I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5091 

To authorize assistance to the people of the Republic of Haiti to fund 

scholarships for talented disadvantaged students in Haiti to continue 

their education in the United States and to return to Haiti to contribute 

to the development of their country, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 5, 2006 

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. LEE, Mr. 

WELLER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, and Mr. MEEKS of New York) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

A BILL 

To authorize assistance to the people of the Republic of 

Haiti to fund scholarships for talented disadvantaged 

students in Haiti to continue their education in the 

United States and to return to Haiti to contribute to 

the development of their country, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Henry J. Hyde Schol5 arships for Haiti Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to establish an under3 graduate scholarship program which is designed to bring 

4 talented students of limited financial means from Haiti 

5 to the United States for study at United States institu6 tions of higher education to— 

7 (1) improve the diversity and quality of edu8 cational opportunities for such students; 

9 (2) assist the development efforts of Haiti by 

10 providing training and educational assistance to per11 sons who can help address the social and economic 

12 needs of Haiti; 

13 (3) build a well-educated middle-class in Haiti 

14 which is capable and willing to provide leadership in 

15 the public and private sectors to help sustain the po16 litical and economic progress that is sorely needed to 

17 confront the daunting challenges of that country; 

18 and 

19 (4) promote positive and productive relation20 ships between the United States and Haiti. 

21 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

22 Congress finds the following: 

23 (1) It is in the national interest of the United 

24 States to provide a stable source of financial support 

25 to give talented students in Haiti the opportunity to 

26 study in the United States in order to improve the 


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•HR 5091 IH 

1 range and quality of educational alternatives for 

2 these students, further the development of Haiti, 

3 and build enduring relationships between the people 

4 of the United States and the people of Haiti. 

5 (2) Providing scholarship to foreign students to 

6 study in the United States has proven to be an ef7 fective means of creating strong bonds between the 

8 United States and the future leadership of devel9 oping countries and assisting those countries to sub10 stantially further their development objectives. 

11 (3) Talented students from families of limited 

12 financial means in Haiti traditionally have few, if 

13 any, opportunities to continue their education in 

14 their own country and are less likely to pursue high15 er education in the United States. 

16 (4) In 2003, 76 percent of the population in 

17 Haiti earned less than the equivalent of $2.00 per 

18 day, and 56 percent of the population in the country 

19 in the same year earned less than the equivalent of 

20 $1.00 per day. 

21 (5) In 2003, the literacy rate of individuals in 

22 Haiti who are older than 15 years of age was less 

23 than 52 percent. The net primary school enrollment 

24 rate was 68 percent, as compared to the average of 


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•HR 5091 IH 

1 approximately 78 percent for other low income coun2 tries, such as Afghanistan and Guinea-Bissau. 

3 (6) Women in Haiti are more likely to be ad4 versely affected by the dire economic and social con5 ditions in Haiti. 

6 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through the 

8 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter9 national Development, shall provide scholarships (includ10 ing partial assistance) for undergraduate study at United 

11 States institutions of higher education (as such term is 

12 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 

13 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) by citizens and nationals of Haiti 

14 who have completed their secondary education with dis15 tinction and who would not otherwise have the opportunity 

16 to study in the United States due to financial constraints. 

17 (b) FORM OF SCHOLARSHIP; FORGIVENESS OF LOAN

18 REPAYMENT.—To encourage Haitian students to use their 

19 training and education for the benefit of Haiti, each schol20 arship that is extended under this Act shall be in the form 

21 of a loan. All repayment of the loan (including principal 

22 and accrued interest) shall be forgiven upon the scholar23 ship recipient’s prompt return to Haiti for a period which 

24 is at least one year longer than the period spent studying 

25 in the United States under the scholarship. 


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1 (c) GUIDELINES.—The scholarship program under 

2 this Act shall be carried out in accordance with the perti3 nent guidelines of section 604 of the Foreign Relations 

4 Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987 (22 

5 U.S.C. 4704; Public Law 99–93; relating to guidelines for 

6 United States scholarship program for developing coun7 tries). 

8 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE PEACE 

9 CORPS. 

10 It is the sense of Congress that the President, acting 

11 through the Director of the Peace Corps, should, as soon 

12 as practicable, make available again to the Government 

13 of Haiti qualified Peace Corps volunteers who would serve 

14 under hardship conditions to— 

15 (1) assist the people of Haiti to improve literacy 

16 rates and meet other basic needs so that they can 

17 become economically self-sufficient; and 

18 (2) promote mutual understanding between the 

19 people of the United States and the people of Haiti. 

20 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro22 priated $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2007, 2008, 

23 and 2009, for the President, acting through the Adminis24 trator for the United States Agency for International De25 velopment, to carry out this Act. 


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1 (b) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—Amounts appro2 priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 

3 under subsection (a) are— 

4 (1) authorized to remain available until ex5 pended; and 

6 (2) shall be in addition to funds otherwise avail7 able for such purposes. 

8 (c) LITERACY AND OTHER BASIC EDUCATION PRO9 GRAMS.—Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

10 to carry out chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 

11 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.; relating to develop12 ment assistance) for each of fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 

13 2009, and which are not allocated for assistance for coun14 tries in Latin America and the Caribbean, not less than 

15 $3,000,000 for each such fiscal year is authorized to be 

16 made available for assistance for literacy and other basic 

17 education programs in Haiti. 

18 SEC. 7. GENERAL AUTHORITIES. 

19 (a) PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR CONTRIBU20 TIONS.—The public and private sectors, particularly the 

21 Haitian-American community, in the United States and 

22 in Haiti shall be encouraged to contribute to the costs of 

23 the scholarship program financed under this Act. To this 

24 end, the President, acting through the Administrator for 

25 the United Sates Agency for International Development, 


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1 is strongly encouraged to design a matching program in 

2 which contributions made by the public and private sectors 

3 of either country are matched by amounts authorized 

4 under this Act. Not more than twenty-five percent of the 

5 amounts authorized to be appropriated under this Act may 

6 be dedicated to such a matching program. 

7 (b) UTILIZATION OF RETURNING SCHOLARSHIP RE8 CIPIENTS.—The President, acting through the Adminis9 trator for the United States Agency for International De10 velopment, shall seek to engage the private sector of Haiti 

11 and international private enterprises that are conducting 

12 business in Haiti to maximize the opportunities for pro13 ductive contributions to the development of Haiti by re14 turning scholarship recipients. 

15 (c) DELIVERY OF ASSISTANCE THROUGH THE COOP16 ERATIVE ASSOCIATION OF STATES FOR SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

17 The President, acting through the Administrator for the 

18 United States Agency for International Development, is 

19 strongly encouraged to carry out the purposes of this Act 

20 through existing scholarship programs, such as the Coop21 erative Association of States for Scholarships program. 

Æ 


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