29563: (Lucas) News Washington Post: Editorial on Hope (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stanley Lucas <maloukwi@yahoo.com>


The Washington Post, November 27, 2006; Page A18
Editorial
Help for Haiti
A time for trade, not troops

WHEN IT COMES to Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, the United
States has a perverse history of being more generous with its
troop deployments than its terms of trade. The time is ripe for a new
approach.

For the past two years, Congress has turned a deaf ear to pleas that
Washington extend trade preferences to Haitian-manufactured
T-shirts, hospital scrubs and other apparel. The effect has been
devastating for the nation's garment industry, once one of the
few bright spots in an otherwise supine economy. Clothing assembly
plants, already hit hard by the political violence of recent
years, are closing nearly every month as customers move their business
to Asia. A sector that once provided 100,000 jobs now
employs only 12,000 to 20,000 and stands in peril of disappearing
entirely.

A rescue package pending in Congress would allow duty-free access to
U.S. markets for garments assembled in Haiti using fabrics
from third countries. The legislation, known as the Haitian Hemispheric
Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act, also
called the HOPE bill, is a modest measure; it is certainly no panacea
for the Haitian economy. But apparel-making plants that
close are relatively easy to reopen, and HOPE, if enacted, could help
kick-start the Haitian economy by quickly getting 10,000 or
more people working again. In a country as poor as Haiti, where a
majority of the population survives on less than $2 a day and
four out of five adults are jobless or underemployed, those jobs would
be a lifeline for thousands of families.

Predictably, HOPE is opposed by textile industry lobbyists and Southern
lawmakers who are doing their bidding. But among HOPE's
advocates on the House Ways and Means Committee are both the top
Republican (California Rep. Bill Thomas) and the top Democrat
(New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel); the bill is also backed by Haitian
President Rene Preval. Timing is crucial. After two
interventions by U.S. forces in the past 12 years, Haiti inaugurated a
democratically elected president this year and has lately
enjoyed what passes there for relative political stability. After 15
years of political turmoil, violent unrest and economic
mismanagement, this looks like a rare opportunity to consolidate
tentative progress in Haiti. Congress shouldn't miss it.

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