[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 335 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 335

 Congratulating the people of Mexico on the occasion of the democratic 
                    elections held in that country.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2000

 Mr. Helms (for himself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Biden, Mr. L. Chafee, Mr. Dodd, 
 Mr. Lugar, Mr. Coverdell, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
Bingaman, Mr. Gramm, Mr. McCain, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Craig, 
Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Ashcroft, 
Mr. Frist, Mr. Grams, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Brownback) submitted 
      the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Congratulating the people of Mexico on the occasion of the democratic 
                    elections held in that country.

Whereas the United States and Mexico share a border of more than 2,000 miles;
Whereas Mexico is the second largest trade partner of the United States, with a 
        two-way trade of $174,000,000,000;
Whereas United States companies have invested more than $25,000,000,000 in 
        Mexico from 1994-1999;
Whereas more than 20,000,000 people now in the United States are of Mexican 
        descent, a fact that in and of itself forges profound and permanent 
        cultural ties between our 2 countries;
Whereas the well-being and security of the United States and Mexico require 
        governments willing and able to cooperate fully to confront common 
        threats, including organized crime, corruption, and trafficking in 
        illicit narcotics;
Whereas the people of Mexico have struggled for decades for a true 
        representative democracy, accountability, and the rule of law and, in 
        recent years, they have sought and obtained significant political and 
        electoral reforms in pursuit of those objectives;
Whereas the Federal Electoral Institute and its regional councils, now genuinely 
        independent and representative bodies, were responsible for organizing 
        the federal elections on July 2, 2000, in which nearly 1,000,000 
        citizens participated directly in conducting the balloting for a new 
        president, a new national congress, and state or local officials in 
        Mexico City as well as 10 states;
Whereas the July 2nd elections were observed by approximately 2,500,000 domestic 
        monitors and 850 foreign visitors, including delegations of the United 
        States-based International Republican Institute for International 
        Affairs and the National Democratic Institute;
Whereas in the July 2nd elections, Vicente Fox Quesada of the Alliance for 
        Change (consisting of the National Action Party and the Mexican Green 
        Party) was elected President of the United Mexican States, receiving 
        42.5 percent of the 37,600,000 votes cast, according to preliminary 
        results released by the Federal Electoral Institute; and
Whereas, according to the Federal Electoral Institute and domestic and 
        international observers, the July 2nd elections were unprecedented in 
        their degree of fairness and transparency, forming the foundation for a 
        genuinely democratic and pluralistic government that represents the will 
        and sovereignty of the people of Mexico: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. CONGRATULATING THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO ON THE OCCASION OF THE 
              DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS HELD IN MEXICO.

    (a) Congratulating the People of Mexico.--The Senate, on behalf of 
the people of the United States, hereby--
            (1) congratulates the people of Mexico for their long, 
        courageous, and fruitful struggle for representative democracy 
        and the rule of law;
            (2) congratulates Vicente Fox Quesada for his electoral 
        triumph and extends to him genuine best wishes for great 
        success in his formation of a new government; and
            (3) congratulates Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, current 
        President of the United Mexican States, for his historic 
        commitment to ensure the peaceful and stable transition of 
        power.
    (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
United States should seek to--
            (1) expand and intensify its cooperation with the newly 
        elected Government of Mexico to promote economic development 
        and to reduce poverty to achieve an improved quality of life 
        for citizens of both countries;
            (2) confront common threats such as the trafficking in 
        illicit narcotics; and
            (3) act in solidarity to actively promote representative 
        democracy and the rule of law throughout the world.

SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

    The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to--
            (1) Vicente Fox Quesada, President-elect of the United 
        Mexican States;
            (2) Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, president of the National 
        Action Party of Mexico;
            (3) the International Republican Institute for 
        International Affairs and the National Democratic Institute; 
        and
            (4) the Secretary of State with the request that the 
        Secretary further transmit such copy to Ernesto Zedillo Ponce 
        de Leon, President of the United Mexican States.
                                 <all>