Rob Portman: “I rise in support of H.R. 4611, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act for FY…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 4611, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act for FY 2001. I'd like to thank Chairman Callahan and Ranking Member Pelosi for once again including $13 million in funding for the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998. The Tropical Forest Conservation Act expands President Bush's Enterprise for the Americas Initiative--EAI--and provides a creative market-oriented approach to protect the world's most threatened tropical forests on a sustained basis. It is a cost-effective way to respond to the global crisis in tropical forests, and the groups that have the most experience preserving tropical forests--including the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and others--agree. The Administration is strongly in support of this effort as well. It is an excellent example of the kind of bipartisan approach we should have on environmental issues. Tropical forests harbor up to 90% of the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. They act as ``carbon sinks,'' absorbing massive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby reducing greenhouse gases. They regulate rainfall on which agriculture and coastal resources depend, which is of great importance to regional and global climates. And they are the breeding grounds for new drugs that can cure diseases. Sadly, since 1950, half of the world's tropical forests have been lost.”