province of 

Congress, but the findings of our review may be helpful as you consider these issues. 

For example, the length of extension. Our research suggests that 

it is important to extend the program for a sufficient period of time 

to encourage investment in critical industries in Africa. 

Product coverage. As you said, Mr. Chairman, most AGOA beneficiaries enjoy duty-free treatment for virtually all of their products: 97.5 percent of the tariff lines are covered. However, there are 

still 316 tariff lines that continue to lie outside the program, and 

we believe that Congress should consider whether any new products can now be added to the program, keeping in mind domestic 

sensitivities. 

Rules of origin. AGOA has some of the most flexible rules of origin of any preference program. There are, however, areas of the 

program where flexibility has been constrained. For example, there 

are limits on accumulation of labor costs across AGOA countries 

and a cap on the use of U.S. inputs in meeting the requisite regional value content rules. Elimination of these limits could also 

encourage greater integration into regional and U.S.-Africa value 

chains. 

Eligibility criteria. AGOA’s eligibility criteria have played an important role in raising standards and improving the rule of law 

throughout the continent. However, they have not been updated 

since AGOA was first established. Updating these criteria, for example, to include provisions relating to eliminating unwarranted 

SPS barriers and employment discrimination, could be an important way to modernize the program. 

Eligibility review processes. AGOA’s mechanism for ensuring 

that countries meet eligibility criteria currently is all or nothing. 

An approach that allows for partial and more immediate withdrawal may allow the administration to take a more tailored and 

nimble approach to drive positive changes in beneficiary countries. 

We look forward to working with you to explore these and other 

issues in the process of moving forward with renewal. 

7 

Third and finally, while the administration remains firmly committed to securing AGOA renewal, we need to begin working with 

our African partners to develop a vision of a trade relationship that 

goes beyond one-way preferences in the mid- to long-term. As I 

said, today’s world is different from the one when AGOA was first 

enacted, both in Africa and in its relations with major trading partners. 

Against this backdrop, we need to consider the way ahead and 

how different tools, from unilateral preference programs to reciprocal trade agreements, might evolve to be used with different partners to help us achieve our goals of broad-based economic growth 

and prosperity. 

With that, let me thank you again for the invitation to testify, 

and I am happy to take your questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Ambassador Froman. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador Froman appears in the 

appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Let us talk about China’s growing influence in 

Africa, first of all. While AGOA has resulted in an increase of U.S.- 

Africa trade since 2000, it appears that China’s engagement with 

this fast-growing region has far surpassed our country. From 2000 

to 2011, there was a 14-fold increase in Africa’s trade with China 

compared to just a threefold increase during the same period for 

the United States and China. 

What are the consequences, in your view, to sub-Saharan Africa 

and the U.S. interests if China is significantly enhancing its economic footprint in Africa and we are lagging behind? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, we firmly believe that Africa ought 

to have good trade and investment relationships with everybody, 

whether it is China or India or Turkey or any number of other 

countries, the European Union, who are active in the continent, 

and it is up to the Africans to determine what kind of relationships 

they want to have and how to define those relationships to ensure 

that they work in their interests. 

Our experience has been that the more that other countries like 

China are active in Africa, the more Africans want the U.S. involved as well, because they know that we are not interested in 

just taking resources out of the continent. We are also interested 

in investing in human resources in the continent. 

The CHAIRMAN. If you might, give a couple of specifics. What are 

the administration’s key proposals to enhance the value of AGOA 

and strengthen trade and economic ties between our country and 

sub-Saharan Africa? 

What would be the top two priorities, say? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, with regard to AGOA, as I mentioned, I think we need to look at both changes to the program 

itself with regard to eligibility criteria, product coverage, duration, 

and rules of origin, but then I think, very importantly, we need to 

situate it in the context of other policies that help address the 

supply-side constraints. 

For example, with regard to infrastructure, we are very active in 

helping to promote Power Africa to enhance electricity, access to affordable and reliable electricity, which is a key factor in the comVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:54 Apr 27, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\94133.000 TIMD
8 

petitiveness of African firms being able to engage in the global 

economy. 

The CHAIRMAN. Let me see if I can get a couple of others in. 

One, with respect to how to improve reciprocity with developing 

countries, you talk about the need to move toward more reciprocal 

arrangements with emerging market countries rather than remaining satisfied just handing out these tariff preferences, and I strongly agree with that. And certainly there are legitimate questions 

about whether South Africa is ready to graduate from the program 

given the size of its economy. 

Is it time for Congress and the administration to consider whether countries like India, Thailand, Brazil, and Turkey are also ready 

to graduate from the Generalized System of Preferences program? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, I think the application of the GSP 

program is something that we need to think through and work on 

with Congress, stakeholders, and our trading partners. 

I note that both the European Union and Canada have recently 

reformed their GSP programs and have graduated a number of 

emerging economies. We have not done so. But I think we need to 

look at how do we move toward a better set of relationships with 

some of our key partners. 

We had some experience in trying to negotiate reciprocal arrangements in Africa with the South African Customs Union in 

early 2000. And one of the lessons we learned out of that experience is that, if the countries really are not ready for our kind of 

FTA, then it is not going to be a productive exercise. 

So I think we need to think through this. We need to work with 

you and our trading partners and our stakeholders to determine 

how best to move forward, taking into account different countries 

at different levels of development. In the meantime, we need to 

work with our trading partners to address bilateral trade issues so 

that we are not put at a competitive disadvantage vis-a`-vis our 

competitors who may already have those relationships. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ambassador Froman, let me close this round by 

asking you a question about human rights. It is my view that Senator Cardin, a very valued member of this committee, has done a 

great service by constantly coming back to this matter of human 

rights and trade. I would be interested in your thoughts about how 

the administration can use AGOA eligibility criteria to better battle 

human rights infringements. 

As you know, Uganda recently took a step that was not only in 

the wrong direction, but I think a global affront. It passed anti-gay 

legislation that I think contradicts globally understood human 

rights. 

How is the administration leveraging the eligibility criteria found 

in AGOA to address policies like the one I have mentioned in 

Uganda and elsewhere that are inconsistent with human rights 

and AGOA’s criteria? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, first of all, the administration has 

spoken out and will continue to speak out around the world about 

the importance of implementing internationally recognized human 

rights, including with regard to LGBT individuals. We take this 

very seriously. We have taken a number of steps vis-a`-vis Uganda, 

9 

in particular, as you mentioned, in terms of pulling back in certain 

areas of cooperation. 

I wrote to my counterpart in February about this issue, and we 

are engaged with Uganda, along with the other agencies of the U.S. 

Government, on this issue to try to make progress. And we have 

made it clear that, in regards to respect for human rights, the criteria is that countries should not engage in gross violations of 

internationally recognized human rights, and we intend to take 

that seriously as part of our annual AGOA review process. 

The CHAIRMAN. My time has expired. 

Senator Hatch? 

Senator HATCH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ambassador Froman, as you know, I introduced the renewal of 

Trade Promotion Authority, which specifically authorized ongoing 

trade negotiations. But TPA authority is not limited to those negotiations; it also opens up opportunities to negotiate new trade 

agreements with any nation willing and able to meet Congress’s 

standards, including sub-Saharan Africa. 

Now, if you ever receive TPA, would you consider initiating trade 

negotiations with nations in sub-Saharan Africa, and, if so, which 

nations do you think you would consider? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, as I said, I think we need to very 

much look at this issue and figure out whether it makes sense to 

try to move toward more reciprocal trading arrangements with various countries. We had this experience in the 2000s which proved 

to be unproductive trying to do an FTA with the Southern African 

Customs Union. 

At the same time, much has changed since then. Many countries 

have signed Free Trade Agreements or Economic Partnership 

Agreements with the European Union. The EPAs with the European Union tend to be of a different standard than our FTAs. They 

tend not to include services necessarily or intellectual property 

rights or labor and environmental issues. And we would have to determine whether there is a model for reciprocal trade relationships 

with the countries that you mention, that you allude to, that make 

sense given our standards. 

Senator HATCH. You testified, I think, about the importance of 

full implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement to 

economic growth for Africa and in Africa. For that reason, I have 

to say I am extremely disappointed that India appears to be going 

back on the deal it agreed to in Bali. 

With respect to AGOA legislation, what changes could we make 

that would best incentivize beneficiary countries to fully embrace 

the necessary trade facilitation reforms? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, we are quite concerned about the 

current situation at the WTO around the implementation of the 

Bali agreement and the Trade Facilitation Agreement. We have 

been engaged with other countries, including in sub-Saharan Africa, about the Trade Facilitation Agreement, and I am gratified that 

the African countries are quite interested in the Trade Facilitation 

Agreement and what it means for improving their competitiveness. 

There is a limited time left before the deadline comes, midnight 

tomorrow night, for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation 

Agreement, and I certainly encourage the other countries that are 

10 

currently holding up that agreement—it is a very small number of 

countries that have expressed their willingness to break that consensus—I encourage them to come back to the table and support 

the consensus that would bring so many development benefits to 

countries, including in sub-Saharan Africa, and the failure of which 

will have serious ramifications for the multilateral trading system 

itself. 

So we are encouraged on that. 

Senator HATCH. Last week the European Union completed an 

Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Development Community, which is a group of countries in southern Africa, including South Africa. As a part of that agreement, the southern African countries agreed to protect 251 geographical indications, or GIs, from the E.U. 

Now, this raises serious concerns. The E.U. has aggressively 

been using trade agreements to inappropriately protect generic 

terms around the world. Essentially, the E.U. is using its trade 

agreements to undercut market access for U.S. producers of products that use common names such as cheddar, parmesan, and mozzarella. 

While the TPA bill I introduced has provisions to address these 

practices, I would like to know what you are doing to combat this 

threat and to ensure U.S. producers do not lose market access opportunities overseas due to the E.U.’s inappropriate use of GI protection. 

Ambassador FROMAN. We completely are in agreement with you 

about the importance of addressing this issue. We are doing so in 

TTIP directly with the E.U., but also in TPP and in our other bilateral discussions. 

The point that we make to all of our trading partners is that the 

trademark system and the common name system that we have in 

the United States works very well, including for European producers of these products, but their GI system does not work for our 

producers of these products. So we are pushing very hard to make 

clear that we would find that unacceptable in a trade agreement. 

Senator HATCH. According to the International Trade Commission’s AGOA report released in April of this year, 24 out of 39 

countries eligible for AGOA benefits report utilization rates of 10 

percent or less, and 21 countries had utilization rates of less than 

1 percent. South Africa, the beneficiary with the highest program 

utilization, was only at 31 percent. 

So what are the most significant constraints to AGOA beneficiary 

country utilization of the AGOA program? 

Ambassador FROMAN. I think that underscores the importance of 

addressing the supply-side constraints that are preventing full 

usage of AGOA, for example, hard infrastructure, the lack of roads, 

supports, and reliable, affordable electricity—and Power Africa is 

very much directed at that effort. 

Soft infrastructure. Right now, you get to a border. You may wait 

for days to cross the customs plaza. It does not have a computer 

system that can talk to the next customs plaza. You wait another 

few days to get through there, and, by the time you get through 

the two customs plazas, you have added a great deal of cost to your 

shipment, and maybe your shipment is spoiled. 

11 

So coming together, having single IT systems that can speak to 

each other, that can link customs organizations, that can get to a 

single customs crossing, we are addressing that through Trade Africa and some of the work that we are doing on that. 

Issues around capacity building, having the USDA help strengthen laboratories in sub-Saharan Africa, and inspectors to help farmers meet our SPS standards and our other standards—those are all 

things that we can do to help increase the utilization of AGOA. 

Again, the review that we have done over the last year shows that 

these tariff preferences, while important, are simply not enough, 

that we have to address the other issues. 

The last thing I would say is, on the demand side, many of these 

are small countries and small markets, and it is important that 

they succeed in their efforts to integrate regionally with their 

neighbors, and we are promoting regional integration in Africa, including by working with the East African community, for example, 

on a regional investment arrangement. 

Then they have a larger market for their products, it is more efficient for them, and they can produce more competitive products. 

Senator HATCH. Thank you, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Hatch. 

Senator Isakson? 

Senator ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, if I can, on a point of personal 

privilege, I would like to acknowledge the presence of Congresswoman Karen Bass from California, who is in the audience today. 

She is a steadfast worker on behalf of the African continent and 

U.S.-Africa relations and traveled with Ambassador Froman and 

myself to Ethiopia last year to the African summits. 

The CHAIRMAN. And to keep our tradition of bipartisanship, let 

me second your comment, Senator Isakson, because I am very 

much aware of the Congresswoman’s good work, and we are glad 

to have her here today as well. 

Please go ahead with your questions. 

Senator ISAKSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Three great things have happened on the continent of Africa in 

the last 25 years. One, under the Clinton administration, AGOA 

was negotiated and implemented. 

Number two, under President Bush’s initiative, PEPFAR (the 

U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) was established, 

which is the greatest single humanitarian accomplishment, I think, 

in terms of health, in the history of mankind. 

Then, third and most importantly, the Millennium Challenge 

Corporation has allowed many African countries to be able to develop the infrastructure necessary to be good trading partners. 

I think former Chairman, now Ranking Member Hatch’s point on 

TPA should be noted to this extent. AGOA is a nonreciprocal trade 

agreement. So it is not affected by TPA. But the stated goals of 

AGOA are to establish, hopefully, trade relationships and free 

trade agreements with African countries by building and developing, which would be subject to Trade Promotion Authority. 

So I think, every time we look the other way and put off the inevitable—that is, giving the President the authority under TPA 

that he needs, as well as the clear signal that trade is important 

to the Congress of the United States—we run the risk that we are 

12 

not going to ever be able to cash in on the tax dollars of the American people that are invested in PEPFAR, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, or in AGOA. 

So I think Senator Hatch makes an outstanding point. We always talk about how we are going to get around to TPA, but I 

think, when you talk about things like AGOA, which was predicated on building relationships toward a future free trade agreement, it shows you that time is of the essence in terms of doing 

that. 

That is a speech. That was not a question. You can comment or 

not comment. I will give you your choice on that. 

On the human rights question asked by the chairman, I want to 

brag about Ambassador Froman for a minute. Last year, in Addis 

Ababa, Ethiopia, he had to leave early, and he came up to me and 

said, ‘‘Would you go meet with Swaziland for a minute and explain 

to them if they don’t get their act together in terms of worker 

rights, there could be consequences?’’ 

Do you remember that? 

Ambassador FROMAN. I do indeed. 

Senator ISAKSON. So I went and met with Swaziland to explain 

to them that beating up on workers and denying them the right to 

organization and physically abusing them would be a violation of 

principles the United States felt they need to meet. 

To the Ambassador’s credit, last month, I believe they were 

dropped from compliance with AGOA. Is that correct? 

Ambassador FROMAN. That is correct. 

Senator ISAKSON. Which leads me to the question I will require 

you to answer. As we go into this current period between now and 

next September and the next iteration of AGOA, should we not 

have a tiered way for somebody to come back, like Swaziland, to 

get back into the AGOA agreement? Because right now, as I understand it, it is cold turkey and there is no really tiered structure 

where compliance can bring them back into AGOA. Is that correct? 

Ambassador FROMAN. That is correct, in that it is an all or nothing kind of switch. And that is one of the ideas that we are proposing as Congress considers the renewal of AGOA, that it would 

be worth looking at ways to have other more flexible ways of limiting access and doing things in different time periods than currently exist, and we have had success. 

We have turned off AGOA for political issues, such as coups, for 

a number of countries over its history—Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, 

Guinea, Niger, Madagascar, and Mali—and those countries all 

were re-entered into AGOA. They were allowed to rejoin AGOA and 

become eligible again as they moved toward democratic elections 

and democratic transitions. 

So we certainly want to have the ability to both incentivize them, 

to engage them in better policies, and, when they do so, to reward 

them by giving them access again to the AGOA program. 

Senator ISAKSON. I know that the length of the extension of the 

next AGOA agreement is certainly an issue that was discussed at 

Addis Ababa, from 15 and 17 years out to shorter periods of time, 

like 3 or 4. But it seems like, to me, if we are ever going to get 

to the goal, which is a foundation for free trade agreements with 

African countries that are compliant, we ought to have some tiered 

13 

levels of accomplishment or participation so that we can go from 

an AGOA agreement which is nonreciprocal to a true free trade 

agreement with those countries. 

Would you agree with that? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, I think that bears a lot of looking at. 

Yes. I think we need to work with you to think through exactly 

how to do that, on both what the duration should be and how we 

think about different tiers of countries who may be more or less 

ready to engage in reciprocal trade arrangements. 

At the same time, we want to take into account regional supply 

chains or regional value chains. If we do an FTA with one country, 

do we not want to make sure we are not disrupting important integration that is going on in the region as well? 

So these are complicated issues that we very much look forward 

to working with you on. 

Senator ISAKSON. My last point, Mr. Chairman. 

From my experience in Africa, getting the African countries to 

recognize intellectual property protection, worker rights, standards 

like we do in the United States, pay attention to corruption and 

have a more stable environment in which to trade, is the biggest 

single asset for the African countries to grow and prosper under 

the next future AGOA agreement. 

I commend the Ambassador for the work that he has done and 

pledge to work with him in any way possible to facilitate an extension of that agreement. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I do not want to make this a bouquet-tossing 

contest, but let me throw the commendations back to you, Senator 

Isakson, because I know you have put a lot of years into this effort 

at fostering trade relations with Africa, and I very much appreciate 

your leadership. 

Senator Thune? 

Senator THUNE. Ditto, Mr. Chairman. I also compliment my colleague from Georgia. He has worked really hard on a lot of these 

issues. 

I appreciate you and Ranking Member Hatch holding the hearing 

today, and I thank Ambassador Froman for being here. 

The last time that we did this was in 2012, and let me just say 

that AGOA is a great, important program that is helping the nations of sub-Saharan Africa raise their standards of living and 

adopt the rule of law. Since we did this the last time, we added 

South Sudan as an eligible country so that the citizens of that 

country can benefit from the greater market access for their products in the United States. So I hope this hearing will be the beginning of a process for considering reforms to AGOA before the program expires next September. 

I would also say—and I am sure you have heard it before, but 

it is a point we cannot emphasize enough—we need TPA. You can 

negotiate the best agreements possible, TTIP and TPP, but we are 

not going to get them through Congress without Trade Promotion 

Authority, and I just hope that you and the administration will become fully engaged with Congress on that issue. For some reason, 

we have not been able to get that moving forward. 

14 

I wanted to ask a question, and it is not really AGOA-specific, 

but one of the challenges that we are facing in agriculture is making sure that our American ag technologies are available to help 

nations of the world feed their populations. 

I do not think there is anywhere in the world where American 

technology, such as agricultural biotechnology, could be more useful 

than on the African continent. Yet we know that, in the past, cultivation of biotech crops has been hampered by the unwillingness 

of the E.U., which is a major African export market, to approve 

these products. 

In the context of the ongoing TTIP negotiations, how can we ensure that the higher yields and other benefits of agricultural biotechnology will be available to the nations that need them the most 

and that these products, when exported again, will not be discriminated against? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Well, this is a very important issue in our 

TTIP dialogue. We have made clear that we want to see SPS standards and other standards based on science. 

The E.U. actually has its own law and its own procedure for approving biotech products. We prevailed in a WTO case against 

them for them not implementing that law sufficiently well. They 

have lost a European Court of Justice case, and our first step with 

them in TTIP is to encourage them to apply their own law and 

their own procedures to ensure that biotech products are evaluated 

on science and are processed accordingly. 

Recently, as you may know, the E.U. took a decision that would 

allow countries in the E.U. to make their own individual decisions 

about the importation and cultivation of genetically engineered 

products, and we are hopeful that, as countries decide whether 

they want to allow that cultivation to occur, we will begin to see 

some progress in educating people about the safety of those products and that they will make progress in terms of market access 

in that regard. 

Senator THUNE. I just think it is a huge issue. Europe is a huge 

export market for Africa, and, if you want to see the African people, countries on that continent, be able to better feed themselves, 

as well as to export and grow an economy, that issue is critically 

important. 

So I hope that you will continue to impress upon your colleagues, 

in the trade negotiations with the Europeans at least, that opening 

up to these products which are proven to be safe is something that 

they should figure out a way to expedite. 

I know that they have their own process, as you described, but 

sometimes those processes are very bureaucratic and, in many 

cases, used, I think, to protect agriculture on the European continent. 

Just briefly, in your testimony, you talk about updating AGOA 

eligibility standards. You mentioned the unjustified sanitary and 

phytosanitary measures that have been adopted by some African 

nations. I am wondering if you could elaborate on some of those 

measures and how an updated AGOA might help to address them. 

Ambassador FROMAN. Currently, among the eligibility criteria, 

AGOA partners are required to elimiate or to be making continual 

progress toward eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment. 

15 

So they already have an obligation to eliminate barriers to U.S. 

trade and investment. 

What we have seen over the last few years are increasing barriers being erected around sanitary and phytosanitary standards. 

So one of the recommendations that we will make to Congress as 

you consider the renewal of AGOA is to explicitly mention the SPS 

standards as one of those barriers that we will take into account 

as we do the annual review of AGOA eligibility. 

Senator THUNE. Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Senator Cardin is next. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ambassador Froman, thank you. I think the timing of this hearing is great, well in advance of the expiration of the AGOA law. 

I am pleased that we are working on this early. 

I think it is important that a message be included in the meetings next week with African leaders that the Congress is very 

much engaged on strengthening the ties between Africa and the 

United States, and one of those is to look at tools that have 

worked, such as AGOA, look at strengthening it and making sure 

that those tools continue to be available. So I applaud you for that. 

I know Chairman Wyden has already mentioned a subject that 

you and I have talked about, and I thank him for that, and that 

is that good governance and human rights need to be and are already part of the AGOA process, as you just pointed out in response to Senator Thune. 

I would urge you that, as we look at improving and strengthening AGOA, part of that should be higher expectations on the 

good governance issues and ways to monitor the progress that is 

being made in these countries in a more effective way. 

I want to ask a question on a second issue that we have talked 

about, and that deals with capacity building. We do invest today 

development assistance in African countries, some of which are exporting to us under AGOA. 

How do you coordinate our development assistance—how do you 

deal with private-public partnerships as part of AGOA—so that 

countries can really take advantage of the AGOA laws? 

It is one thing to have trade agreements. It is another thing to 

have the capacity to use those trade agreements in the best interests of your country, and in many of the African countries, they 

really do not have the capacity to deal with that. 

So the question is, how do you use AGOA to further the capacity 

opportunities of these countries so that we really do develop growing economies, stable markets, a growing middle class to buy U.S. 

products—all of the above. How do we do that? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Thank you for that question. And I think 

you will probably be hearing more about this this week around the 

AGOA forum and the leaders’ summit. 

But to preview that, let me just say we have a whole-ofgovernment approach to what we are doing now on trade and investment in AGOA, and it recognizes the role of the State Department, the Commerce Department, USAID, MCC, USDA, the Trade 

and Development Agency, all working to address those supply-side 

constraints that I mentioned that will determine, in our view, 

16 

whether AGOA is more successful going forward—even more successful than it has been in the past. 

For example, on capacity building, one of the areas we have identified as a need is to train inspectors and to upgrade laboratories 

in sub-Saharan Africa so that they can work with farmers there to 

more successfully meet our sanitary and phytosanitary standards. 

And we are working with USAID and USDA on a capacity building 

program, to expand their capacity building program to achieve that 

objective. 

We are also working to develop young entrepreneurs and to give 

them the access, the networks, the training that they need to be 

able to take advantage of that. 

I had the honor this morning of meeting with 500 Mandela 

Washington fellows under our Young African Leaders Initiative. 

They are here in Washington this week. They have been in the 

country for a month or so, having internships around the country 

in various companies. They will be going back to Africa, networking 

among themselves. 

There were 50,000 applications for this program. Five hundred 

people were selected from all over Africa, and this is a program 

that we are going to continue to build upon that helps create the 

entrepreneur class in these countries who have ties to the United 

States and who want to see their products make their way through 

AGOA to the U.S. market. 

So we are using all of our interagency partners, MCC, through 

their compacts, building roads, working on constraints on growth, 

USAID, USDA, the Trade and Development Agency, OPIC, and the 

like, to address all the issues that go into Africa being able to take 

advantage of AGOA. 

Senator CARDIN. Let me mention one of the major pluses of 

AGOA, and that is that it has helped women. Many of the people 

who have benefitted from these opportunities have been women. A 

lot of these fields are dominated by women. 

So I would hope that part of our capacity building would be 

geared toward gender sensitivity on how women are treated in the 

economies of these countries. 

Ambassador FROMAN. Absolutely. It is a key part of our human 

rights and our labor rights. In fact, one of the proposals we are 

making on the workers’ rights piece of this is to include nondiscrimination, to upgrade the definition of internationally recognized workers’ rights, as the ILO does, to include nondiscrimination as well. 

There is also the African Women’s Entrepreneurship program 

which the U.S. supports. It has been very effective in bringing together women entrepreneurs in Africa and markets here in the 

United States, including through the trade hubs, and we are looking at ways to build on that as well. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Cardin. 

Senator Stabenow? 

Senator STABENOW. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and 

distinguished Ranking Member. This is a really important hearing. 

I think that it is clear that we want to get AGOA reauthorized. 

Thank you, Ambassador Froman. 

17 

I wanted to follow up on the capacity issues and, first, underscore what Senator Cardin said in terms of leadership from women. 

As I have been focusing more on Africa as the chair of the Agriculture Committee, it is very clear that, first of all, agriculture is 

a huge economic driver in Africa and, secondly, that women are 

providing so much of the leadership, going from micro-loans to be 

able to support their families, to gardens for villages, to communities, to looking at how they now move out to export or to expand. 

So I want to underscore, I think, the importance of capacity 

building as it relates to women in leadership. Also, I wonder if you 

might just talk a little bit more—because I think capacity challenges are so important in terms of what happens to hold countries 

back. 

You mentioned transportation. We know that if you cannot move 

materials, you cannot move goods, you are not going to be able to 

take advantage of AGOA. We know that simple things like cold 

storage become an issue around meeting SPS standards. 

By the way, I would also underscore what Senator Thune said 

in his comments on technology and, also, your efforts around barriers, using SPS standards as barriers, which I think is a really important issue to deal with as part of this agreement, because I do 

think that that is something that needs to be addressed. 

But when you look more broadly at capacity building and our 

role in that or other organizations’ roles and so on, how do you see 

the U.S. Government being involved in that? What are the tools, 

the other tools that we can be using to deal with the capacity 

issues so countries can fully utilize AGOA? 

Ambassador FROMAN. I think we have a number of tools, and we 

are not starting from scratch. We have been involved in what we 

call Aid for Trade for quite some time. We were quite a generous 

donor on Aid for Trade. We are a leader globally in that area, and 

we also play a convening role in bringing other donors and multilateral development banks and other institutions to the table on 

that. 

That is the approach we have taken here as well. Through this 

consultation process over the last year, we have heard from people 

about the importance of addressing the capacity building issues, as 

you mention, on women, on young entrepreneurs, on meeting SPS 

standards, meeting technical barriers of trade, technical standards 

as well, and we have something called the Standards Alliance 

which works with countries to help provide technical assistance to 

them, to train them on how to meet technical standards to address 

the U.S. market, and we are going to work with all of our interagency partners to do that. 

But it is not something we have to do alone either. We are part 

of a larger donor community, part of a larger international community. 

So, for example, on trade facilitation, which is a key part of this, 

we can bring together customs organizations so that they have the 

same procedures and have the same policies, actually have common 

information technology platforms. If you clear a shipment in Mombasa, you do not have to re-clear it every time it crosses a border 

in the East African community. 

18 

That is something we are doing through the WTO, with the African Development Bank, with the World Bank, as well as with the 

other donors. And we have played an active role in helping to identify those resources to make sure they are coordinated, and we 

work with the African countries on their needs assessments to be 

able to address those. 

Senator STABENOW. Just quickly—my time is running out—I 

know that we have had a lot of U.S. agriculture companies that 

have been involved for a long time in Africa, and more and more 

all the time, and they are focusing on issues like drought resistance 

and water conservation and other issues. 

We also have land grant colleges, like Michigan State University, 

my alma mater, that are very involved in research. 

How are USTR and our partner agencies facilitating the exchange of knowledge and technical resources between U.S. agriculture and AGOA nations? Are there things we could be doing better there? 

Ambassador FROMAN. Thank you. We are working with the rest 

of the interagency community. And Raj Shah, the head of USAID, 

in particular, has played a leading role, for example, on the new 

Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, bringing to the table both 

U.S. research institutions and the U.S. private sector to invest in 

Africa, bring in technology, bring in technical training, to make 

sure that they can meet SPS standards, increase agricultural productivity, and develop those markets that ultimately will be both 

to the benefit of Africa in terms of development, but also will help 

them get access to global markets as well. 

So we are working with all of our interagency partners to try to 

make sure we have a whole-of-government approach, a one-stopshop approach. So, as we sit down with our African partners, we 

can look at all of their needs and what capacity constraints they 

face and bring the appropriate resources to bear. 

Senator STABENOW. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Stabenow. 

I also want to note that you and Senator Isakson had a very good 

hearing, I think it was yesterday, on the 2-year anniversary of the 

U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, and we know that you, as chair, 

and Senator Isakson are going to do an excellent job there. I am 

anxious to hear more about the lessons learned. 

I have only one other question—and this will not surprise you, 

Ambassador Froman—and it is on the digital infrastructure of Africa, because I think Senator Stabenow is absolutely right about 

what we have always thought of with respect to the physical infrastructure. We talk about roads and rail and water, but we need to 

think about, for example, how an African farmer is going to get information about markets, for example, if they do not have any access to broadband. 

So tell me, if you would, what is the administration doing in 

terms of working with Africa on infrastructure challenges, particularly as they relate to Internet-based infrastructure? 

Ambassador FROMAN. As you know, Africa has been an area of 

great growth in this area. Over 50 percent of urban residents in Africa are now online. There are more than 50 million Facebook users 

19 

in Africa, and mobile phone penetration, perhaps most importantly, 

has gone from 1 percent to 50 percent of the African population. 

That is absolutely critical to the issue you mention about farmers, for example, and folks in rural Africa who are now getting information on their mobile phones about weather, about market 

prices, which can help them make decisions about what to plant 

and when to harvest and where to sell their product and at what 

prices, because of that connectivity. 

There is certainly more to be done there, and it is one area we 

have been focused in particular on in our food security program, 

Feed the Future: technology and how to use Internet connectivity 

and mobile technology to help farmers achieve greater productivity. 

Of course, it is one of the underlying issues behind Power Africa. 

We want to make sure that there is affordable, reliable electricity 

throughout the continent so that when people are charging their 

phones or getting online, they can stay connected to the rest of the 

world. 

The CHAIRMAN. I am only going to make one point in wrapping 

up—and I think Senator Hatch and I do not have any further questions. 

Generally, Mr. Ambassador, I think there has been a sense that 

AGOA was seen as the program that Congress created; this was essentially Congress’s effort. And my view is, this administration has 

focused on AGOA in ways that no other has, in part by your interest, Mr. Ambassador, and certainly the President’s. 

So I think my judgment, as we leave now, given that history 

where people said, ‘‘Hey, I think this program, AGOA, is a good 

program, it is Congress’s,’’ is that it is clear now that the Obama 

administration owns AGOA too. I think that is very valuable. 

The policy options you shared with the committee today are 

going to be taken seriously as we continue our work. 

I always like to see if Senator Hatch wants to offer the last word, 

but we appreciate your cooperation. 

Senator Hatch? 

Senator HATCH. I appreciate the work you do. You are certainly 

an intelligent man, and I have no doubt that you will be able to 

accomplish whatever you decide to do. 

I just want to make sure you have the tools to be able to do it, 

and that we have the tools up here to be able to help you. 

So I have every confidence in you and wish you the very best. 

The CHAIRMAN. With that, the Finance Committee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the hearing was concluded.] 

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