[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6091-H6092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          RETURN ON INVESTMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, good morning. It is appropriations season 
again and the money is tight everywhere, as we all know, as we 
discussed the budget in this town. However, there is a $2 billion 
expenditure that I do not believe is receiving the scrutiny it 
deserves; the money we are spending on continued United States 
operations in Haiti.
  During this very painful process where even the good programs are 
likely to be cut in Washington, I have been particularly disheartened 
by the reports I have been receiving from Haiti and by how little 
return the American taxpayer seems to be getting for the precious tax 
dollars the Clinton administration is spending there.
  We know that the total costs will run well past the $2 billion, that 
is ``B,'' billion, mark or if our soldiers leave as scheduled in 
February of next year, 1996. This is an extraordinary sum of money. In 
fact, to put it in perspective, we could have given every person in 
Haiti $300; more than the average Haitian makes in a year, 
incidentally.
  What will we have to show for it when it is all said and done? That 
is the question. I sincerely hope that we will have at least two free 
and fair elections. In fact, I am going to travel to Haiti later this 
week as the head of an elections observation team for a firsthand look 
at the electoral process for the elections this Sunday.
  From the briefings I have received, though, I fear that this 
weekend's parliamentary and local elections may be dangerously close to 
falling below internationally accepted standards for good elections. 
And it is not for lack of money.
  In fact, it seems the Clinton administration had to learn the hard 
way that doing things in a country with a history of political turmoil 
and a near vacuum in infrastructure and democratic government costs a 
lot more to get done than it does to get things done here in the United 
States.
  While the FEC estimates that an American election costs around $2 a 
ballot, recent reports in the Arkansas Democrat I saw indicate that it 
will cost United States taxpayers between $10 and $15 per ballot in
 Haiti. That adds up to $30 million in administrative costs alone just 
to hold elections in Haiti.

  Of course, this does not include the Presidential elections expected 
for sometime in December, if all goes well. Still more disheartening is 
the fact that once again, as in 1934, the United States may depart 
Haiti leaving nothing behind to help Haitians consolidate the progress 
they have made.
  There are very serious gaps in the long-term picture. The 
constitutionally required permanent electoral council was never formed 
and the provisional electoral council is just that, it is provisional 
and it is struggling and not working as well as it needs to be.
  Thus, we will leave behind no cadre of trained individuals to carry 
forth the democratic electoral process. We will leave behind no 
institutionalization of the justice system, the judicial system, which 
is a prerequisite for any democratic society.
  A further concern is the police force. The Aristide government is 
resisting President Clinton and his team not to build a large, well-
trained, independent police force. This is no doubt the legacy of his 
bad experience with former Haitian dictators' military police forces, 
but it nevertheless remains deeply troubling.
  At the time U.S. forces are scheduled to leave, next February, barely 
4,000 newly trained police will be in place. If training continues as 
scheduled, the program could produce a maximum of maybe 6,000 police. 
Would this be enough police, given the dissolution of the Haitian 
military and the historical propensity in Haiti for chaos? Will this 
provide stability for a country with nearly 7 million people, 4,000 
police? I do not think so.
  If there is anything that Haiti needs it is law and order, democratic 
law and order. That means a set of laws that apply equally and 
effectively to all citizens, a judiciary and a police force answerable 
to the democratically elected government. [[Page H 6092]] 
  I think every American, including people like myself who opposed the 
armed invasion of Haiti and entangling military occupation, are hoping 
that we will leave enough in Haiti for Haitians to build on; that a few 
years down the road we will not be faced with the same crisis all over 
again, starting with a great refugee crisis into Florida.
  Frankly, I am not convinced that is happening, though. I hope every 
American will write their Congressman or Congresswoman and demand a 
full accounting of spending on United States and United Nations 
operations in Haiti by this administration. We are asking all Americans 
to tighten their belts still another notch. They deserve to know 
whether or not they are getting a reasonable return on the $2 billion-
plus investment of their tax dollars that the Clinton administration 
has spent in that small Caribbean nation.
  Mr. Speaker, where has all that money gone? And what did the U.S. 
taxpayer get for it? That is the question that deserves an answer.


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