Political Quotes

“I rise to support section 568 of H.R. 2800, the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004. Section 568 gives the President the authority to reduce the debts that poor countries owe the United States as a result of prior loans under various foreign assistance programs. This authority is included routinely in foreign operations appropriations bills. The rules governing the debates on prior foreign operations appropriations bills always have protected this language from points of order. Unfortunately, this year, the Rules Committee reported and the House passed a rule that fails to protect subsection (a) paragraph (3) of section 568 from points of order against the inclusion of authorizing language in an appropriations bill. Section 568(a)(3) specifically gives the President the authority to reduce debts resulting from prior loans under agricultural programs and food assistance programs. The rest of section 568 is protected from all points of order, as it should be. As a Member of Congress who has been working on the issue of debt relief for poor countries for many years, I am especially disappointed that the Rules Committee did not protect section 568 in its entirety from all points of order. Section 568 is critical to enable the President to reduce and reschedule poor countries debts. Section 568 is especially important for poor countries that do not currently qualify for other debt relief programs, such as the Enhanced HIPC Initiative.”