[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 79 (Tuesday, June 21, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       TOO DEAR A PRICE IN HAITI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Clayton). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from 
Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized during morning business for 4 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Madam Speaker, President Clinton's policy Plan A toward 
Haiti is to starve Haitians into democracy. If that does not work--and 
it will not--Plan B is to force them into democracy at gunpoint. That 
will not work, either.
  Today, I ask again how much is this whole tragic comedy costing and 
are we nearing the goals that we set? The short answers are that it is 
costing a lot and we are accomplishing very little except making 
misery--life threatening misery--for ever more Haitians. We know that 
the administration spent $1.5 million for the lease on a Ukrainian 
cruise ship, that was returned before the new ship-board refugee 
processing program was up and running. We know that we are still 
leasing another Ukrainian ship for $34,000 a day--in addition to what 
we pay for fuel, crew, and waste removal. And it is hardly cheap to run 
the U.S.S. Comfort or to send the 1,000 U.S. civilian and military 
personnel assigned to the new refugee processing program. Of course, 
you have to add in the cost of the embargo enforcement--with 13 patrol 
ships, that is a hefty sum too. While we know the administration got 
stuck for $12 million by Turks/Caicos to rent a small parcel of their 
beach, there is still no word on what anchoring our ships in Jamaican 
waters is costing United States taxpayers or how much the sanction 
teams on the Dominican border are spending.
  Madam Speaker, I have repeatedly asked the administration for the 
long answer to the question of what all of this is costing, but frankly 
do not expect an answer anytime soon because I do not think the 
administration has any idea what it has gotten us into. But, we cannot 
just think of Haitian policy in terms of financial cost. The human cost 
is mounting as well--a price that will ultimately be borne by an entire 
generation of Haitians who either do not survive or suffer a lifetime 
of ill effects from having been denied basic needs like food, potable 
water, and health care.
  According to recent reports, the signs of famine in Haiti are 
growing--two out of three Haitian children are now said to be suffering 
from malnutrition. Water for drinking and washing in most towns and 
villages has been fouled with human waste. Typhoid, malaria, 
tuberculosis, and hepatitis are running rampant. All the while, United 
States authorities tighten the screws on the Haitian people by holding 
back relief flights and allowing a punishing embargo to miss its mark. 
Madam Speaker, this is a price that no people should be asked to pay, 
especially if there is no need for it. Could it be worse? Yes. A U.S. 
military invasion could add even more cost.
  The cost of American lives. That would be unthinkable.
  ``We are no longer in the negotiating business'', a senior 
administration official says ominously. What business, I ask, then, are 
we in? Does anybody at the White House know?

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