Dana Rohrabacher: “I rise in support of this basic legislation, which would instruct, of course, the Secretary of Treasury to negotiate…”

“I rise in support of this basic legislation, which would instruct, of course, the Secretary of Treasury to negotiate debt relief for developing countries, especially those new democracies. And let me note that much of the debt that we have heard about today that has had such a horrible impact on the way of living, on the standard of living of people throughout the developing world, that debt is basically a result of dictatorship. It is not a result of democratic governments making wrong decisions. By and large we're talking about governments that have been run by authoritarians and gangsters who are putting their own people in debt. I would suggest that anyone who lends money to a dictatorship should take notice and they are doing so at their own risk. However, these people who establish democratic government and replace dictatorships should not be forced to bear the burden of having massive debt. This is what keeps these countries down even once they've replaced their dictators.”