Ted Poe: “I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his comments. A couple of things that he mentioned are worth mentioning again, I…”

“I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his comments. A couple of things that he mentioned are worth mentioning again, I believe. This very bill that we have been working on for a long time passed unanimously in this House of Representatives 4 years ago in December. Why didn't it become law? Because, in the Senate's rules, one Senator was able to block the legislation from even being voted on in the Senate. So here we are again, 4 years later, trying to get this legislation passed. My friend mentioned USAID and their mission statement. Nothing in the definition of ``assistance'' in this bill precludes USAID from reporting on data fields that it currently reports on for the Green Book and for OECD. So, if they are already making reports, this legislation, to be very clear, does not prohibit them from also making those other reports, but they will comply with the legislation in this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.”