I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5171 

To create a program under which qualified and available United States 

construction workers and appropriate equipment can be sent to Haiti 

to assist Haitians in the rebuilding of their country after the devastating 

January 12, 2010, earthquake, as requested by the Government of Haiti, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2010 

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To create a program under which qualified and available 

United States construction workers and appropriate 

equipment can be sent to Haiti to assist Haitians in 

the rebuilding of their country after the devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake, as requested by the Government of Haiti, 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 ‘‘ ‘Partnership With 

5 America’ Rapid Rebuilding of Haiti Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a 

4 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered approximately 

5 15 miles southwest of the nation’s capital, Port-au6 Prince. 

7 (2) Following the initial earthquake came 50 

8 aftershocks, all higher than a magnitude of 4.0, 

9 within 24 hours. 

10 (3) The Government of Haiti reports an esti11 mated 230,000 deaths and 300,000 injured. 

12 (4) Additionally, 1.2 million people have been 

13 displaced as a result of the earthquake. 

14 (5) Damage caused by the earthquake is esti15 mated to be between $8 billion and $14 billion. 

16 (6) According to an Inter-American Develop17 ment Bank report, the episode ‘‘. . . is the most de18 structive event a country has ever experienced when 

19 measured in terms of the number of people killed as 

20 a share of the country’s population’’. 

21 (7) Given the ongoing economic recession in 

22 which more than 8 million people have lost their jobs 

23 in the United States, many qualified construction in24 dustry employees in the United States are currently 

25 unemployed or significantly underemployed and 

26 therefore could be available to provide immediate exVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:17 Apr 29, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5171.IH H5171

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1 pertise and labor to facilitate the rapid rebuilding of 

2 Haiti. 

3 SEC. 3. PARTNERSHIP WITH AMERICA. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the end of the 30- 

5 day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, working through the 

7 Infrastructure Finance Experts Corps of the Office of 

8 Technical Assistance, shall develop and begin carrying out, 

9 together with the Government of Haiti, a program to be 

10 called the ‘‘Partnership With America’’ program, under 

11 which United States construction and reconstruction ex12 perts and workers who currently are unemployed or sig13 nificantly underemployed shall begin work in Haiti on an 

14 organized and coordinated plan to help Haitians rebuild 

15 the infrastructure of Haiti, including roads, airports, en16 ergy facilities, schools, hospitals, and other services funda17 mental to economic development, including permanent 

18 housing for persons who lost their housing because of the 

19 earthquake. 

20 (b) PROGRAM GUIDELINES.—In developing the Part21 nership With America program, the Secretary, working 

22 through the Infrastructure Finance Experts Corps of the 

23 Office of Technical Assistance, shall— 


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1 (1) provide the Congress with an estimate of 

2 the funding needs of such program, including pro3 posed funding sources; 

4 (2) develop a plan for transporting the United 

5 States workers and appropriate construction equip6 ment to Haiti; 

7 (3) develop a plan for the United States work8 ers to mentor Haitian workers while effecting a 

9 rapid rebuilding of important Haitian infrastructure 

10 to help the country recover from the January 12, 

11 2010, earthquake as quickly as possible while antici12 pating the needs of a Haitian economy that does not 

13 merely return to pre-earthquake levels but grows 

14 fast enough to provide jobs for Haitians and raise 

15 the overall standard of living in that country; 

16 (4) ensure that various infrastructure projects 

17 are coordinated as well as possible to minimize 

18 waste, fraud, and abuse; 

19 (5) seek to employ to the greatest extent pos20 sible United States experts and qualified workers 

21 who are unemployed or significantly underemployed, 

22 and be flexible enough to cycle workers to and from 

23 Haiti in such a way that allows them to return to 

24 the United States quickly to fill new jobs, while still 

25 completing their stated missions in rebuilding Haiti; 


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1 (6) develop a public-private partnership for ef2 fecting the goals of the program, using available 

3 Government transportation and logistical resources 

4 while providing rapid rebuilding of Haiti using quali5 fied and available American workers; 

6 (7) establish centers of excellence through 

7 which available construction industry experts from 

8 the United States provide specialized training to 

9 Haitians on construction industry best practices and 

10 leading methodologies and technologies to facilitate 

11 the transfer of deep expertise, including knowledge 

12 on earthquake-resistant infrastructure; 

13 (8) seek to ensure that the United States work14 ers do not take the place of Haitian workers, but in15 stead supplement, coordinate, and mentor Haitian 

16 construction workers, and train them so that an ade17 quate and adequately trained Haitian construction 

18 force is left in place to accommodate the hoped-for 

19 future growth of the Haitian economy; 

20 (9) include adequate controls to ensure that 

21 United States contractors subcontract substantial 

22 amounts of work to local Haitian companies; and 

23 (10) ensure that clear performance metrics and 

24 incentives are provided to those entities participating 

25 in the program. 


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1 (c) TERMINATION.—The Partnership With America 

2 program shall terminate on the date that is the end of 

3 the 36-month period following the date of the enactment 

4 of this Act, so the program assists Haiti in rebuilding but 

5 does not supplant the jobs of Haitians over the longer 

6 term. 

Æ 


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