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 Califor-
nia, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. GIB-
BONS, 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;
•HCON 121 IH
Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to seek ex-
panded 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 in-
dustries and workers;
Whereas the United States-Mexico border region suffers from
serious infrastructure deficiencies, particularly in His-
panic 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 infrastruc-
ture, 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 in-
vestments in new technologies and environmental infra-
structure;
Whereas the border regions pose particularly difficult prob-
lems for cross-border coordination, financing, and imple-
mentation of projects to improve environmental infra-
structure and reduce air and ground water pollution;
•HCON 121 IH
Whereas many necessary environmental and infrastructure
projects cannot be financed by private financial institu-
tions, local governments, or communities;
Whereas American businesses, particularly small and minor-
ity-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 dur-
ing 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 pres-
sures for illegal immigration to the United States;
Whereas the Congress recognizes the need to create an insti-
tution able to provide capital for projects which will en-
hance regional economic development and jobs, and accel-
erate 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
•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 fi-
nancial institutions to direct financial and technical as-
sistance to those regions of North America which present
opportunities for economic developmental cooperation:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the United States, Mexico, and Canada
should jointly establish a North American Develop-
ment Bank to—
(A) promote the investment of public and
private capital for development purposes, in-
cluding viable projects which provide worker re-
training and employment for those workers dis-
placed by the effects of the North American
Free Trade Agreement;
(B) use capital of the bank, funds raised
by the bank in financial markets, and other
available resources to finance environmental im-
provement, infrastructure, and community and
social development projects, giving priority to
projects that will contribute most effectively to
environmental improvement, regional economic
growth, and jobs;
•HCON 121 IH
(C) encourage private investment in eco-
nomically viable projects, enterprises, and ac-
tivities that contribute to environmental im-
provement and economic development, and sup-
plement private investment when private capital
is not available on reasonable terms and condi-
tions;
(D) provide technical assistance in the
preparation, financing, and implementation of
development plans and projects, including the
study of priorities and the formulation of spe-
cific project proposals; and
(E) promote and stimulate conditions con-
ducive to the flow of private capital, foreign and
domestic, into productive investment in projects
which improve environmental infrastructure, re-
duce air and ground water pollution, and result
in sustainable use of natural resources; and
(2) any agreement providing for the establish-
ment of such a bank should ensure that—
(A) the purposes of the bank are as set
forth in paragraph (1);
(B) the bank is initially capitalized by
funds from the United States, Mexico, and
Canada;
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(C) the authorized capital of the bank is
$5,000,000,000, of which $1,000,000,000 is
paid-in capital;
(D) the United States provides 2⁄3 of the
capital of the bank;
(E) all powers of the bank are vested in a
Board of Directors whose members are appor-
tioned based on the quantity of shares held by
the member countries;
(F) an oversight board reflecting regional
constituencies is established in the bank to ad-
vise the executive directors regarding the merits
of proposed projects and to offer technical ex-
pertise to support the bank;
(G) an Office of Ombudsman is established
in the bank to serve as liaison between the bank
and the public;
(H) the bank is authorized to extend loans,
financial assistance, loan guarantees, and tech-
nical assistance to governmental agencies, local
governments, nonprofit organizations, and pri-
vate institutions;
(I) the bank provides support only to
projects that can be made economically feasible
•HCON 121 IH
with Bank financing and that are projected to
provide an adequate return to the bank;
(J) an objective scoring system is devel-
oped to assess the effectiveness with which
projects supported by the bank use resources
provided by the bank;
(K) communities adversely affected by
NAFTA are able to recommend projects de-
signed to relieve or ameliorate such effects;
(L) a wide spectrum of organizations, in-
cluding local, State, and Federal governments,
local and national agencies, community-based
and other nonprivate organizations, and busi-
nesses are able to submit project proposals;
(M) lending by the bank in nonborder
areas is apportioned among projects in the
United States, Canada, and Mexico based on
each country’s respective share of the paid-in
capital of the Bank; and
(N) as a condition of receiving support
from the bank, a project will be required to
comply with domestic environmental and labor
standards.
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