[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 3 (Thursday, January 27, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 27, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             AID FOR TRADE

  Mr. BOREN. Mr. President, in the next few months, Congress will begin 
the process of restructuring the U.S. foreign aid program. The last 
comprehensive foreign assistance act was passed in 1961. The aid 
program and agencies established in that legislation were set up to 
address America's needs at the height of the cold war. Thirty years 
later, we have seen the end of the cold war and a complete alteration 
of the international scene. We can no longer wait to update our foreign 
aid program and make it answerable to the needs of our country in this 
new world.
  For this reason, I commend, first, the Clinton administration for 
making the restructuring of U.S. foreign aid a priority for this year, 
and, second, Senator Sarbanes and the Subcommittee on International 
Economic Policy, Trade, Oceans and Environment, which he chairs, as 
they prepare to take up legislation for a Foreign Assistance Act of 
1994.
  As we prepare to begin debate on foreign assistance, it is my hope 
and desire to ensure that the issue of aid for trade is included within 
this debate. This is an issue in which I have been actively involved 
for many years. In the last Congress, I introduced the Aid for Trade 
Act of 1991, which was cosponsored by Senators Bentsen, Byrd, Baucus, 
and Lieberman. That bill would have increased the share of our foreign 
aid devoted to capital projects built with American goods and services. 
It also sought to reduce the share of American aid handed out as cash 
with no strings attached. A revised version of that legislation passed 
the Senate by a vote of 99 to 0.
  This past spring, Senators Byrd, Baucus, Lieberman, Roth, and I 
introduced S. 722, the Aid for Trade Act of 1993. In addition to 
calling for limits on the amount of U.S. aid to be distributed as cash, 
it would grant the Trade and Development Agency new authority and 
funding to handle capital projects. This legislation would also tighten 
existing Buy America regulations in our current foreign aid program.
  In these times of limited budgetary resources and increased cutbacks, 
we must be increasingly vigilant of the ways we spend the money of 
American taxpayers. As both public and congressional support for 
American foreign aid continues to dwindle, it is of utmost importance 
that we spend U.S. dollars wisely and in a manner which will benefit 
countries which need our assistance as well as strengthen our own 
economy. Our economic competitors have already learned this lesson. 
They have successfully used their foreign aid programs to create new 
markets for their products. In this new era of fierce international 
economic competition, we must leverage every foreign policy assist we 
possess to improve our position.
  Therefore, I request today that my distinguished colleague from 
Maryland, the chairman of the Subcommittee on International Economic 
Policy, Trade, Oceans and Environment, hold a hearing in conjunction 
with a new foreign assistance act on the issue of aid for trade and 
similar proposals. I would look forward to testifying at such a 
hearing, as would my colleagues who support aid-for-trade legislation. 
It is our goal that aid-for-trade language be included in any new 
foreign aid plan that emerges from the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee and is considered by the full Senate.
  I thank Senator Sarbanes for his assistance and cooperation in this 
matter.
  Mr. SARBANES. Reform of U.S. foreign aid programs is indeed a vitally 
important undertaking, involving a number of complex issues that need 
to be addressed. I know there is a great deal of interest in the aid-
for-trade issue in particular, and I would be pleased to consider it 
during hearings over the next few months on foreign aid reform 
legislation. It is crucial that we investigate all methods by which to 
improve our foreign aid program and to make it fit the pressing needs 
of today and of tomorrow. I wish to express my appreciation to Senator 
Boren for bringing this issue to the fore, and I would welcome his 
testimony in that regard.

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