Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in support of H.R. 241, the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2021, bipartisan legislation that I introduced along with my Democratic colleague, Mr. Sherman of California, earlier this year.

Developing countries are home to some of the world's most endangered and biologically diverse tropical forests and coral reefs. These critical ecosystems support the livelihoods of local populations, not to mention an abundance of animal species. Coral reefs are critical to the world's fish stocks and are magnets for tourism and the accompanying economic growth. It is in the interest of the whole world to protect and responsibly manage both tropical rainforests and coral reefs.

Unfortunately, however, whether it is deforestation, pollution, overfishing, or some other cause, these vital natural resources are threatened across the globe.

Today's legislation seeks to safeguard tropical forests and coral reefs by revitalizing the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1998. Since the introduction of this legislation 23 years ago, this effort has been led by Ohio's great Senator, Rob Portman, who was in the House at that time and who is leading the effort in the Senate one more time before he leaves office. Congressman Sherman and I were cosponsors of that effort back in 1998, and we are proud of its results over the years.

This program has already protected, as my colleague from Texas mentioned, 67 million acres of tropical forests across the globe. In terms of carbon emission, that is the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road.

This program does development right. It forgives debt, which some developing nations owe the United States, in exchange for investment in local conservation. Instead of providing a handout with questionable results, the debt forgiveness comes with requirements that ensure that the money grows local economies and benefits those who rely on healthy ecosystems the most.

Also, by assisting developing countries to properly manage and sustainably develop their own resources, it follows the old adage of ``teaching a man to fish'' so that the American taxpayer doesn't have to keep providing the fish.

Our constituents back home are rightfully skeptical oftentimes about foreign aid because we have a lot of in effective programs that spend their money year after year without moving countries towards self- reliance. We owe it to the American taxpayers to ensure that aid programs are targeted, effective, and come to an end. H.R. 241 is all three.

Further, due to the peculiar structure of the type of debt this program forgives, developing countries would not have been paying back the portion that we are forgiving anytime soon anyway. A lot of it has already been outstanding for 10, 20, or even 30 years. Since the U.S. is unlikely to recoup the debt in a reasonable timeframe anyway, we might as well get something in return that benefits those countries, benefits us, and really benefits the entire world and those ecosystems and those forests and the animals that reside there and the coral reefs and the fish and other life that is there. So, really, it benefits so many.

Finally, our legislation is one more tool to counter China. Whereas China's One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes produces corrupt, elite-centered, get-rich-quick debt traps, our program is exactly the opposite. It brings transparency to natural resource management by engaging civil society, focuses on the people who depend on these ecosystems for food and economic activity instead of on elites, fosters sustainable development and is debt forgiveness instead of a debt trap. The One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes gets these countries in a huge debt trap that they never get out of, and China benefits instead of the countries that one thinks might benefit from One Belt One Road.

With this program, the State Department can showcase the U.S. development model and bring real gains in the developing world. It is in the interest of the whole world to protect tropical forests and coral reefs. This program does so in a targeted, proven, sustainable way, and pays for it by forgiving debt we would never have seen repaid anyway.

In my mind, this is a win for the taxpayer, a win for the developing countries, a win for America, and a win for the whole world. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I, again, thank Brad Sherman, Democratic congressman from California, for his cosponsorship and his leadership on this.

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Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I will close by saying this is really a good bill. I thank Senator Rob Portman also for his leadership on this here in the House, when he was here, and then over in the Senate. We took this up after he left the House and have been working on it for years.

I thank Mr. Sherman and a lot of Republicans and Democrats for working on this together. This is bipartisan legislation that really does benefit the whole world. I wish we did more stuff like this around here.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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