Date: 2010-03-10
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of this bill. the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of Representatives MEEKS and WATERS wasted no time responding with this legislation. They have been the most stalwart proponents of the Haitian people. and the Haitian people are very fortunate to have them on their side. I want to applaud them for their efforts with this act. As the Members of this body know. on January 12. 2010. Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered approximately 15 miles southwest of the nations capital. PortauPrince. What followed were 50 aftershocks with magnitudes over 4.0. all occurring within 24 hours. As of now. the Haitian Government has estimated 230.000 deaths and 300.000 injured. Additionally. 700.000 people have been displaced in the PortauPrince area. Damage caused by the earthquake is estimated between $8 billion and $14 billion. with reports speculating that reconstruction costs could approximate $14 billion. As the people of Haiti strive to put the pieces of their lives and the country back together. Congress clearly needs to help. This bill would have the Secretary of the Treasury instruct the U.S. representatives at the World Bank. the IMF. the InterAmerican Development Bank. and other multilateral institutions to use their influence at these institutions to reach an agreement on relieving Haitian debt to these entities and to suspend Haitis debt service payments until those debts are canceled. Additionally. U.S. representatives at these institutions would advocate that future aid provided to Haiti be grantbased to avoid placing the country immediately back in debt as they seek to rebuild. In the shadow of a tragedy this size. this is an important first step. but I think the body must consider how much more can be done. So often American efforts to provide aid to impoverished nations come in the form of a check. which does provide a significant boost. but the goal here is to mitigate the impact of the disaster on the people. I hope this body can look at areas where American resources and knowhow can be invested in Haitian society. In addition to feeding the people and providing shelter and medical care. we can leverage American resources so that we arent simply sending a check. Americans are the most generous people in the world. In the aftermath of this tragedy. the citizens of this country have raised tens of millions of dollars to help the Haitian people. We should also be looking to send our heavy machinery and engineering capabilities along with qualified American workersmany of whom have been out of work themselvesto assist the Haitian people rebuild their nation quicker and more effectively. We will be holding a hearing next week in Financial Services to discuss many of these issues. and I look forward to working with my colleagues on ways that we can further leverage our Nations great resources. In conclusion. I want to thank Representatives WATERS and MEEKS for introducing this legislation. You have been strong advocates. and I really applaud you for the efforts. I thank you for allowing me to participate here tonight. I strongly urge support of this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.