One hundred forty thousand Dominicans assemble U.S. cloth. Our country is no longer the plantation economy of a few years back. Most of those who convert cloth into apparel are women. Their new and important contribution to family income has been the most stabilizing social phenomena in the last fifteen years in our country. If we can increase this figure, there would be less pressure to migrate, illegally or legally, and less temptation to act as a transit point for illegal drugs from South America into the U.S.A. Ninety percent of the value of all Dominican exports of apparel are made in factories which comply with the voluntary code of conduct with respect to labor practices that U.S. companies for whom they are made require of them.
More jobs mean more political stability and a better climate for U.S. investments and U.S. tourism.
The same applies to the rest of the region. U.S. national security objectives with respect to its southern neighbors would thus be strengthened. I thank Chairman Philip M. Crane and Congressmen Charles B. Rangel, Jim Kolbe, William J. Jefferson and Robert T. Matsui for having introduced H.R. 984 and urge quick approval of the same.