Doug Bereuter: “as vice chairman of the International Relations Committee, this Member rises in strong opposition to the Kucinich…”

“as vice chairman of the International Relations Committee, this Member rises in strong opposition to the Kucinich amendment which would cut the funding of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation's (OPIC) Investment Fund program. While this Member shares the distinguished gentleman's concern about funding only environmentally responsible projects, given that OPIC already has an effective environmental review program, it appears that the underlying purpose of this amendment is to drastically cut and restrict OPIC under the guise of environmental protection. Mr. Chairman, we have already had this debate on the Andrews amendment. Contrary to the claims of some OPIC opponents, all of OPIC's fund investments must meet stringent world class environmental standards. These standards are higher than any other bilateral export credit, investment or insurance agency in the world. In fact, no other investment funds program has higher standards. OPIC requires that each environmentally sensitive fund investment must undergo a complete environmental impact assessment and must meet OPIC obligations to mitigate potential environmental harm. Each funds project is subject to OPIC environmental monitoring over the life of the project. This includes the Russian forest project which has been cited and about which this Member has been informed did meet applicable World Bank Environmental Standards.”