Chris Smith: “I thank Chairman Royce for his leadership on AGOA in general. I thank Karen Bass, who has worked doggedly for years…”

“I thank Chairman Royce for his leadership on AGOA in general. I thank Karen Bass, who has worked doggedly for years, last year for the reauthorization. I see Mr. McDermott, who has also been so active over the years on this and critical to its passage at the beginning. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2845, the AGOA Enhancement Act. When the African Growth and Opportunity Act was enacted into law in May of 2000, it was intended to help eligible Sub- Saharan African countries increase economic growth by providing duty- free, quota-free access to U.S. markets for more than 6,400 items from meats to textiles and apparel, to petroleum, to leather goods. Because there were issues that needed to be addressed to enable AGOA to be more effective as intended, Congress has fine-tuned this important legislation since then and made adjustments several times to facilitate African exports to the United States. H.R. 2845 is the latest noble effort to make AGOA work for more African producers primarily by enhancing the technical assistance and information provided to African producers, including the establishment of a Web site to provide this information. People need to know what is available and how they can access this important treaty and its subsidies. The bill further allows for countries with the Millennium Challenge account grants to foster regional economic integration.…”