John Conyers: “I propose that we strike the language because it creates a double standard against Haiti and it, further, is premature.…”

“I propose that we strike the language because it creates a double standard against Haiti and it, further, is premature. What the language does that I am objecting to is ask that the Committee on Appropriations get a report from the Secretary of State to say that Haiti has held free and fair elections to seat a new parliament and, secondly, that the Office of National Drug Policy should determine that the Government of Haiti is fully cooperating with the United States to interdict drug traffic through Haiti. Now, let us take the second one first. Nobody in the Caribbean cooperates with the U.S. drug interdiction policy interfering with transshipments of drugs that go on throughout the Caribbean more than Haiti. It gives our Government total full operating license. And, in addition, I have heard our Coast Guard say that they have total cooperation. Further, the Haitian Government has no navy, so they are anxious to have the continued support of the U.S. Now, with the idea of holding up appropriations until the Secretary of State declares free elections, just a couple of things we need to understand. This is a double standard that does not apply to anybody else.”