On the recordDecember 3, 2015
I want to thank my friend from Vermont with whom I have worked for years to help improve the lives of small farmers in Africa and elsewhere. The situation facing coffee farmers in the Eastern Congo should concern all Senators, as there is an opportunity, thanks to the Eastern Congo Initiative, the Buffett Foundation, and Starbucks, to significantly increase the income of people who have long struggled to get out of poverty. The Congolese Government should take immediate steps to eliminate this unofficial tax rate and other specious financial charges that are jeopardizing the livelihoods of their own people. The government must be part of the solution--and not the problem--to Congo's myriad challenges.
