a1320: Senate Floor Statement of Senator DeWine (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: amedard@gte.net

Senate Floor Statement of Senator DeWine

HAITI TRIP/HUMANITARIAN AID LANGUAGE IN THE FARM BILL

Friday, February 8, 2002


Mr. President, I rise today first to thank Senators Lugar and Harkin for their hard
work on this farm bill. I also thank them for accepting Sense of the Senate language
regarding the strategic importance and ethical need for maintaining and increasing
our humanitarian assistance programs.

This language is based on a resolution that I introduced earlier this week, along
with nine of my colleagues -- Senators Bingaman, Dayton, Dorgan, Kerry, Sarbanes,
Chafee, Dodd, Hagel, and Lott. Our resolution -- and current language now in the farm
bill -- highlight the important role effective foreign assistance programs play in
fostering political stability, food security, rule of law, democracy -- and
ultimately, peace.

Without question, Mr. President, there is a direct link between foreign aid programs
and the self-sufficiency and stability of developing nations. The reality is that
when you go into a developing, impoverished, or war-torn nation and give the
suffering people assistance, you can really make a positive difference. We can feed
starving children, care for the sick and elderly, house countless orphans, and teach
people new and more effective methods of farming. If we do these things, the people
of those nations will be better able to pull themselves out of hopelessness and
despair.

Chaos, poverty, hunger, political uncertainty, and social instability are the root
causes of violence and conflict around the world. We know this. We also know that we
must not wait for a nation to implode before we take action -- we must not wait for a
nation’s people to suffer from poverty, disease, hunger -- we must not wait for the
rise of despotic leaders and corrupt governments, like the Taliban.

Mr. President, I believe that we have a moral obligation to those in the world
suffering at the hands of evil leaders and corrupt governments. We have a moral
obligation to the 1.2 billion people around the world are living on less than one
dollar a day -- one dollar a day! We have a moral obligation to the three billion
people live on only two dollars a day! This kind of poverty is unacceptable. And, it
is something we have to change.

The fact is that foreign assistance has had an enormous impact when applied
effectively. For example, over the past 50 years, our assistance has helped reduce
infant child death rates in the developing world by 50 percent! We also have had a
significant impact on worldwide child survival and health promotion, through
initiatives, such as vaccinations and school feeding programs. Agricultural
development is another area of success. Today, forty-three of the top 50 countries
that import American agricultural products have received humanitarian aid at one time
or another. Our investments in better seeds and agricultural techniques over the past
two decades have helped make it possible to feed an additional one billion people
throughout the world.

Despite its importance and immeasurable value, our overall foreign affairs budget has
been stagnant for the past twenty years. We currently use only one-half of one
percent of our federal budget for humanitarian aid. This is the lowest rate among G7
countries! Yet, this assistance is absolutely critical to the people of war-ravaged,
politically unstable, impoverished nations. The children, the elderly, and the
civilian people are not responsible for political and economic turmoil in their
homelands, but they are the ones who end up suffering. And, that is just plain wrong.

Right now, Mr. President, increases in foreign assistance can make a very real
difference around the world -- especially in a country right in our own backyard --
in Haiti. I recently returned from my ninth trip there, where I again witnessed the
tremendous devastation, destitution, and desperation of a country located less than
two hours by plane from the shores of Miami.

Haiti remains the poorest country in the hemisphere. Democracy and political
stability continue to elude the Haitian people, and the already dire humanitarian
conditions of Haiti’s 8.2 million people continue to deteriorate. Today, less than
one-half of Haiti’s population can read or write. The country’s infant mortality rate
is the highest in our hemisphere. At least 23 percent of children ages zero to five
are malnourished, only 39 percent of Haitians have access to clean water, and
diseases like measles, malaria, and tuberculosis are epidemic.

Haiti is also suffering from a tremendous AIDS crisis. Roughly one out of every 12
Haitians is living with HIV/AIDS. This is the highest rate in the world, outside
sub-Sahara Africa. And, according to the Center for Disease Control projections,
Haiti will experience up to 44,000 new HIV/AIDS cases this year -- that’s at least
4,000 more than the number expected here in the United States, a nation with a
population nearly 35 times larger. In addition, there are an estimated 30,000 to
40,000 deaths each year due to AIDS.

Already, AIDS has orphaned 163,000 children, a number expected to skyrocket to
between 323,000 and 393,000 over the next ten years. Haiti also continues to suffer
from an unnecessarily high HIV transmission rate from mother to child -- something
that is easily prevented through proper counseling and medication. Yet, currently,
only one clinic in Port-au-Prince provides these critical, life-saving services.

Indeed, Mr. President, things are bad in Haiti -- and they stand to only get worse.
Right now, nearly $500 million in international aid for the Haitian government is
being withheld as a result of disputes over the May 2000 election. Until President
Aristide demonstrates the political will to end the stalemate, negotiate with the
opposition party, and begin to institute real, lasting reforms, government assistance
will remain on hold. And, I agree with this policy. But what it means is that the
only aid that Haiti will receive from the United States will be humanitarian
assistance to the non-governmental organizations.

As a result, Mr. President, it becomes all the more pressing that we increase the aid
that goes to the people. Yet, year after year, we keep cutting the aid that goes to
the non-governmental organizations -- the money dedicated to feeding starving Haitian
children; teaching the men and women better, more effective methods of farming; and
instituting much-needed health care programs. Last year, we provided $77 million in
humanitarian aid. This year, that figure has dropped to $50 million. This is simply
not acceptable.

The United States must take responsibility and sizeably increase our humanitarian
efforts in Haiti. We have a moral obligation to stay committed to the people --
irrespective of what the Haitian government does or does not do. The reality is that
we need to increase foreign assistance across the board – not just the money that
goes to protect the Haitian people, but the much-needed aid that reaches all corners
of the developing world. While we, as a nation, must project strength, we also must
project compassion. Quite simply, providing humanitarian assistance is the right
thing do.

I thank the chair and yield the floor.

Source: <http://dewine.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=180600>