IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 121

Expressing the sense of the Congress in support of the creation of a North

American Development Bank.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 14, 1993

Mr. TORRES (for himself, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms.

MCKINNEY, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MATSUI, Mrs. MEEK, Mr. PASTOR, Ms.

PELOSI, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SAWYER, Ms. SCHENK,

Mr. SERRANO, Mr. STOKES, Mr. TOWNS, and Ms. WOOLSEY) submitted

the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee

on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress in support of the

creation of a North American Development Bank.

Whereas the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) has the potential to expand trade between the

United States, Canada, and Mexico, creating economic

growth and high-wage jobs for American workers;

Whereas NAFTA has the potential to foster strengthened

economic ties between the United States, Canada, and

Mexico, and to improve cooperation on issues of mutual

concern, such as environmental protection and worker

rights, where cooperation is essential for future progress;
2

•HCON 121 IH

Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to seek expanded cooperation with Mexico, a country with which we

share a border of nearly 2,000 miles and longstanding

ties of history, family, and culture;

Whereas NAFTA has the potential to lead to a net increase

in jobs in the United States, but will also require difficult

adjustments by certain import-sensitive United States industries and workers;

Whereas the United States-Mexico border region suffers from

serious infrastructure deficiencies, particularly in Hispanic border communities known as ‘‘colonias’’ that often

lack safe drinking water, access to medical care, adequate

schools, and other infrastructure that should be available

to every American;

Whereas the United States-Mexico border region also suffers

from serious environmental degradation, stemming from

rapid and unregulated economic growth;

Whereas the expansion of trade between the United States,

Canada, and Mexico would require additional infrastructure, including new highways, transportation networks,

and communications links to support expanded flows of

goods and services under NAFTA;

Whereas the upward convergence of environmental standards

and practices within North America will require major investments in new technologies and environmental infrastructure;

Whereas the border regions pose particularly difficult problems for cross-border coordination, financing, and implementation of projects to improve environmental infrastructure and reduce air and ground water pollution;
3

•HCON 121 IH

Whereas many necessary environmental and infrastructure

projects cannot be financed by private financial institutions, local governments, or communities;

Whereas American businesses, particularly small and minority-owned businesses, would require access to capital to

take advantage of the economic opportunities potentially

created by NAFTA and to create more jobs in the United

States;

Whereas it is essential that displaced United States workers

be given adequate training and support to enable them

to find new employment and take advantage of the new

economic opportunities created by NAFTA;

Whereas a North American Development Bank would be a

means of providing capital to facilitate adjustments during the transition in order to ensure that no region or

sector of the United States suffers a disproportionate

share of the burdens created by NAFTA;

Whereas additional public investment by Mexico will help

generate economic growth and jobs, and help reduce pressures for illegal immigration to the United States;

Whereas the Congress recognizes the need to create an institution able to provide capital for projects which will enhance regional economic development and jobs, and accelerate upward convergence of environmental and living

standards on both sides of the border;

Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to create

a North American Development Bank to promote the use

of private capital and firms in activities which affect, in

a positive way, the environmental infrastructure of the

region and to provide employment opportunities and
4

•HCON 121 IH

training in new skills necessary to take advantage of

NAFTA; and

Whereas a North American Development Bank is needed in

order to supplement the efforts of other international financial institutions to direct financial and technical assistance to those regions of North America which present

opportunities for economic developmental cooperation:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the United States, Mexico, and Canada

4 should jointly establish a North American Develop5 ment Bank to—

6 (A) promote the investment of public and

7 private capital for development purposes, in8 cluding viable projects which provide worker re9 training and employment for those workers dis10 placed by the effects of the North American

11 Free Trade Agreement;

12 (B) use capital of the bank, funds raised

13 by the bank in financial markets, and other

14 available resources to finance environmental im15 provement, infrastructure, and community and

16 social development projects, giving priority to

17 projects that will contribute most effectively to

18 environmental improvement, regional economic

19 growth, and jobs;
5

•HCON 121 IH

1 (C) encourage private investment in eco2 nomically viable projects, enterprises, and ac3 tivities that contribute to environmental im4 provement and economic development, and sup5 plement private investment when private capital

6 is not available on reasonable terms and condi7 tions;

8 (D) provide technical assistance in the

9 preparation, financing, and implementation of

10 development plans and projects, including the

11 study of priorities and the formulation of spe12 cific project proposals; and

13 (E) promote and stimulate conditions con14 ducive to the flow of private capital, foreign and

15 domestic, into productive investment in projects

16 which improve environmental infrastructure, re17 duce air and ground water pollution, and result

18 in sustainable use of natural resources; and

19 (2) any agreement providing for the establish20 ment of such a bank should ensure that—

21 (A) the purposes of the bank are as set

22 forth in paragraph (1);

23 (B) the bank is initially capitalized by

24 funds from the United States, Mexico, and

25 Canada;
6

•HCON 121 IH

1 (C) the authorized capital of the bank is

2 $5,000,000,000, of which $1,000,000,000 is

3 paid-in capital;

(D) the United States provides 2 4 ⁄3 of the

5 capital of the bank;

6 (E) all powers of the bank are vested in a

7 Board of Directors whose members are appor8 tioned based on the quantity of shares held by

9 the member countries;

10 (F) an oversight board reflecting regional

11 constituencies is established in the bank to ad12 vise the executive directors regarding the merits

13 of proposed projects and to offer technical ex14 pertise to support the bank;

15 (G) an Office of Ombudsman is established

16 in the bank to serve as liaison between the bank

17 and the public;

18 (H) the bank is authorized to extend loans,

19 financial assistance, loan guarantees, and tech20 nical assistance to governmental agencies, local

21 governments, nonprofit organizations, and pri22 vate institutions;

23 (I) the bank provides support only to

24 projects that can be made economically feasible
7

•HCON 121 IH

1 with Bank financing and that are projected to

2 provide an adequate return to the bank;

3 (J) an objective scoring system is devel4 oped to assess the effectiveness with which

5 projects supported by the bank use resources

6 provided by the bank;

7 (K) communities adversely affected by

8 NAFTA are able to recommend projects de9 signed to relieve or ameliorate such effects;

10 (L) a wide spectrum of organizations, in11 cluding local, State, and Federal governments,

12 local and national agencies, community-based

13 and other nonprivate organizations, and busi14 nesses are able to submit project proposals;

15 (M) lending by the bank in nonborder

16 areas is apportioned among projects in the

17 United States, Canada, and Mexico based on

18 each country’s respective share of the paid-in

19 capital of the Bank; and

20 (N) as a condition of receiving support

21 from the bank, a project will be required to

22 comply with domestic environmental and labor

23 standards.

Æ