Corker Says Expanded Trade Preferences and $20 Million in USAID Emergency Food Assistance for Haiti is Significant News for the Poverty Stricken Country

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Corker Says Expanded Trade Preferences and $20 Million in USAID Emergency Food Assistance for Haiti is Significant News for the Poverty Stricken Country

U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Ranking Member on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, said today's announcement from USAID (United States Agency for International Development) that the U.S. will provide an initial $20 million of emergency food assistance to Haiti is very significant news for the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

In April, Corker joined Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Bill Nelson (D-Florida) and Mel Martinez (R-Florida) in a letter to President Bush strongly urging the administration to provide no less than $60 million in emergency food assistance for Haiti so that Haitian President Rene Préval can carry out his anti-hunger program for the next six months.

"Today's news from USAID means that 38,000 tons of food - enough to feed 760,000 people for three months - will be getting into the hands of Haitians very quickly," said Corker. "The American people give so generously to those in need around the world, and once again we have extended our leadership and aid to Haiti. This isn't just the right thing to do morally; this is also in our own national security interests. If Haitian families go hungry it will derail the progress Préval and others have worked so hard to achieve and make it even harder to ensure that Haiti continues to have a democratically elected, stable government."

Haiti, just 600 miles off U.S. shores, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has been wracked by political turmoil throughout its history. In early 2007, United Nations peacekeepers restored stability to Haiti by driving most gang activity out of Port-au-Prince, and President Préval began to forge ahead with a comprehensive plan for economic growth. Today's food crisis threatens to derail this progress. Last month, riots protesting high food prices broke out in the southern city of Les Cayes and quickly spread throughout the country. Rising food costs have placed additional hardship on Haiti's people, three-quarters of whom live on less than $2 a day.

To address the current food crisis, USAID will provide an initial $20 million of emergency food assistance to Haiti. This will be programmed through the World Food Program and U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations. It is estimated that this will supply approximately 38,000 tons of basic commodities (wheat, rice, beans, and vegetable oil). To expedite initial shipments, USAID will draw on prepositioned food stocks in Texas. This food will be used for 1) emergency safety net feeding of the most vulnerable populations in targeted urban and rural areas; 2) school feeding of students with take home rations to poor households; and 3) food for work programs to repair irrigation systems and roads and reclaim eroded farmland to boost food production and provide jobs for the unemployed.

Corker also noted the provisions that passed Thursday as part of the farm bill conference report that will give Haiti expanded, duty free access to the U.S. market for textile products. Corker was heavily engaged in negotiations on the Senate side to ensure the language - which expands the trade preferences for Haiti originally enacted in 2006 under the Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE Act) - were included in the conference report. Corker actively engaged American retail companies, textile manufacturers and the Haitian business community to ensure that the legislation was equitable for both the United States and Haiti.

"HOPE II will enhance Haiti's troubled economy without hurting U.S. apparel manufacturers," said Corker. "When I visited Haiti in October, it was apparent to me that the focus needs to be on stimulating economic growth. That's what can most immediately impact their standard of living and ensure that Haiti continues to have a democratically elected, stable government. These provisions have the potential to create thousands of new jobs in a country with massive unemployment - generating income and access to food, heath care and education for our Haitian neighbors."

Specifically, the provisions included in the farm bill conference report would:

• Extend HOPE Act trade preferences through 2018, or ten years following the enactment of the bill.

• Provide duty free access for up to 70 million square meter equivalents each of knit fabric (with some t-shirt exclusions) and woven fabric without regard to the fabric's country of origin.

• Beyond the 70 million square meter equivalents, provide additional duty free access for these items in the form of an earned import allowance. Essentially for each 3 square meter equivalents of fabric from the U.S., Haiti may import, duty free, 1 square meter equivalent of third country fabric.

• Maintain the value added rule - with a cap of 1.25 percent of U.S. imports - through 2011, as outlined in HOPE I.

• Provide unlimited access for certain brassieres, headgear, sleepwear and other apparel items as outlined by the bill.

• Include a provision requiring Haiti to make progress in achieving general labor requirements to maintain the trade preference levels.

• Extend the Caribbean Basin Trade Preference Act until 2010. (This Act would have expired at the end of 2008.)

The provisions were included in the conference report to accompany H.R. 2419, which passed the Senate Thursday by a vote of 81 to 15 and will now be sent to the president.

In October 2007, Corker traveled with Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to Haiti where the delegation met with President Préval, MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) Force Commander Major General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, and U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson and made several visits in and around Port-Au-Prince to explore various humanitarian, economic and environmental preservation initiatives.

This was Corker's first visit back to Haiti since a church mission trip to the country 25 years ago which led him to public service. The mission trip was a pivotal experience for Corker, and after returning home to Chattanooga he began looking at needs in his own community. Realizing that many people in Chattanooga didn't have decent housing and that homeownership could be a turning point for many families, he led the creation of a non-profit organization that today has helped over 10,000 families secure decent, fit and affordable housing through low-interest loans and personal training in home maintenance. The process of starting the non-profit led to greater civic involvement and eventually Corker's public service as mayor of Chattanooga, Commissioner of Finance for the state of Tennessee, and the U.S. Senate.

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