IB
Union Calendar No. 363
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 984
[Report No. 106–519, Part I]
To provide additional trade benefits to certain beneficiary countries in the
Caribbean, to provide assistance to the countries in Central America
and the Caribbean affected by Hurricane Mitch and Hurricane Georges,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 4, 1999
Mr. CRANE (for himself, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr. MATSUI) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means, and in addition to the Committees on International Relations,
Banking and Financial Services, the Judiciary, and Armed Services, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
MARCH 13, 2000
Reported from the Committee on Ways and Means with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
MARCH 13, 2000
Referral to the Committees on International Relations, Banking and Financial
Services, the Judiciary, and Armed Services extended for a period ending
not later than May 26, 2000
MAY 26, 2000
Referral to the Committees on International Relations, Banking and Financial
Services, the Judiciary, and Armed Services extended for a period ending
not later than June 7, 2000
JUNE 7, 2000
Additional sponsors: Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. DREIER, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mr. ENGLISH, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. RUSH, Mrs.
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. DOOLEY of California,
Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MILLER of Flor-
ida, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. ARMEY, Ms. DUNN, Mr. SHAW, Mr.
MCINNIS, Mr. DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr.
BLUMENAUER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS
of Florida, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. PRYCE of
Ohio, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. BENTSEN, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. LATOURETTE,
Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. CANNON, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr.
EHLERS, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Ms.
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FARR of
California, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. WEINER, Mr. CAMP, Mr.
BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. FORD, Mr.
OXLEY, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. MASCARA, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. WYNN, Mr.
TALENT, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. VITTER, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. DAVIS of Illi-
nois, Mr. GOSS, and Mr. SHAYS
Deleted sponsor: Mr. BOEHNER (added April 27, 1999; deleted May 6, 1999)
JUNE 7, 2000
Committees on International Relations, Banking and Financial Services, the
Judiciary, and Armed Services discharged; committed to the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 4, 1999]
A BILL
To provide additional trade benefits to certain beneficiary
countries in the Caribbean, to provide assistance to the
countries in Central America and the Caribbean affected
by Hurricane Mitch and Hurricane Georges, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Caribbean and Central America Relief and Economic Sta-
bilization Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I—UNITED STATES-CARIBBEAN TRADE PARTNERSHIP
Subtitle A—Trade Provisions
Sec. 101. Short title.
Sec. 102. Policy.
Sec. 103. Definitions.
Sec. 104. Temporary provisions to provide NAFTA parity to partnership coun-
tries.
Sec. 105. Effect of NAFTA on sugar imports from beneficiary countries.
Sec. 106. Duty-free treatment for certain beverages made with Caribbean rum.
Sec. 107. Meetings of trade ministers and USTR.
Sec. 108. Report on economic development and market oriented reforms in the
Caribbean.
Subtitle B—Revenue Offset
Sec. 111. Limitations on welfare benefit funds of 10 or more employer plans.
Subtitle C—Suspension of Limitation on Cover Over of Tax on Distilled
Spirits
Sec. 121. Suspension of limitation on cover over of tax on distilled spirits.
TITLE II—FOREIGN ASSISTANCE FOR CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE
CARIBBEAN
Subtitle A—Microcredit and Agricultural Assistance
Sec. 201. Declaration of policy.
Sec. 202. Microenterprise assistance.
Sec. 203. Support for producer-owned cooperative marketing associations.
Sec. 204. Agricultural research and extension activities.
Sec. 205. Nonemergency food assistance programs.
Subtitle B—Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Sec. 211. Private sector development activities of OPIC.
Subtitle C—Economic Support Fund Assistance
Sec. 221. Economic support fund assistance.
Sec. 222. Reimbursement of international disaster account.
Sec. 223. Rule of construction; availability of amounts.
TITLE III—DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Sec. 301. Replacement of funds used for disaster relief and reconstruction.
TITLE IV—IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE
Sec. 401. Detention facilities.
TITLE V—DEBT RESCHEDULING AND REDUCTION FOR HONDURAS
AND NICARAGUA; FUNDING FOR THE CENTRAL AMERICAN EMER-
GENCY TRUST FUND OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECON-
STRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Subtitle A—Debt Rescheduling and Reduction for Honduras and Nicaragua
Sec. 501. Rescheduling of interest payments owed by Honduras and Nicaragua.
Sec. 502. Reduction of debt owed by Honduras.
Subtitle B—Authorization of Funding for the Central American Emergency
Trust Fund of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Sec. 511. Authorization of funding.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In October of 1998, Hurricane Mitch dev-
astated areas of the Caribbean and Central America.
The National Hurricane Center has called this storm
‘‘the most deadly hurricane in the Atlantic in over
200 years’’. Hurricane Mitch killed 9,860 people and
left approximately 3,000,000 people homeless in the
region.
(2) Hurricane Georges hit the Florida Keys, the
islands of the Caribbean, and the Gulf coast of the
United States in September of 1998, causing more
than $1,000,000,000 in damage. The storm killed 250
people.
(3) The total direct economic impact of Hurri-
cane Mitch and Hurricane Georges on Honduras,
Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and
Guatemala amounts to $4,200,000,000. Honduras’
losses represent more than 50 percent of its gross do-
mestic product and Nicaragua lost a quarter of its
gross domestic product.
(4) The United States must continue to play a
leading role in responding to the disaster and encour-
age others to contribute to the recovery effort. For ex-
ample, Taiwan has contributed $50,800,000 in assist-
ance for the construction of roads and housing, the re-
habilitation of agricultural production, and the dis-
tribution of supplies. Sweden, Spain, and France
have sent engineering teams to the region to assess
damage to roads, and Japan and the European
Union have pledged millions of dollars in assistance.
The United States praises the efforts of these and
other nations in assisting with the rehabilitation of
the region.
(5) Approximately 356 bridges were destroyed in
the region, and 57 percent of the region’s roads were
impacted. The United States equivalent of this would
be the destruction of 3,900,000 miles of highway.
These roads must be reconstructed quickly so that
farmers can transport their goods to market and
much-needed medical supplies can reach rural areas.
(6) Hurricane Mitch devastated the agricultural
sector in the affected areas of Central America and
the Caribbean, particularly the countries of Honduras
and Guatemala. An estimated 70 percent of Hon-
duras’ crops were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch, in-
cluding 90 percent of the country’s banana and grain
crops. In Guatemala, an estimated 95 percent of the
nation’s banana crop was damaged, 25-60 percent of
the corn, bean, coffee, and sugar crops were destroyed,
and 30 percent of the cattle was lost.
(7) Approximately 50 percent of Central Amer-
ica and the Caribbean’s workforce is employed in ag-
riculture. The devastation to the agriculture sector by
Hurricane Mitch has resulted in a widespread short-
age of food which is likely to continue in the long
term unless the region’s agricultural sector is rehabili-
tated.
(8) Significant numbers of displaced Central
Americans are moving north to the United States in
the wake of Hurricane Mitch’s devastation. Border
Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, report that ap-
prehensions of Hondurans alone increased by 61 per-
cent in the last three months of 1998. The massive in-
flux of immigrants places severe pressures upon the
ability of the Immigration and Naturalization Serv-
ice (INS) to detain and remove non-criminal illegal
immigrants. At current funding levels, the INS does
not have the resources to detain illegal non-criminal
border crossers from Central America. If this situa-
tion continues, the INS is concerned that many more
people will attempt to illegally cross the border.
(9) Partially in an effort to alleviate these pres-
sures, the Attorney General provided temporary pro-
tected status to aliens from Honduras and Nicaragua
on December 30, 1998 for a period of 18 months. No
such status was provided to immigrants from El Sal-
vador and Guatemala.
(10) Agricultural assistance and training and
microcredit assistance will provide much needed aid
to the affected areas of Central America and the Car-
ibbean as the areas rebuild their agriculture sectors.
The immediate distribution of food aid is important
in the short term, but it is essential that the region
be able to return to self-sufficiency in food production
so the citizens of Central America and the Caribbean
will be able to feed themselves once again.
(11) The goal of United States assistance to the
region should focus on, in addition to the short-term
disaster assistance, long-term solutions for a success-
ful economic recovery of Central America and the
Caribbean. Successful economic recovery lies in the re-
gion’s ability to expand its international trade with
important trading partners such as the United
States.
(12) Since 1983, the Caribbean Basin Economic
Recovery Act has represented a permanent and suc-
cessful commitment by the United States to encourage
the development of strong democratic governments
and revitalized economies in neighboring countries in
the Caribbean Basin.
(13) Thirty-four democratically elected leaders
agreed at the 1994 Summit of the Americas to con-
clude negotiation of a Free Trade Area of the Amer-
icas (referred to in this Act as ‘‘FTAA’’) by the year
2005.
(14) The economic security of the countries in
the Caribbean Basin will be enhanced by the comple-
tion of the FTAA.
(15) Offering temporary benefits to Caribbean
Basin countries on the 30 percent of imports from the
region that are not currently duty-free under the Car-
ibbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and other trade
programs, will promote the growth of free enterprise
and economic opportunity in these neighboring coun-
tries and thereby enhance the national security inter-
ests of the United States.
(16) Given the greater propensity of countries lo-
cated in the Western Hemisphere to use United States
components and to purchase United States products
compared to other countries, increased trade and eco-
nomic activity between the United States and coun-
tries in the Western Hemisphere will create new jobs
in the United States as a result of expanding export
opportunities.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) 
ADMINISTRATOR.—The 
term 
‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development.
(2) AFFECTED AREAS OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND
THE CARIBBEAN.—The term ‘‘affected areas of Central
America and the Caribbean’’ means areas in the Cen-
tral American countries and the Caribbean countries
that incurred damage from Hurricane Georges in
September of 1998 and Hurricane Mitch in October
of 1998.
(3) CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES.—The term ‘‘Carib-
bean countries’’ means any country listed in section
212(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery
Act (19 U.S.C. 2702(b)) (other than Central Amer-
ican countries).
(4) CENTRAL AMERICAN COUNTRIES.—The term
‘‘Central American countries’’ means Belize, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
and Panama.
(5) OPIC.—The term ‘‘OPIC’’ means the Over-
seas Private Investment Corporation.
TITLE I—UNITED STATES-CARIB-
BEAN TRADE PARTNERSHIP
Subtitle A—Trade Provisions
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Carib-
bean Trade Partnership Act’’.
SEC. 102. POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to offer to the prod-
ucts of Caribbean Basin partnership countries tariffs and
quota treatment equivalent to that accorded to certain prod-
ucts of countries that are parties to the NAFTA, and to
seek the accession of these partnership countries to the
NAFTA or a free trade agreement comparable to the
NAFTA at the earliest possible date, with the goal of achiev-
ing full participation in the NAFTA or in a free trade
agreement comparable to the NAFTA by all partnership
countries by not later than January 1, 2005.