Charles Rangel: “let me tell Members why I oppose this amendment and support OPIC. There is no question that this great democracy of ours…”

“let me tell Members why I oppose this amendment and support OPIC. There is no question that this great democracy of ours has been responsible for taking a lot of dictatorships, a lot of military governments, and trying to make democracies out of them. We have had tremendous success in Africa, tremendous success in South America, and the one thing that makes democracies work is not just a good feeling, but that people are eating and people have jobs and people are doing things. That is what is necessary in order to have a democracy. What is it that really makes a country not look for aid but is willing to be looking for trade? That is where we are looking for economic expansion. It is not just love and affection. We want markets there to sell our goods. If there is no disposable income, if they are only asking for assistance, they cannot buy American goods. Take Africa. The President of the United States finally recognized that here was a continent that was rich with resources that have not been developed. There are people that are skeptical about investing in Africa because they think these new young governments are unstable. Now comes OPIC and says, we will be there with you. We will give the guarantees. Just the President recognizing for trade purposes Africa has more than doubled the investments that are there.”