Liz Saville Roberts: “I support the Baucus-Roberts amendment to engage china on the important issue of rapid industrialization and the…”

“I support the Baucus-Roberts amendment to engage china on the important issue of rapid industrialization and the environment. The amendment would permit appropriated funds for the US-Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP)--an initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)--to be used for environmental projects in the People's Republic of China (PRC). In other words, the U.S. government would finally be able to, for example, help U.S. businesses connect with provincial and municipal governments in China to initiate badly needed environmental engineering projects. This work is necessary to attempt to prevent a possible long-term environmental catastrophe resulting from intense industrialization and development in the PRC and Asia in general. Why should one care whether Chinese or Asian people breath clean air or drink clean water? Besides the obvious humanitarian concern, a ruined environment throughout Asia will--at some point--affect us here in the United States and our interests. This is common sense. The Baucus-Roberts amendment also sends a strong pro-engagement message to the PRC since the U.S. excluded de jure or de facto the PRC from U.S. foreign aid programs with passage and signing of the FY 90-FY 91 State Department Authorization, specifically section 902 of H.R. 3792. Our government purports to be concerned about global environmental issues, Mr. President, about avoiding contamination of the world's water, air, and soil.…”