H5696 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE August 2, 2012 

to the comprehensive balanced approach that will enable our country 

and all of our people to prosper. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

f 

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UNITED STATES-AFRICA TRADE 

RELATIONS 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. RUSH) is recognized for the 

remainder of the hour as the designee 

of the minority leader. 

Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today 

to commend my fellow colleagues in 

the House for their leadership, for their 

vision, and for their votes today to 

strengthen the U.S.-Africa economic 

and trade relations. Passage of H.R. 

5986 will also solidify the U.S. longterm investment in Africa. 

I want to commend my colleagues for 

voting to extend AGOA, the African 

Growth and Opportunity Act. And I 

would also like to applaud all of those 

advocates who worked tirelessly to 

pass H.R. 5986, the long overdue extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, including the thirdcountry fabric provision as a part of 

AGOA. 

This third-country fabric provision 

will enable eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa to ship thousands of goods 

to the United States without paying 

import duties. This provision, which 

has been set to expire this September, 

on September 30, waives the duties on 

clothing from most AGOA countries, 

even if the yarn or fabric is made in a 

‘‘third country,’’ such as China, South 

Korea, or Vietnam. With passage of 

this important legislation, sewing jobs 

for hundreds of thousands of African 

workers will be protected and also created. 

The first beneficiaries for this bill 

will be the women of Africa, because 

about 70 to 80 percent of the workers in 

these burgeoning apparel and textile 

industries are women. Mr. Speaker, 

when women are working, families are 

fed and stability is a result. 

I am so pleased, Mr. Speaker, that 

once again AGOA will become the law 

and that the President will sign this 

law in the near future. 

THE DEATH OF GHANAIAN PRESIDENT JOHN ATTA

MILLS

Next, Mr. Speaker, I stand in the 

House well today to send my deepest 

sympathies, the sympathies of the people of the First Congressional District 

of Illinois, and to send our prayers to 

the Ghanaian people and to the family 

of the recently departed President 

John Atta Mills, the late president of 

Ghana. His death is a terrible loss not 

only for Ghana and its people, but for 

the entire world. 

Mr. Speaker, President Atta Mills 

was a tremendous leader. He solidified 

the foundation for peace and prosperity 

in the nation of Ghana, creating confidence in the Ghanaian political, socioeconomic system that led to massive foreign direct investments in 

Ghana, which resulted in the creation 

of millions of jobs for the Ghanaian 

people. He will be greatly missed. 

I also want to congratulate His Excellency, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, 

the new leader of Ghana. 

Mr. Speaker, the peaceful transition 

of power in Ghana clearly demonstrates that Ghana has embarked 

into an unwavering path and process 

for democracy and the democratic 

principles we all hold near and dear. 

Within hours of the passing away of 

the President, late President John 

Atta Mills, the Vice President was 

sworn in as the new President. 

The political violence that we witnessed after the passing of President 

Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria and President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi 

simply did not occur. This, Mr. Speaker, is evidence, sheer evidence that 

Ghana’s democratic institutions are 

viable and are getting much stronger 

day by day. 

This just did not happen. It took 

strong leadership from previous Presidents of Ghana in order to lay the right 

foundation for this smooth transition 

of power in Ghana over the last week. 

People like former President Jerry 

Rawlings, who was elected in 1996. And 

lest we not forget Mr. Rawlings’ party 

lost with a narrow margin, but he 

didn’t try to fight and hold back the 

willful decision of the Ghanaian people. 

He conceded the election without any 

controversy. 

I also commend former President 

John Kufuor for his strong stance in 

support of the Ghanaian democratic 

march, the principles, and the democratic values that we cherish here in 

the United States. 

It is for these reasons that I stand 

here today to commend the Ghanaian 

people, the Ghanaian leadership, and 

the Ghanaian institutions for their stable, forward-thinking, and mature leadership. I commend them all this 

evening. 

NIGER DELTA CRISIS

Mr. Speaker, on my final note before 

this body, I rise today to also urge this 

Congress to pass H. Con. Res. 121, a resolution to save the Niger Delta region, 

which is located in Nigeria. Over the 

last few years and months, a lot has 

been said and a lot has been written 

about the Niger Delta crisis that is occurring right now in Nigeria as we 

speak. 

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Just about a year ago, the United Nations Environment Program released a 

report, a startling report, a report calling for an urgent response to reverse 

the environmental destruction and devastation in the Ogoniland region of the 

Niger Delta wetlands. That report 

again was startling, intense, and accurate. It also called for the establishment of a $1 billion cleanup fund to finance the restoration and the cleanup 

of the Niger Delta region. 

Mr. Speaker, to give you some perspective on the scope of the destruction 

and on the devastation, it is estimated 

that the cleanup of the Niger Delta 

could take as many as 30 years to complete. Of course, Mr. Speaker, strong 

voices have begun to emerge and 

strong actions have taken place to do 

more to publicize these environmental 

atrocities. 

Just recently, I watched a movie directed by a brilliant Nigerian-born 

filmmaker whose name is Jeta Amata. 

It was a movie titled ‘‘Black November: Struggle for the Niger Delta.’’ This 

movie raises the awareness of the tragedy of the Niger Delta and the Niger 

region. ‘‘Black November,’’ the movie, 

is based upon the true story of the people of the Niger Delta, the communities in the Niger Delta that suffer extreme environmental degradation and 

extreme poverty in this oil-rich Niger 

Delta region. 

Mr. Speaker, the people of this Nation, we cannot, the American people 

cannot remain indifferent to the struggle of the people of the Niger region, 

the Niger Delta, as they struggle to 

clean up the pollution created by mostly American and other Western oil and 

petroleum companies. Most of the 

Niger Delta’s 31 million people live on 

less than $1 a day, although this region 

is the very backbone of Nigeria’s economy, with oil and gas extraction accounting for over 97 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange revenues. 

The Niger Delta region, which consists of nine states, makes up about 12 

percent of Nigeria’s total land mass, 

and it is one of the world’s 10 most important wetlands and coastal marine 

ecosystems. 

Mr. Speaker, the social unrest, the 

criminality, illegal oil trade, the bunkering, and the general corruption 

have hindered oil and gas investment 

and production, as well as the Niger 

Delta region’s development. 

Mr. Speaker, these numbers are 

alarming. The World Conservation 

Union and the representatives from the 

Nigerian federal government and the 

Nigerian Conservation Foundation calculated in 2006 that up to 1.5 million 

tons of oil had been spilled in the Niger 

Delta over the last 50 years—1.5 million 

tons. That is 50 times, that’s right, 50 

times, Mr. Speaker, the pollution released in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska a few years ago. 

This pollution, this oil spill, this devastation has severely limited the local 

inhabitants’ access to clean water and 

has largely destroyed the fishing stock 

that the majority of the delta inhabitants depended on to make their daily 

living. A result also has been that illegal oil and gas refineries have become 

a source of income for these poor people who have unfortunately diverted 

their activities from fisheries destroyed by the oil spills. Illicit oil 

trade and illegal refineries are booming, and they are consequently threatening the economy, the security, and 

the environment of this very vital region in the world. 


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August 2, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5697 

Mr. Speaker, more importantly or 

just as importantly, in too many of the 

communities in the Niger region, people drink water from wells that are 

contaminated with benzene, which is a 

known carcinogen. 

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They drink this water, which has 

been estimated to be 900 times above 

the level that the World Health Organization uses as its guideline, 900 times 

above the standards set by the World 

Health Organization. 

Since 2010, Nigeria has become one of 

our main strategic partners on the continent of Africa. This nation, Nigeria, 

is our Nation’s second-leading trading 

partner behind Great Britain. Mr. 

Speaker, these and other facts mean 

that the struggle of the people of the 

Niger Delta—the struggle of the Nigerian people—is also the struggle of the 

American people. 

Mr. Speaker, the destiny of the two 

economies, the Nigerian economy and 

the American economy, are interconnected, interrelated, and intertwined. We cannot, and I emphasize, 

this Nation cannot afford to stay indifferent to the struggles of the people of 

the Niger Delta and the cleanup of the 

pollution that has been devastating 

this region for over the past 50 years. 

The struggle of the people of the Niger 

Delta is indeed our struggle, the struggle of the American people. 

I have led, and with cosigners, have 

introduced H. Con. Res 121 to urge all 

the stakeholders in the Niger oil and 

gas industry to come together, to work 

together, to collaborate together, and 

to address collectively the environmental impact of the oil and gas production in the Niger Delta. 

I must say, Mr. Speaker, that we 

should commend this Congress—and I 

certainly commend President 

Goodluck Jonathan for presenting the 

new Petroleum Industry Bill, the PIB, 

to the Nigerian Parliament, which has 

the support of all the stakeholders and 

has the input of all of the stakeholders. 

I also want to commend President 

Goodluck Jonathan for announcing the 

creation of the Hydro-Carbon Pollution 

Restoration Project, HYPREP, to look 

into the Ogoni land degradation, destruction, and devastation from the 

aforementioned oil spills. I applaud 

President Goodluck Jonathan for taking these initiatives. These are very 

important, critical first steps. It is my 

hope that all of the affected stakeholders will again come and meet again 

soon and collaborate strongly together 

to make the cleanup and rebuilding of 

the Niger region become a success 

story that the world will admire and 

that the world will celebrate. 

The new energy regulatory framework that’s being created must be fair, 

it must be transparent, and it must 

create an appropriate avenue for the 

economic empowerment for local Niger 

Delta communities affected by the industry, including the women and the 

youth. 

Mr. Speaker, we cannot stand by. We 

must assist in this effort. The clock is 

ticking. We must support the people of 

the Niger Delta. 

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

f 

RECOGNIZING CHABAD 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from California (Mr. SHERMAN) is recognized for 

the remainder of the hour as the designee of the minority leader. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today to recognize the unique and essential work being done by Chabad. 

Chabad is known by many for its annual telethon. Where else on the TV 

dial can one go to see dancing rabbis 

once a year? Chabad is better known 

for meeting the spiritual needs of millions, for meeting the economic and 

counseling needs of thousands who are 

faced with destitution or faced with 

the scourge of substance abuse. 

I would like to extend my regards to 

Rabbi Cunin and the entire Cunin family for their tireless efforts on behalf of 

Chabad and Yiddishkeit everywhere. 

For decades, I’ve had a chance to 

work with Rabbi Mordy Einbinder and 

Rabbi Joshua Gordon, and all of the 

rabbis of Chabad in the San Fernando 

Valley, an organization that has grown 

from one storefront to now 25 centers 

of vibrant communities dedicated to 

worship and to study across the San 

Fernando Valley. 

Chabad does hugely important work 

for the local community. They have 

taken a commercial-grade kitchen and 

turned it into a one-stop social service 

center to feed and care for thousands. 

And Chabad’s drug prevention and 

treatment program, PRIDE, reaches 

thousands of at-risk youth in the San 

Fernando Valley and across the Los 

Angeles area. 

For the last decade, I’ve worked with 

Chabad to achieve something very important to the Jewish people, the return from Russia of the Rebbe’s papers. 

The Schneerson Library and Archives 

are of such important sacredness to 

Chabad and to many others, and yet 

they are still held in Moscow by the 

Russian regime. 

This Congress passed Jackson-Vanik. 

There’s discussion of us changing that 

important law to allow for Russian 

goods to be sold in the United States 

more freely, but Jackson-Vanik’s purpose was to force Russia to let our people go. That process will not, in my 

mind, be complete until Russia lets the 

Rebbe’s papers go as well. 

So I look forward to Russia releasing 

those spiritually important documents. 

And I look forward to working with all 

the Chabad rabbis on issues from Moscow to the San Fernando Valley. 

f 

IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING 

AMERICA AND THE WORLD 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 5, 2011, the Chair recognizes the 

gentleman from Illinois (Mr. SHIMKUS) 

for 30 minutes. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time yielded to me to really 

cover a couple different issues and 

areas that have been pending either in 

the District or in our Nation—or even 

internationally—and using this opportunity to place into the RECORD and 

also speak to you—in essence, speaking 

to the Nation—on the importance of 

these issues. 

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First what I would like to do is really 

commend Chairman LUCAS and Ranking Member PETERSON for passing an 

ag bill out of their committee. 

Now, what my producers are asking 

is to pass a full ag bill on the floor 

sooner rather than later. In fact, I’ve 

seen, and I’m sure you’ve seen, an ag 

bill now. But we were successful today 

in helping mitigate a flaw in the last 

ag bill in ensuring that the livestock 

provisions and the insurance portion of 

the ag bill of 5 years ago, it wasn’t 

funded for this last year. 

As everyone knows, this is a very 

challenging year for the agricultural 

sector. I was able to visit a dairy farm 

in my district last Friday, the 

Timmerman family, and there I was 

able to meet with my producers, both 

commodity, livestock and dairy, and in 

my part of the State, sometimes they 

are doing all of the above. 

So I brought down—actually, they 

brought to me and I brought back to 

Washington to give an example of the 

challenges we’re under. Here is a good 

ear of corn that has been irrigated and 

is what we would expect to see almost 

every year in southern Illinois. This 

was what came off of a stalk on the 

Timmerman dairy farm. And so this 

gives you, Mr. Speaker, an opportunity 

to understand the challenges that are 

faced. 

Now, in a dairy operation, like a beef 

operation, they’re growing the corn to 

feed their livestock. So if this is what’s 

supposed to feed their livestock, 

they’re used to getting this, you can 

understand why passing this disaster 

relief portion to fully fund the ag bill 

to help them out is very, very important. 

Another producer brought this, which 

is the stalk and even a worse—well, it’s 

not even an ear of corn. It’s decayed, it 

hasn’t formed, and that’s what a lot of 

our producers are seeing in Illinois during this time. 

Now, our agriculture producers are a 

healthy stock, and they understand 

that the world is changing and that 

there are spending and fiscal challenges and difficulties. They’re asking 

for a simple premise. They just want to 

be able to have an ag insurance product 

that they can rely on, that they can 

choose to buy into or not. They don’t 

want to be placed in a position of having no ag insurance and then depending 

upon if there’s a drought on disaster 


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