Donald M. Payne: “Let me express my appreciation to the gentlelady from Cleveland for calling this Special Order. She has been such a…”

“Let me express my appreciation to the gentlelady from Cleveland for calling this Special Order. She has been such a tremendous resource to the Congressional Black Caucus. And as we know, the Congressional Black Caucus has been very involved in Haiti for many, many years. For the 22 years that I have been a Member of this Congress, Haiti has always been number one on the agenda. And we went through the years when there were dictatorships, and then the elections and President Aristide being elected to office, and then his being deposed and the military, General Cedras, Biamby and those folks took over. And then President Clinton having the foresight to restore President Aristide; 22,000 U.S. troops went to restore democracy without us having even one casualty. And the current situation where President Aristide left and the new government of Preval. So we have been involved throughout the years. Let me tell you that when we heard the news of the earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale, only 6 miles deep, bringing it so close to the surface it made the magnitude even greater, the aftershocks that continued, we immediately said we must do something and do something quickly and do something drastic.”