[Pages S2761-S2762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY):
S. 3275. A bill to extend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act,
to provide customs support services to Haiti, and for other purposes;
to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, one of Aesop's Fables teaches us, ``In
union there is strength.''
In 2009, Haiti's future was beginning to strengthen. A U.S. trade
preference program, known as the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity
through Partnership Encouragement Act, or HOPE II, created incentives
to increase textile and apparel production in Haiti. As a result,
Haiti's textile and apparel sector was growing, creating new jobs and a
viable economic future.
But on January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude
earthquake that took hundreds of thousands of lives, left a million
people homeless, and shattered Haiti's burgeoning economy. As Haiti
recovers from this devastation, we must unite with our neighbor to help
provide the strength that it needs to recover and rebuild.
Today, Senator Grassley and I introduce the Haiti Economic Lift
Program Act of 2010--the HELP Act--to strengthen Haiti's path to
economic recovery. Congressmen Levin, Camp, and Rangel are also
introducing a companion bill in the House.
The HELP Act would build on the success of the HOPE Act by expanding
access to the U.S. market for textile and apparel products from Haiti.
As a result, it would create incentives for immediate and long-term
private investment in Haiti, which would in turn create sustainable
jobs and a stable economy. The HELP Act would also extend all of our
trade preference programs for Haiti to 2020, ensuring that Haiti could
rely on these tariff benefits as it plans its own economic future.
As we considered the needs of Haiti, we were also watchful of the
needs of our domestic textile industry. We worked closely with the
domestic industry for months to craft a bill that would not hurt our
own workers, even as we help others.
The HELP Act represents a landmark union among the Senate, the House,
Democrats, Republicans, and the domestic textile industry to help Haiti
recover from its devastation. This union resulted in an unprecedented
bill that will help Haiti emerge from the earthquake stronger than
ever.
I urge my colleagues to join this union and quickly approve this
legislation.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I have come to the floor to speak about
a bill that Senator Baucus and I have introduced today. It's called the
Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010.
The purpose of our bill is to help Haiti recover from the devastation
it suffered in the massive earthquake that struck the country in
January.
How we respond to natural disasters says a lot about ourselves,
whether it's flooding in Iowa or an earthquake in Haiti.
The idea behind the bill is simple. First, we extend current trade
preferences for Haiti through fiscal year 2020, to provide more
certainty for companies doing business either in Haiti or with Haitian
partners.
Second, we grant additional duty-free access to the U.S. market for
targeted

[[Page S2762]]

categories of textile and apparel products. That will help to draw more
investment into Haiti's economy and thereby promote long-term job
creation, economic development, and political stability.
Our bill is a bipartisan, bicameral compromise. It is the product of
3 months of collaborative negotiations among the chairmen and ranking
members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees and
with representatives of the U.S. textile industry and the Haitians
themselves.
We also reached out to members of Congress who have constituent
textile and apparel interests, to ensure that their concerns were
addressed.
Our ability to reach agreement on the bill is a testament to the good
will and good faith of all those involved in our negotiations.
The result reflects a careful balancing of interests, including
Haiti's interest in spurring more investment in its economy, the
interests of our trading partners in Central America in maintaining
existing trade relationships, and our own domestic textile interests.
We took special care to address the sensitivities of our domestic
producers.
In fact, I have a letter here from the two leading U.S. textile
industry organizations. Their letter expresses support for our bill and
encourages the Senate to pass the bill in an expeditious manner by
unanimous consent.
Finally, I want to make special mention of my colleagues from states
with textile interests, and to thank them for their constructive input
in developing this legislation.
Without their engagement and support, we would not have arrived at
the compromise bill that is being introduced today in both the Senate
and the House of Representatives.
This is a balanced bill that addresses an urgent priority in the
Western Hemisphere.
I ask my colleagues to give the bill their unanimous support when it
comes before the Senate.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
April 26, 2010.
Hon. Max Baucus,
Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Dirksen Senate
Office Building, Washington, DC.
Hon. Charles Grassley,
Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley: As
representatives of the United States textile industry, we are
writing in regard to the Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of
2010, a bill to provide enhanced market access for apparel
products manufactured in Haiti.
After lengthy negotiations with your staffs, we are pleased
that we were able to reach an acceptable compromise on this
important legislation. While the bill provides Haiti with a
path forward for long-term economic recovery in the wake of
its devastating earthquake, it also takes into account
various sensitivities from the perspective of the U.S.
textile industry.
For example, the bill grants significant increases in duty
free treatment through a system of Tariff Preference Levels
(TPLs) but also institutes sub-limits on highly sensitive
products that can be exported under the TPLs. The sub-limits
were a key priority for the domestic industry and will
prevent over concentration of exports in one or two key areas
that could be particularly damaging to U.S. producers. In
addition, the bill extends the current Caribbean Basin Trade
Partnership Act (CBTPA) through 2020. This extension will
help to provide long-term certainty for a program that is of
significant value for U.S. and Western Hemispheric trading
partners.
Obviously, we take very seriously the impact that
additional duty free imports may have on U.S. producers and
workers as well as our Western Hemispheric customers. Noting
those concerns, we also recognize that the devastating
circumstances in Haiti produced an exceptional case that
motivated Congress to develop a quick response and have
worked with the Committee to develop a package that strikes
an acceptable balance. We must stress, however, that this
package does not set a precedent for Any future trade
preference legislation.
For all these reasons, we are encouraging our Congressional
members that represent the nearly 500,000 U.S. textile and
apparel workers to approve this legislation in an expeditious
manner under suspension of the rules in the House and by
unanimous consent in the Senate.
Sincerely,
Augustine D. Tantillo,
Executive Director, American Manufacturing Trade Action
Coalition (AMTAC).
Cass M. Johnson,
President, National Council of Textile Organizations
(NCTO).
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