[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1307-H1319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT OF 1998
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Nethercutt). Pursuant to House
Resolution 388 and rule XXIII, the Chair declares the House in the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the
consideration of the bill, H.R. 2870.
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In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill
(H.R. 2870) to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to facilitate
protection of tropical forests through debt reduction with developing
countries with tropical forests, with Mr. LaHood in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having
been read the first time.
Under the rule, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) and the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
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Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to bring H.R. 2870, the
Tropical Forest Protection Act, to the House for its consideration.
This bill was introduced last November by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Rob Portman), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. John Kasich), and the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Lee Hamilton). The bill enjoys wide
bipartisan support and is now supported by the administration.
Mr. Chairman, tropical forests are home to roughly half of all known
species and plants and animals, and, under pressure from man, these
forests are disappearing at a rate of almost 1 percent per year,
roughly one football field lost every second or an area the size of
Pennsylvania each year. Most of the forests are also located in
developing nations, and most of those nations are poor, with crushing
debt burdens.
With the twin crisis of tropical forest loss and the Third World debt
crisis, many of us in the Congress saw an opportunity. And I will note
that two of our colleagues, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. John
Porter) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Doug Bereuter) introduced
the first debt-for-nature swap bill in 1988. In 1991, President Bush
proposed the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, known as EAI. One
part of that initiative was a program of debt relief in return for
investments by the host country in environmental protection.
Under the EAI, the Bush administration forgave half of the $1.6
billion owed by seven Latin American countries in return for $154
million in endowments for conservation projects. Today, the Latin
American economy is growing with some of the newest and largest
tropical forest parks in the world.
H.R. 2870 writes chapter two of that EAI story. Many developing
nations remain under crushing debt burdens, and some of them have the
most valuable tropical forests that are still standing. We expand
beyond Latin American to other critical habitats in Africa and Asia. I
will note that Indonesia has one of the world's largest tropical
forests still standing. My colleagues may have read reports that the
smoke from the burning of these forests is so thick that it even
interferes with commercial aircraft operations in Jakarta.
This bill will allow our President to go beyond the Latin American
focus of the EAI to offer protection to tropical forests in Africa, to
Asia and the subcontinent. In short, this bill authorizes our President
to offer up to $325 million in debt owed to the U.S. Government, a
small fraction of the $15 billion they currently owe. The loans were
made by the Agency for International Development and the Department of
Agriculture.
The bill specifically references the conditions for a government to
get debt relief. These conditions include having a democratic
government, a favorable climate for private-sector investment,
cooperation on narcotics matters, and no state-sponsored terrorism.
The bill also enjoys wide support from the environmental groups, such
as the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, the Nature
Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Sierra Club.
The administration has now endorsed the bill, expressing support for
the measure's purpose, and the administration has offered detailed
changes to the legislation which the gentleman from Indiana (Mr.
Hamilton) and I made in a joint substitute to the bill when it was
considered within our committee. The substitute cuts $75 million in
funding from the bill by deleting the authority to forgive Export-
Import Bank debt.
We also included authority to do debt buy-backs in the bill. As
carried out recently by the U.S. Government with the Government of
Peru, debt buy-backs are not scored against our budget because the
purchaser repays the full market value of the debt that is owed. These
transactions offer exciting opportunities for middle-income countries
to reduce the face value of their debt and at the same time be able to
protect the environment.
We have made other modifications requested by the Congressional
Budget Office to tighten the budgetary impact of the bill and require
appropriations clearly within the Credit Reform Act.
This bill was favorably reported by a voice vote of the full
Committee on International Relations. We will only have two amendments
that I know of. My amendment will give an extra level of protection by
requiring further congressional notifications to the Congress. I have
also reviewed the amendment of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Vento), which is acceptable to our side.
I think that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Rob Portman) and his
colleague from Ohio (Mr. John Kasich), as well as the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Lee Hamilton) have offered an excellent piece of
legislation, and I urge my colleagues to strongly support the bill.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that my time under general
debate be controlled by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter).
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from
New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, let me first of all compliment the chairman,
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), and the ranking member, the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton), for the Tropical Forest
Protection Act of 1998.
This act has come to us at a very important time. As we know, the
President will be leaving on Sunday to visit six African countries to
talk about trade and investment, human rights, and the whole question
of the environment, the ecology, education, health.
The whole world will be watching. We have over 200 news media people
that will be going from the United States, and people from around the
world will be focusing. So this bill is extremely important at this
time.
As my colleagues know, the bill seeks to promote the efforts of low-
and middle-income countries to preserve tropical forests, rain forests;
and, secondly, the bill tackles the problem of large debt owed to the
United States by some of these developing countries.
Under H.R. 2870, globally important tropical forests would be
protected at a very relatively low cost to the United
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States. First, certain debts of qualifying nations would be
substantially reduced. In exchange, the countries would direct interest
payments due on new loans into funds dedicated to preserving the
tropical rain forests.
Secondly, the bill would allow eligible countries or third-party
purchasers to buy back a country's debt. In exchange, the country would
agree to implement the tropical forest conservation measures specified
in this bill.
There will be four criteria that we will certainly look at. We will
look at a country that has a democratic political system as a very
important first step. Secondly, a country must have a solid record of
performance with respect to human rights and governance,
counternarcotics and terrorism. Third, we will be pursuing countries
that pursue sound economic policies. And, finally, countries must meet
any other requirements related to their environmental policies and
practices determined by the President.
We think that this will certainly go to leveraging scarce U.S.
foreign assistance dollars by producing immediate environmental
benefits in exchange for reducing debt payments due to the United
States. Secondly, by reducing debt, it will strengthen developing
economies, helping them to diminish the fiscal pressures that put
tropical forests at risk. Thirdly, it will help promote new
environmental practices in developing countries. And, finally, it will
advance U.S. national interests by preserving forests that are
essential to the world's climate.
Let me give two prime examples. Liberia, a 7\1/2\ year civil war. The
rain forest was starting to be devastated. This will be able to bring
that country back into the right practices. Secondly, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, where a tremendous rain forest, probably one of the
largest rain forests in the world. If we can prevent what happened in
Brazil and what is happening in Latin America by this bill, by
preserving the rain forest in the Congo, in Liberia, in Sierra Leone,
it will go far to improving and preventing the degradation that is
going on now in the whole biosphere that is going throughout the world.
So we are in a global village. We are interconnected. What happens in
one country impacts on the other. This bill is timely. This bill is
right. This bill costs the U.S. taxpayers very little, but does a
tremendous amount in return, and it is the right time because,
hopefully, the President will be able to talk about this on his trip to
Ghana. He will go to Uganda and will stop in Rwanda to look and talk
about the genocide that happened there; then on to South Africa, up to
Botswana, and finally in Senegal.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this very important
bill.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Portman), the sponsor of this legislation, who has done an
outstanding job in working with the committee and in crafting this
legislation.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska for
yielding me this time and for all his work over the years on this
legislation and this idea. I also want to thank the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman, for moving this bill so expeditiously
through his committee, for improving the bill through the process,
along with the ranking member, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Lee
Hamilton), and for getting it to the floor today.
I also have to commend my fellow sponsors, chairman of the Committee
on the Budget, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. John Kasich), and the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Lee Hamilton), both of whom showed a lot of
leadership in getting us to this point.
As has been noted by the previous two speakers, this is really the
outgrowth of years of work by a lot of people that links two important
facts of life: One is that, very important, tropical forests are
disappearing at an extremely rapid rate; and, second, they happen to be
located in less developed countries that have a hard time repaying
their debts to the United States.
The gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman, and the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) will go further into the bill and
what it does more precisely, but I want to take a minute to focus on
why this bill makes so much sense to the American taxpayer.
Tropical forests literally impact the air we breathe, the food we
eat, and the medicines that cure disease. Acting as so-called carbon
sinks, tropical forests absorb and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide
and other emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels. By
encouraging both reforestation and by preventing deforestation, we can
substantially offset carbon emissions right here in the United States.
When we look at the alternatives and the cost of developing
alternative technologies to reduce emissions, I think this is a
relatively efficient way to absorb so-called greenhouse gases. It is
hard to imagine that a rain forest in Brazil could help with air
pollution in Ohio, but in fact that is what occurs.
A major benefit all of us get from tropical forests also is the use
of the vast number of species and plants found there for the
development of drugs. For example, plants found in tropical forests
help fight child leukemia and the Hodgkin's disease. And natural
products found in rain forests were used to develop drugs like Taxol,
that treats breast cancer; Calanolide, which is used to treat
infectious diseases, and many others. In fact, half of the medicines
used in the world today, every day, come from tropical forest plants,
as do 25 percent of all prescription drugs.
Agriculture also benefits from tropical forests. Genetic diversity,
used in plant breeding, has been critical in producing grains for food
and has accounted for about half of all the gains in agricultural
yields in the United States between 1930 and 1980.
Finally, of course, tropical forests help regulate rainfall, which
has the effect of stabilizing weather patterns around the world.
Unfortunately for all of us, we have already lost about half the
world's tropical rain forests since 1950. And every year we are losing
about 30 to 40 million acres of forests, an area equal to the size of
New York or Iowa or Pennsylvania. And, of course, this destruction is
fueled by poverty and economic pressures on developing countries where
most of these tropical forests are located.
As I mentioned at the outset, many of these countries have a hard
time repaying their debt. In fact, a substantial majority of these
eligible countries have sought so-called Paris Club or other debt
relief arrangements. Instead of just having this debt outstanding that
will never become repaid in full, or might be repaid not at all, the
U.S. taxpayers should receive some benefit for the investment. By
encouraging debt-for-nature swaps, the bill maximizes the chance of
some benefit being received.
The bill offers three different options: First, for the poorest
countries, whose debt is unlikely to be paid in full, we build on the
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative. The gentleman from New York
talked about it a moment ago, but it was begun in the Bush
administration. There, part of the principal is paid back to the United
States, and interest payments on the new debt have to be put into
protecting tropical forests.
This is the one aspect of the bill that has some cost to it, because
under the 1990 Federal Credit Reform Act, Congress has to appropriate
funds equal to the so-called subsidy cost. That would be the difference
between the net present value of the old loan arrangement and the new
loan arrangement.
Second, the bill permits no-cost debt buy-backs. This is at no cost
to the U.S. taxpayer. It is a debt buy-back for countries that can
afford it. The country purchases its debt at the full asset value of
the loan and then contributes an additional amount equal to 40 percent
of that loan into a local fund to protect tropical forests.
Then, finally, the third option is the bill would permit interested
parties and nongovernmental organizations, third parties, to purchase
debt of eligible countries from the United States Government, at its
full asset value, in exchange for the debtor country putting money
aside well in excess of that purchase price in a fund for conservation.
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Again, this is at no cost to the taxpayer and provides substantial
benefits to the United States.
The bill also benefits the U.S. taxpayer because, through these
transactions, U.S. dollars are leveraged for
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substantial amounts of conservation funding. This is because the cost
of reducing debt, even as we have to score it here under the Credit
Reform Act, is low compared to the amount of funding and local currency
that will be set aside for conservation. In some cases, the ratio is as
high as five to one or even ten to one.
Because it is leverage that you can get, I think this is a much
better way to protect these globally important resources than through
any kind of direct aid.
Debt restructuring also makes sense because, by clearing the debt off
the books, it actually reduces the economic pressures that lead to a
lot of the deforestation, so it actually gets at the underlying or root
causes of much of the destruction of the rain forest.
Finally, let me make it clear that this is an authorization, this is
not an appropriation. The bill and the committee report both make clear
that any appropriation will be fully offset during the appropriations
process.
Again, building on President Bush's Enterprise for the Americas
Initiative, this bill moves beyond Latin America. It provides this
benefit worldwide to any eligible country, and it more precisely
targets less developed countries that have the kind of tropical forests
that provide the most benefits. If enacted, its effects will be not
only to encourage economic growth consistent with conservation but, as
Chairman Gilman noted earlier, it will be to promote U.S. policy
interests, foreign policy interests. Because, if they want to
participate, countries are required to have a good human rights record,
counternarcotics program, counterter- rorists policies, and democratic
elections.
As I conclude, I want to thank this committee again for expediting
and improving this bill; and I want to acknowledge the good work of the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Porter), the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton), the gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) and many others on this issue over the years.
This bill simply builds on these efforts by providing new incentives
to protect tropical forests worldwide in a targeted and fiscally
responsible way. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
support it.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for the time and
his leadership on this issue.
I certainly want to join my colleagues in commending the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Portman) for his leadership, the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) for their
leadership on this, and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Bereuter) as well,
and all others who made this bipartisan, excellent bill possible today,
the Tropical Forest Conservation Act.
As a member of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export
Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations, I
know full well what the debt of burden does to many of these countries.
I also know that tropical forests contain about half the world's earth,
plant, and animal species, many of which still have not been
identified. They also are extremely effective sinks for carbon dioxide,
significantly reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Our colleague very eloquently said what has always been clear to us,
that everything in nature is connected, whether it is the benefit we
receive in the rain forest in terms of pharmaceuticals or whether it is
preventing greenhouse emissions from increasing and the greenhouse
gases affecting the constituents of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Portman) in Ohio.
So it is clear in terms of debt and it is clear in terms of
protecting the rain forests, the tropical forests, that we have a need.
There is opportunity based on precedent. The Bush Administration's
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative presented a precedent and this
is an expansion, as that has been indicated, and happily before the
President's trip to Africa. The opportunity to reduce the burden of
debt in these countries is being done with precedent and in a very wise
way.
I am very, very pleased and want to make the point that the rule of
nongovernmental organizations is very significantly mentioned in this
legislation. Under the measure, each beneficiary country would be
required to establish a Tropical Rain Forest Protection Fund to
preserve, maintain, and restore its tropical forest. These funds would
be distributed through competitive grants to local nongovernmental or
other organizations with conservation expertise.
Further to that, management of the funds would be overseen by
international boards consisting of officials appointed by the U.S.
Government as well as by the host government; and these boards would
include representatives of environmental, nongovernmental organizations
active in the beneficiary country, local community groups, and
scientific or academic organizations. I think this transparency and
this involvement of nongovernmental and community-based groups is very,
very healthy.
In conclusion, I want to say that this is a very smart approach,
because the program established in the bill is intended to specifically
target countries that have tropical forests with the greatest degree of
biodiversity and that are under the most severe threat.
My colleagues have talked about the other criteria, that the country
has to have a democratically elected government, not support active
international terrorism, must support international narcotics controls,
and may not engage in violations of internationally recognized human
rights. Under the measure, the President would determine whether or not
countries meet the criteria.
I am very, very pleased to congratulate my colleagues for this strong
bipartisan effort to preserve the rain forest and reduce the debt of
these countries.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this
legislation, and I am pleased to be a cosponsor.
The world's tropical forests, which are biodiverse, economically
crucial and ecologically irreplaceable, are now disappearing faster
than any other natural community. We heard the comments of the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) on that subject.
Most of these forests are located in developing countries. Most of
these countries are poor, many with crushing debt burdens. This body
should view this legislation as a creative opportunity to address the
twin problems of Third World debt and deforestation.
Mr. Chairman, one of the benefits of seniority is seeing some ideas
gain acceptance after a period of time. Mr. Chairman, this is to trace
a little bit of legislative history. But this proposal is, as the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) indicated, based to some extent on
the success of the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative from the Bush
administration.
We saw good results from that. It is a creative variation of the EAI
theme. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, this
Member would like to note that the forests and jungles of Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand are rapidly disappearing. Vietnam, for
example, has only 19 percent forest coverage today, compared to 43
percent 50 years ago.
The legislation before this body today will go beyond the Latin
American focus of EAI to offer protection in tropical forests in
Africa, East Asia, and the south Asian subcontinent, among other parts
of the world.
Mr. Chairman, this Member was particularly interested in Bangladesh,
which is one of the world's poorest nations. It is struggling with both
overwhelming PL 480 debt and severe environmental problems. This Member
would ask the body's indulgence to describe how today's legislation is
likely to affect Bangladesh and what would be required of a country
such as Bangladesh to participate in the proposed debt swap.
Now, to its credit, Bangladesh continues to service their debt, with
great difficulty I might add. This, however, puts the United States in
the rather embarrassing position of receiving almost as much money back
as it is giving humanitarian assistance because of the PL 480 debt
interest.
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To be eligible for debt reduction under this legislation, a country
must contain an appropriate tropical forest and meet specific and
economical and political criteria. At the March 10, 1998, markup of
this legislation by the Committee on International Relations, the
administration testified that Bangladesh did indeed possess the
requisite tropical forests of global importance. This was particularly
true with regard to the forest's importance of habitat for various
endangered species which we described, and the specific area in
Bangladesh was noted.
The political eligibility criteria of this legislation requires the
debtor country to have a democratically elected government which is not
pursuing egregious policies in the area of human rights, narcotics or
terrorism. The State Department has confirmed that Bangladesh would
meet these political criteria, and that is a very important part of
this bill.
The economic eligibility criteria required of a debtor country is to
have in place or be making progress towards an IMF arrangement, World
Bank structure, or sectoral adjustment loans if necessary, to have put
in place major investment reforms and, if appropriate, to have agreed
with its commercial bank lenders on a satisfactory lending program. It
is this Member's understanding that the International Monetary Fund is
negotiating a potential staff-monitored program with Bangladesh, for
example.
In addition, as evidence of major investment reforms, Bangladesh has
concluded a bilateral investment treaty with the United States. On a
preliminary basis, the Department of the Treasury has determined that
if Bangladesh concludes its negotiation on an IMF staff-monitored
program, it should meet with economic eligibility requirements for debt
reduction under this legislation.
Based on the above, it is my sincere hope that serious consideration
will be given to Bangladesh within the provisions of this legislation.
Debt buy-back such as envisioned in this legislation would permit
Bangladesh to address its lingering debt problems while preserving its
tropical forest. Mr. Chairman, I bring this specific country's example
to our attention, but it is an example of how it will work elsewhere.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, this Member thanks the distinguished
gentleman from the State of Ohio (Mr. Portman) for introducing this
important piece of legislation with creativity, with original
cosponsorship, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) and the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich).
I commend the efforts of the distinguished gentleman from New York
(Mr. Gilman), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations,
for his leadership demonstrated over the years on environmental matters
and for helping, with the cooperation of the gentleman from Indiana
(Mr. Hamilton), to bring this legislation to the floor.
As other Members in this body have noted, this legislation enjoys
bipartisan support and is not opposed by the administration. The bill
was favorably reported by a voice vote of the full Committee on
International Relations without any discernible objection.
Mr. Chairman, I urge strong adoption of H.R. 2870; and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento).
(Mr. VENTO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. VENTO. Mr. Chairman, I commend the sponsors, the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Gilman), the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton), the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Portman), the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) and others on the
committee that have worked on this. It is a good bill. It deserves
their support.
This bill builds upon the Conservation Organization's efforts that
began the debt for nature swaps with the advent of many of these less
developed nations in terms of trying to strive with meeting their needs
by debt and find that the economic wherewithal to make the payments is
not there. And the consequence, Mr. Chairman, is that, very often, they
attempt to exploit in an improper way the natural resources of that
country; and one of these natural resources, as has been pointed out,
is these tropical and temperate rain forests.
While this bill focuses on the tropical rain forests, they may solve
the problem of meeting their debt repayment for the year by sacrificing
and selling off the tropical rain forest, but the problem is that they
destroy their economic base and much of the biodiversity for the
future.
Added to that, the activities of these nations as they are developing
and struggling to make these debt payments by, in essence, selling
their legacy, their patrimony of these natural forests as they look at
it in South America and other parts of the world, there are natural
phenomena that are also working against these areas.
Today, as we stand here on the floor, 23 to 25,000 square miles of
uncontrolled fire has devastated parts of Amazonia, about 16 million
acres in the last few months. In addition to that, the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Gilman) cited the persistent problem in Indonesia in
which millions of acres of rain forest have been destroyed.
So I think that we cannot do as much as we would like to do about
controlling the weather. There are some ideas about that, if anyone has
any, in terms of dealing with El Nino. But we can control what is
happening in terms of these debt repayments.
This is a move forward to, in fact, try to achieve an international
understanding and realization of the importance of these tropical rain
forests that, as have been pointed out, are in less developed countries
of the world and attempting to preserve them and all of the positive
benefits that they give from being our pharmacy, for dealing with
medications, the hydrological cycles that they represent, the presence
of carbon in these areas, and of course I think most important the
maintenance of the biodiversity which is so unique to many of these
forests, which really have not been inventoried, much less fully
understood, in terms of what the benefit and interrelationship might be
with mankind and the benefit for mankind.
I urge support of the bill.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), a member of the Committee on
International Relations.
Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I rise in strong support of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, and
I want to commend my friend and colleague from Ohio (Mr. Portman) for
his leadership and his hard work on this important legislation.
{time} 1145
It is nice to see Mr. Portman's son Jed, who is 7 years old and in
the second grade, on the floor of the House here this morning with his
father, because his generation will benefit from the passage of this
legislation in many ways. Congratulations, Jed.
I also want to commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) and
the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) of the Committee on
International Relations and also the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr.
Bereuter) for all their leadership in shepherding this bill through the
committee. I am pleased to be one of the original 16 cosponsors with my
colleagues on this particular committee in supporting this legislation.
Tropical forests provide a wide range of benefits to the entire
world. They help to reduce greenhouse gases. They house many of the
species used in the developing of lifesaving pharmaceutical products.
They affect rainfall, which of course affects crop production and
coastal resources worldwide.
As these forests continue to be exploited, last year an estimated 30
million acres, for example, were lost, the need to save them becomes
more and more urgent.
Mr. Chairman, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act is a sound, free-
market approach to a very serious global environmental problem. It will
encourage the preservation of tropical forests without creating a
burden for the American taxpayer. It is good, sensible legislation. It
is worthy of our support. I urge adoption of the legislation.
I want to again compliment and commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Portman) for proposing this legislation.
[[Page H1311]]
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. HAMILTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this legislation.
Let me first extend my congratulations to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Portman), the chief sponsor of the bill. I think he has done marvelous
work in bringing this bill to the floor of the House. It is a
bipartisan initiative in every respect. I also want to extend my thanks
to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) for his willingness to
accommodate both the concerns of the administration and the concerns of
other Members. Their constructive suggestions and amendments improved
this bill. I also want to note that the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne), who spoke previously has been a steadfast supporter of the
bill, but was inadvertently omitted from the list of cosponsors.
This bill has been very well explained by my colleagues on the floor.
I am not going to repeat what they have said. I do want to acknowledge
the outstanding work of the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter). He
was one of the early supporters of this program and has seen it through
all the way. He gave us an excellent description just a moment ago of
the impact the bill would have on Bangladesh.
We bring so many bills to this floor under confrontational and
adversarial conditions. We all understand that is the way the process
works. But it is a very great pleasure to participate in the
development of legislation, such as the bill before us today, that has
such solid, broad bipartisan support. It has been a pleasure for me to
work on it.
Let me simply point out to Members that the administration's position
on the bill is that they support passage of H.R. 2870. At the same
time, however, the administration has expressed concern about the
potential financing of the program. The sponsors of the bill hope that
these financing procedures can be worked out in the future. But it is
important to note that the administration supports passage of the bill.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2870.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume, only to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hamilton) for
his kind remarks toward me.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Tropical
Forest Conservation Act of 1998, and I would like to commend the
gentlemen, Messrs. Portman and Kasich, from Ohio, for their efforts.
The purpose of this legislation is simple--to facilitate greater
protection of tropical forests while being cognizant of today's tight
budgetary constraints.
The benefits derived from these biologically diverse forests are
numerous. Rain forests should not be considered as just a source of
timber. They provide a livelihood for people, a habitat for plants and
animals, and help stabilize the global climate. Unfortunately, more
than half of the earth's tropical forests have disappeared. I believe
it is in the best interest of America to cooperate with the rest of the
world to protect this vital resource.
Developing countries face enormous economic pressures which have
increased the pressure on the world's rainforests. By relieving the
economic burdens that fuel this destruction and exploitation of fragile
resources, we can help redirect a nation's development efforts to more
environmentally friendly projects. HR 2870 addresses this need through
an innovative program--restructuring the U.S. debts of extremely poor
countries in exchange for local protection of tropical forests.
This program would not be open to any country wanting to restructure
its debt. A country could participate only if it meets certain
eligibility requirements, such as having a democratically elected
government. Also, a country would be prohibited from supporting
terrorism and would have to cooperate in the international war on
drugs. These are not the only criteria a country must meet to receive
the benefits of debt restructuring. An eligible country must use the
funds only to ``preserve, maintain, and restore the tropical forests.''
Also, the distribution of these funds would be monitored by an
administering body composed of U.S. Government officials and
representatives from various environmental, scientific, and academic
organizations.
This legislation builds on President Bush's Enterprise for the
Americas Initiative, providing an effective solution to deforestation
while assisting less-developed countries restructure uncontrollable
debt.
This bill shows what can be accomplished when everyone, irrespective
of political and ideological views, puts their differences aside to
solve a common problem. I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 2870.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bill. In
1988, I offered the first debt-for-nature bill. This legislation was
then incorporated into the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI)
by President Bush. This initiative forgave approximately $800 million
in debt from seven Latin American countries that would have never been
repaid. This exchange generated approximately $150 million in
investment for the preservation of tropical forest ecosystems.
A recent World Wildlife Fund report stated the tropical forests are
being lost at a rate of 42 million acres per year. The EAI has helped
to preserve many important tropical forests in the Western Hemisphere,
most notably the Beni Biosphere Reserve in Bolivia. I am a cosponsor of
this bill because it builds on my initiative. This financial mechanism
has been successful in preserving tropical forests in our hemisphere
and we must now look to other important rainforests, especially those
in Indonesia. Eighty-eight percent of the original forest in the Asia-
Pacific region have been destroyed and current wildfires throughout the
islands of Indonesia are exacerbating this situation. This bill expands
the EAI to this region and will hopefully facilitate the protection of
tropical forests throughout the world.
As Chairman of Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced
Environment (GLOBE USA) and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Human
Rights Caucus, I support the use of debt-for-nature swaps not only
because of the success they have had in protecting rainforests but also
because they utilize local non-governmental organizations. By working
with and through these community groups, natural resources are
preserved and the rights of indigenous peoples are respected. I have
lauded the success of these debt exchanges in the past and I hope that
this program will continue to expand.
I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. All time for general debate has expired.
Pursuant to the rule, the committee amendment in the nature of a
substitute printed in the bill is considered as an original bill for
the purpose of amendment and is considered read.
The text of the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute is
as follows:
H.R. 2870
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DEBT REDUCTION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH
TROPICAL FORESTS.
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``PART V--DEBT REDUCTION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH TROPICAL FORESTS
``SEC. 801. SHORT TITLE.
``This part may be cited as the `Tropical Forest
Conservation Act of 1998'.
``SEC. 802. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) It is the established policy of the United States to
support and seek protection of tropical forests around the
world.
``(2) Tropical forests provide a wide range of benefits to
humankind by--
``(A) harboring a major share of the Earth's biological and
terrestrial resources, which are the basis for developing
pharmaceutical products and revitalizing agricultural crops;
``(B) playing a critical role as carbon sinks in reducing
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thus moderating potential
global climate change; and
``(C) regulating hydrological cycles on which far-flung
agricultural and coastal resources depend.
``(3) International negotiations and assistance programs to
conserve forest resources have proliferated over the past
decade, but the rapid rate of tropical deforestation
continues unabated.
``(4) Developing countries with urgent needs for investment
and capital for development have allocated a significant
amount of their forests to logging concessions.
``(5) Poverty and economic pressures on the populations of
developing countries have, over time, resulted in clearing of
vast areas of forest for conversion to agriculture, which is
often unsustainable in the poor soils underlying tropical
forests.
``(6) Debt reduction can reduce economic pressures on
developing countries and result in increased protection for
tropical forests.
``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are--
``(1) to recognize the values received by United States
citizens from protection of tropical forests;
[[Page H1312]]
``(2) to facilitate greater protection of tropical forests
(and to give priority to protecting tropical forests with the
highest levels of biodiversity and under the most severe
threat) by providing for the alleviation of debt in
countries where tropical forests are located, thus
allowing the use of additional resources to protect these
critical resources and reduce economic pressures that have
led to deforestation;
``(3) to ensure that resources freed from debt in such
countries are targeted to protection of tropical forests and
their associated values; and
``(4) to rechannel existing resources to facilitate the
protection of tropical forests.
``SEC. 803. DEFINITIONS.
``As used in this part:
``(1) Administering body.--The term `administering body'
means the entity provided for in section 809(c).
``(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
`appropriate congressional committees' means--
``(A) the Committee on International Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives;
and
``(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee
on Appropriations of the Senate.
``(3) Beneficiary country.--The term `beneficiary country'
means an eligible country with respect to which the authority
of section 806(a)(1), section 807(a)(1), or paragraph (1) or
(2) of section 808(a) is exercised.
``(4) Board.--The term `Board' means the board referred to
in section 811.
``(5) Developing country with a tropical forest.--The term
`developing country with a tropical forest' means--
``(A)(i) a country that has a per capita income of $725 or
less in 1994 United States dollars (commonly referred to as
`low-income country'), as determined and adjusted on an
annual basis by the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development in its World Development Report; or
``(ii) a country that has a per capita income of more than
$725 but less than $8,956 in 1994 United States dollars
(commonly referred to as `middle-income country'), as
determined and adjusted on an annual basis by the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in its
World Development Report; and
``(B) a country that contains at least one tropical forest
that is globally outstanding in terms of its biological
diversity or represents one of the larger intact blocks of
tropical forests left, on a regional, continental, or global
scale.
``(6) Eligible country.--The term `eligible country' means
a country designated by the President in accordance with
section 805.
``(7) Tropical forest agreement.--The term `Tropical Forest
Agreement' or `Agreement' means a Tropical Forest Agreement
provided for in section 809.
``(8) Tropical forest facility.--The term `Tropical Forest
Facility' or `Facility' means the Tropical Forest Facility
established in the Department of the Treasury by section 804.
``(9) Tropical forest fund.--The term `Tropical Forest
Fund' or `Fund' means a Tropical Forest Fund provided for in
section 810.
``SEC. 804. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FACILITY.
``There is established in the Department of the Treasury an
entity to be known as the `Tropical Forest Facility' for the
purpose of providing for the administration of debt reduction
in accordance with this part.
``SEC. 805. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS.
``(a) In General.--To be eligible for benefits from the
Facility under this part, a country shall be a developing
country with a tropical forest--
``(1) whose government meets the requirements applicable to
Latin American or Caribbean countries under paragraphs (1)
through (5) and (7) of section 703(a) of this Act;
``(2) that has put in place major investment reforms, as
evidenced by the conclusion of a bilateral investment treaty
with the United States, implementation of an investment
sector loan with the Inter-American Development Bank, World
Bank-supported investment reforms, or other measures, as
appropriate; and
``(3) whose government meets other requirements related to
its environmental policies and practices, as determined by
the President.
``(b) Eligibility Determinations.--
``(1) In general.--Consistent with subsection (a), the
President shall determine whether a country is eligible to
receive benefits under this part.
``(2) Congressional notification.--The President shall
notify the appropriate congressional committees of his
intention to designate a country as an eligible country at
least 15 days in advance of any formal determination.
``SEC. 806. REDUCTION OF DEBT OWED TO THE UNITED STATES AS A
RESULT OF CONCESSIONAL LOANS UNDER THE FOREIGN
ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961.
``(a) Authority To Reduce Debt.--
``(1) Authority.--The President may reduce the amount owed
to the United States (or any agency of the United States)
that is outstanding as of January 1, 1997, as a result of
concessional loans made to an eligible country by the United
States under part I of this Act, chapter 4 of part II of this
Act, or predecessor foreign economic assistance legislation.
``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--For the cost (as
defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of
1990) for the reduction of any debt pursuant to this section,
there are authorized to be appropriated to the President--
``(A) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1999;
``(B) $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2000; and
``(C) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
``(3) Certain prohibitions inapplicable.--
``(A) In general.--A reduction of debt pursuant to this
section shall not be considered assistance for purposes of
any provision of law limiting assistance to a country.
``(B) Additional requirement.--The authority of this
section may be exercised notwithstanding section 620(r) of
this Act or section 321 of the International Development and
Food Assistance Act of 1975.
``(b) Implementation of Debt Reduction.--
``(1) In general.--Any debt reduction pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be accomplished at the direction of the
Facility by the exchange of a new obligation for obligations
of the type referred to in subsection (a) outstanding as of
the date specified in subsection (a)(1).
``(2) Exchange of obligations.--
``(A) In general.--The Facility shall notify the agency
primarily responsible for administering part I of this Act of
an agreement entered into under paragraph (1) with an
eligible country to exchange a new obligation for outstanding
obligations.
``(B) Additional requirement.--At the direction of the
Facility, the old obligations that are the subject of the
agreement shall be canceled and a new debt obligation for the
country shall be established relating to the agreement, and
the agency primarily responsible for administering part I of
this Act shall make an adjustment in its accounts to reflect
the debt reduction.
``(c) Additional Terms and Conditions.--The following
additional terms and conditions shall apply to the reduction
of debt under subsection (a)(1) in the same manner as such
terms and conditions apply to the reduction of debt under
section 704(a)(1) of this Act:
``(1) The provisions relating to repayment of principal
under section 705 of this Act.
``(2) The provisions relating to interest on new
obligations under section 706 of this Act.
``SEC. 807. REDUCTION OF DEBT OWED TO THE UNITED STATES AS A
RESULT OF CREDITS EXTENDED UNDER TITLE I OF THE
AGRICULTURAL TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSISTANCE
ACT OF 1954.
``(a) Authority To Reduce Debt.--
``(1) Authority.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the President may reduce the amount owed to the United
States (or any agency of the United States) that is
outstanding as of January 1, 1997, as a result of any credits
extended under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development
and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to a
country eligible for benefits from the Facility.
``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--
``(A) In general.--For the cost (as defined in section
502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990) for the
reduction of any debt pursuant to this section, there are
authorized to be appropriated to the President--
``(i) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1999;
``(ii) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2000; and
``(iii) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
``(B) Limitation.--The authority provided by this section
shall be available only to the extent that appropriations for
the cost (as defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit
Reform Act of 1990) of the modification of any debt pursuant
to this section are made in advance.
``(b) Implementation of Debt Reduction.--
``(1) In general.--Any debt reduction pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be accomplished at the direction of the
Facility by the exchange of a new obligation for obligations
of the type referred to in subsection (a) outstanding as of
the date specified in subsection (a)(1).
``(2) Exchange of obligations.--
``(A) In general.--The Facility shall notify the Commodity
Credit Corporation of an agreement entered into under
paragraph (1) with an eligible country to exchange a new
obligation for outstanding obligations.
``(B) Additional requirement.--At the direction of the
Facility, the old obligations that are the subject of the
agreement shall be canceled and a new debt obligation shall
be established for the country relating to the agreement, and
the Commodity Credit Corporation shall make an adjustment in
its accounts to reflect the debt reduction.
``(c) Additional Terms and Conditions.--The following
additional terms and conditions shall apply to the reduction
of debt under subsection (a)(1) in the same manner as such
terms and conditions apply to the reduction of debt under
section 604(a)(1) of the Agricultural Trade Development and
Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1738c):
``(1) The provisions relating to repayment of principal
under section 605 of such Act.
``(2) The provisions relating to interest on new
obligations under section 606 of such Act.
``SEC. 808. AUTHORITY TO ENGAGE IN DEBT-FOR-NATURE SWAPS AND
DEBT BUYBACKS.
``(a) Loans and Credits Eligible for Sale, Reduction, or
Cancellation.--
``(1) Debt-for-nature swaps.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the President may, in accordance with this section, sell
to any eligible purchaser described in subparagraph (B) any
concessional loans described in section 806(a)(1) or any
credits described in section 807(a)(1), or on receipt of
payment from an eligible purchaser described in subparagraph
(B), reduce or cancel such loans (or credits) or portion
thereof, only for the purpose of facilitating a debt-for-
nature swap to support eligible activities described in
section 809(d).
``(B) Eligible purchaser described.--A loan or credit may
be sold, reduced, or canceled under subparagraph (A) only to
a purchaser who presents plans satisfactory to the President
for using the loan or credit for the purpose of engaging in
debt-for-nature swaps to support eligible activities
described in section 809(d).
``(C) Consultation requirement.--Before the sale under
subparagraph (A) to any eligible purchaser described in
subparagraph (B), or any reduction or cancellation under such
subparagraph (A), of any loan or credit made to an eligible
country, the President shall consult
[[Page H1313]]
with the country concerning the amount of loans or credits to
be sold, reduced, or canceled and their uses for debt-for-
nature swaps to support eligible activities described in
section 809(d).
``(D) Authorization of appropriations.--For the cost (as
defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of
1990) for the reduction of any debt pursuant to subparagraph
(A), amounts authorized to be appropriated under sections
806(a)(2) and 807(a)(2) shall be made available for such
reduction of debt pursuant to subparagraph (A).
``(2) Debt buybacks.--Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, the President may, in accordance with this section,
sell to any eligible country any concessional loans described
in section 806(a)(1) or any credits described in section
807(a)(1), or on receipt of payment from an eligible country,
reduce or cancel such loans (or credits) or portion thereof,
only for the purpose of facilitating a debt buyback by an
eligible country of its own qualified debt, only if the
eligible country uses an additional amount of the local
currency of the eligible country, equal to not less than the
lesser of 40 percent of the price paid for such debt by such
eligible country, or the difference between the price paid
for such debt and the face value of such debt, to support
eligible activities described in section 809(d).
``(3) Limitation.--The authority provided by paragraphs (1)
and (2) shall be available only to the extent that
appropriations for the cost (as defined in section 502(5) of
the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990) of the modification of
any debt pursuant such paragraphs are made in advance.
``(4) Terms and conditions.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the President shall, in accordance with
this section, establish the terms and conditions under which
loans and credits may be sold, reduced, or canceled pursuant
to this section.
``(5) Administration.--
``(A) In general.--The Facility shall notify the
administrator of the agency primarily responsible for
administering part I of this Act or the Commodity Credit
Corporation, as the case may be, of eligible purchasers
described in paragraph (1)(B) that the President has
determined to be eligible under paragraph (1), and shall
direct such agency or Corporation, as the case may be, to
carry out the sale, reduction, or cancellation of a loan
pursuant to such paragraph.
``(B) Additional requirement.--Such agency or Corporation,
as the case may be, shall make an adjustment in its accounts
to reflect the sale, reduction, or cancellation.
``(b) Deposit of Proceeds.--The proceeds from the sale,
reduction, or cancellation of any loan sold, reduced, or
canceled pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the
United States Government account or accounts established for
the repayment of such loan.
``SEC. 809. TROPICAL FOREST AGREEMENT.
``(a) Authority.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary of State is authorized, in
consultation with other appropriate officials of the Federal
Government, to enter into a Tropical Forest Agreement with
any eligible country concerning the operation and use of the
Fund for that country.
``(2) Consultation.--In the negotiation of such an
Agreement, the Secretary shall consult with the Board in
accordance with section 811.
``(b) Contents of Agreement.--The requirements contained in
section 708(b) of this Act (relating to contents of an
agreement) shall apply to a Agreement in the same manner as
such requirements apply to an Americas Framework Agreement.
``(c) Administering Body.--
``(1) In general.--Amounts disbursed from the Fund in each
beneficiary country shall be administered by a body
constituted under the laws of that country.
``(2) Composition.--
``(A) In general.--The administering body shall consist
of--
``(i) one or more individuals appointed by the United
States Government;
``(ii) one or more individuals appointed by the government
of the beneficiary country; and
``(iii) individuals who represent a broad range of--
``(I) environmental nongovernmental organizations of, or
active in, the beneficiary country;
``(II) local community development nongovernmental
organizations of the beneficiary country; and
``(III) scientific or academic organizations or
institutions of the beneficiary country.
``(B) Additional requirement.--A majority of the members of
the administering body shall be individuals described in
subparagraph (A)(iii).
``(3) Responsibilities.--The requirements contained in
section 708(c)(3) of this Act (relating to responsibilities
of the administering body) shall apply to an administering
body described in paragraph (1) in the same manner as such
requirements apply to an administering body described in
section 708(c)(1) of this Act.
``(d) Eligible Activities.--Amounts deposited in a Fund
shall be used to provide grants to preserve, maintain, and
restore the tropical forests in the beneficiary country,
including one or more of the following activities:
``(1) Establishment, restoration, protection, and
maintenance of parks, protected areas, and reserves.
``(2) Development and implementation of scientifically
sound systems of natural resource management, including land
and ecosystem management practices.
``(3) Training programs to strengthen conservation
institutions and increase scientific, technical, and
managerial capacities of individuals and organizations
involved in conservation efforts.
``(4) Restoration, protection, or sustainable use of
diverse animal and plant species.
``(5) Mitigation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
``(6) Development and support of the livelihoods of
individuals living in or near a tropical forest, including
the cultures of such individuals, in a manner consistent with
protecting such tropical forest.
``(e) Grant Recipients.--
``(1) In general.--Grants made from a Fund shall be made
to--
``(A) nongovernmental environmental, conservation, and
indigenous people organizations of, or active in, the
beneficiary country;
``(B) other appropriate local or regional entities of, or
active in, the beneficiary country; and
``(C) in exceptional circumstances, the government of the
beneficiary country.
``(2) Priority.--In providing grants under paragraph (1),
priority shall be given to projects that are run by
nongovernmental organizations and other private entities and
that involve local communities in their planning and
execution.
``(f) Review of Larger Grants.--Any grant of more than
$100,000 from a Fund shall be subject to veto by the
Government of the United States or the government of the
beneficiary country.
``(g) Eligibility Criteria.--In the event that a country
ceases to meet the eligibility requirements set forth in
section 805(a), as determined by the President pursuant to
section 805(b), then grants from the Fund for that country
may only be made to nongovernmental organizations until such
time as the President determines that such country meets the
eligibility requirements set forth in section 805(a).
``SEC. 810. TROPICAL FOREST FUND.
``(a) Establishment.--Each beneficiary country that enters
into a Tropical Forest Agreement under section 809 shall be
required to establish a Tropical Forest Fund to receive
payments of interest on new obligations undertaken by the
beneficiary country under this part.
``(b) Requirements Relating to Operation of Fund.--The
following terms and conditions shall apply to the Fund in the
same manner as such terms and conditions apply to an
Enterprise for the Americas Fund under section 707 of this
Act:
``(1) The provision relating to deposits under subsection
(b) of such section.
``(2) The provision relating to investments under
subsection (c) of such section.
``(3) The provision relating to disbursements under
subsection (d) of such section.
``SEC. 811. BOARD.
``(a) Enterprise for the Americas Board.--The Enterprise
for the Americas Board established under section 610(a) of
the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954
(7 U.S.C. 1738i(a)) shall, in addition to carrying out the
responsibilities of the Board under section 610(c) of such
Act, carry out the duties described in subsection (c) of this
section for the purposes of this part.
``(b) Additional Membership.--
``(1) In general.--The Enterprise for the Americas Board
shall be composed of an additional four members appointed by
the President as follows:
``(A) Two representatives from the United States
Government.
``(B) Two representatives from private nongovernmental
environmental, scientific, and academic organizations with
experience and expertise in preservation, maintenance, and
restoration of tropical forests.
``(2) Chairperson.--Notwithstanding section 610(b)(2) of
the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954
(7 U.S.C. 1738i(b)(2)), the Enterprise for the Americas Board
shall be headed by a chairperson who shall be appointed by
the President from among the representatives appointed under
section 610(b)(1)(A) of such Act or paragraph (1)(A) of this
subsection.
``(c) Duties.--The duties described in this subsection are
as follows:
``(1) Advise the Secretary of State on the negotiations of
Tropical Forest Agreements.
``(2) Ensure, in consultation with--
``(A) the government of the beneficiary country,
``(B) nongovernmental organizations of the beneficiary
country,
``(C) nongovernmental organizations of the region (if
appropriate),
``(D) environmental, scientific, and academic leaders of
the beneficiary country, and
``(E) environmental, scientific, and academic leaders of
the region (as appropriate),
that a suitable administering body is identified for each
Fund.
``(3) Review the programs, operations, and fiscal audits of
each administering body.
``SEC. 812. CONSULTATIONS WITH THE CONGRESS.
``The President shall consult with the appropriate
congressional committees on a periodic basis to review the
operation of the Facility under this part and the eligibility
of countries for benefits from the Facility under this part.
``SEC. 813. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.
``(a) In General.--Not later than December 31 of each
fiscal year, the President shall prepare and transmit to the
Congress an annual report concerning the operation of the
Facility for the prior fiscal year. Such report shall
include--
``(1) a description of the activities undertaken by the
Facility during the previous fiscal year;
``(2) a description of any Agreement entered into under
this part;
``(3) a report on any Funds that have been established
under this part and on the operations of such Funds; and
``(4) a description of any grants that have been provided
by administering bodies pursuant to Agreements under this
part.
``(b) Supplemental Views in Annual Report.--Not later than
December 15 of each fiscal year, each member of the Board
shall be entitled
[[Page H1314]]
to receive a copy of the report required under subsection
(a). Each member of the Board may prepare and submit
supplemental views to the President on the implementation of
this part by December 31 for inclusion in the annual report
when it is transmitted to Congress pursuant to this
section.''.
The CHAIRMAN. During consideration of the bill for amendment, the
Chair may accord priority in recognition to a Member offering an
amendment that he has printed in the designated place in the
Congressional Record. Those amendments will be considered read.
The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may postpone a request for
a recorded vote on any amendment and may reduce to a minimum of 5
minutes the time for voting on any postponed question that immediately
follows another vote, provided that the time for voting on the first
question shall be a minimum of 15 minutes.
Are there any amendments to the bill?
Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Gilman
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 1 offered by Mr. Gilman:
Page 10, after line 15, insert the following:
(c) Notification Requirement.--The President shall notify
the congressional committees specified in section 634A of
this Act at least 15 days in advance of each reduction of
debt pursuant to this section in accordance with the
procedures applicable to reprogramming notifications under
such section 634A.
Page 10, line 16, strike ``(c)'' and insert ``(d)''.
Page 12, after line 25, insert the following:
(c) Notification Requirement.--The President shall notify
the congressional committees specified in section 634A of
this Act at least 15 days in advance of each reduction of
debt pursuant to this section in accordance with the
procedures applicable to reprogramming notifications under
such section 634A.
Page 13, line 1, strike ``(c)'' and insert ``(d)''.
Page 16, after line 21, insert the following:
(b) Notification Requirement.--The President shall notify
the congressional committees specified in section 634A of
this Act at least 15 days in advance of each sale, reduction,
or cancellation of loans or credits pursuant to this section
in accordance with the procedures applicable to reprogramming
notifications under such section 634A.
Page 16, line 22, strike ``(b)'' and insert ``(c)''.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, this amendment merely gives the Congress an
extra level of protection with regard to this bill. Under the current
bill, the administration must notify the Congress when a country is
eligible for debt relief. While that is comforting, the Congress would
not know of the amount of debt to be forgiven, the financial commitment
to the environment made by the host country, the specific habitat to be
protected or the local groups designated by the administration and host
country to carry out the project.
Under this bill, we are giving authority to the President to carry
out debt relief anywhere a country is eligible. We want to do projects
in difficult nations like Indonesia and eventually the Congo where
critical habitats are, but I have some concerns about the governments
and local groups there. This amendment would give us one last look at
the complete arrangement before moving forward.
We would reference section 634(A) of the Foreign Assistant Act, using
a well-worn procedure of consultation between the Congress and the
executive branch. I understand that the Treasury Department had some
concerns with the amendment. I am totally willing to work with them to
refine the notification process as the bill moves through the Senate.
Accordingly, I urge our Members to support the amendment.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment. I
commend the gentleman for bringing it forward. I think all of us agree
that the Congress should be notified of any appropriations to eligible
countries under the bill. I was pleased to hear the gentleman say a
moment ago that he would work with the administration with regard to a
notification process that conserves administrative resources and is not
duplicative. I urge the adoption of the amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the ayes
appeared to have it.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 388, further proceedings
on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman)
will be postponed.
Are there further amendments?
Amendments No. 2 and 3 Offered by Mr. Vento
Mr. VENTO. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendments, and I ask unanimous
consent that they be considered en bloc.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendments.
The text of the amendments is as follows:
Amendments No. 2 and 3 offered by Mr. Vento:
Page 19, after line 20, insert the following:
``(5) Research and identification of medicinal uses of
tropical forest plant life to treat human diseases and
illnesses and other health-related concerns.
Page 19, line 21, strike ``(5)'' and insert ``(6)''.
Page 19, line 23, strike ``(6)'' and insert ``(7)''.
Page 23, line 12, after ``scientific'' insert
``indigenous,''.
Page 23, line 14, after ``scientific,'' insert
``indigenous,''.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from
Minnesota?
There was no objection.
Mr. VENTO. Mr. Chairman, again I commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Portman), the principal sponsor of the bill. These amendments are
noncontroversial amendments. I appreciate the support of the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr.
Hamilton), chairman and ranking member of the committee.
I would want to point out that this is a good bill, but one of the
major ways that we gain information here is by consulting with the
indigenous people of these areas from the rain forests that in fact
have used many of the products, the plants, both the fauna and flora of
these rain forests for medicinal and other purposes. That consultation
process is recognized in Amendment No. 3 that I have here where I amend
and put the word ``indigenous,'' as well as consulting with the
scientists, with the government officials and others, the academic
side, to in fact consult with the indigenous people. What we really
have in consulting with the indigenous people from these cultures is
really the history of humankind in terms of the success, the trial and
errors that they have used in terms of applying these plant substances,
these animal substances for medicinal uses. It only is logical, in fact
that is the way that most scientists, most ethnobotanists and others in
fact gain the clues as to where to search for and look and seek these,
what we call wonder drugs today, Mr. Chairman.
Secondly, this amendment would make in order on page 20 a new
eligible activity for grant, which would be research and identification
of medicinal use of tropical forest plants to treat human diseases and
illness and other related concerns. In other words, Mr. Chairman, the
concern here was that while I think it is consistent in the bill, the
oft repeated goal of trying to preserve this pharmacological material
from these forests, in fact, the grant process did not specify for this
purpose. My amendment offered en bloc will do that.
Mr. Chairman, my interest in this springs from work that I conducted
in years past leading the Parks and Public Lands Committee in
designating as a park the fallow tropical rain forest of American
Samoa. I encountered and became a friend of Dr. Paul Cox, a professor
from Brigham Young University in Utah, and who now is leading the
Tropical Forestry Botanical Garden in Hawaii. He is a noted scholar and
has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 10 top medical
scientists in 1997. He related the experience that he had as a Mormon
missionary first, and later as a professor of botany in terms of trying
to gain the understanding and currently gain that from the indigenous
people, from the American Samoan, from the Western Samoan people and
has in fact been able to have several compounds and materials
considered for medical use in the United States. Very often, he put it
pretty bluntly that many of these countries in order to get a school or
a building are prepared to sell off thousands of acres
[[Page H1315]]
of their land so they get a school or other building put up. The fact
of the matter is the real value of those lands that we know and is
within the biodiversity and other characteristics which they exhibit.
What he has been able to do, and I know it is not the subject of this
bill but I will be submitting legislation on it, was to in fact give
the indigenous people, the American Samoan or the Western Samoan
people, part of the profit that comes from the replication of these
natural compounds and substances that were the intellectual property of
these Samoan people. This is, I think, putting a real value on it and a
positive incentive for others to share this information and then to
benefit as well from such discovery.
H.R. 2870 is a positive bill. Its goal is to end or significantly
curtail the destruction of the world's tropical forests with nature's
debt for swapping a commitment to preserve such rain forests as a new
and working policy and law. In the past half-century we have logged or
burned half of the planet's tropical forests. In the eighties, as a
matter of fact, they were disappearing at the rate of 30 million acres
per year--roughly the size of Pennsylvania. And as we have seen again
and again, when you slash, burn or log the forest, many species, the
biodiversity, of flora and fauna are lost, most often permanently!
This legislation seeks to stem that tide. With passage of H.R. 2870,
the United States will continue and strengthen its efforts to encourage
developing nations to treat their forests responsibly. It expands the
successful model created by the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative
(EAI) in which the United States offers debt relief to nations in
exchange for the protection of important forest habitats. With passage
of this bill, nations around the world will be able to participate in a
program that has worked very well in the Americas. That's good news for
Mother Earth because there are tropical forests around the globe--in
Africa, Polynesia, Asia, and elsehwere.
I commend Mr. Kasich, Mr. Portman, Mr. Gilman, and Mr. Hamilton for
working together on a bipartisan basis to bring this issue to the
floor. It proves something that I have been saying for a long time: The
environment is not and should not be a partisan issue.
Today I seek to offer two amendments that address a unique aspect of
our rain forests. The amendments focus on the role that tropical
forests and the culture of the people that live in such areas play in
the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals.
An estimated one-half of the Earth's 250,000 plants survive in
tropical forest ecosystems. Of these, less than one percent have been
exhaustively studied for their possible role as medicinal substances.
This is incredible considering that important medicines come from such
natural plant resources including aspirin, codeine, quinine, which
combats malaria, and taxol, which has proven effective in the first
against ovarian and breast cancer, and many more. The basic chemistry
comes from nature first and is replicated in our labs for commercial
manufacture. These are the wonder drugs that save lives and improve our
quality of life.
A very good friend of ours, Professor Paul Cox, has worked
extensively in the field of ethnobotany--the study of the relationship
between plants and people. I will seek unanimous consent that a profile
of Mr. Cox that appeared in Time Magazine appear in the Record
following my statement. Dr. Cox is our modern scientist learning from
indigenous peoples. He has spent time in Polynesia and discovered an
impressive array of pharmaceuticals used by the indigenous people to
develop medicines from plants and animals that are found in their
natural rain forest environment. Just among the most recent discoveries
were medicinal substances to cure or reduce skin inflammation, rashes,
diarrhea and asthma--all for the asking and understanding of the
paleotropical rainforest people of Samoa, a Polynesian island in the
Western Pacific.
In other parts of the world, indigenous peoples have used plants that
fight anything from fungal infections of the skin to cancer. The
problem is that there are neither enough scientists such as Dr. Cox nor
enough money to fund their essential research. My amendment would
address the grant expenditure provisions of this bill to include
eligibility for the research and identification of medicinal uses of
tropical forest flora and fauna to treat human diseases and illnesses.
This is an urgent issue that merits our attention. Just as the
tropical forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, the use of
plants in traditional societies seems to be a pursuit of previous
generations that are passing on with their know how. Two of the Samoan
healers who worked with our friend Mr. Cox to develop a powerful
antiviral compound passed away in 1994! Their knowledge went with them.
One can only speculate about the number of healers Mr. Cox or other
ethnobotanists have not yet reached. In passing this amendment, we may
be able to capture much of this know how, a body of knowledge that is
the experience of mankind and human history to exploit such natural
resources.
While this small change won't translate into more money to
definitively access and inventory potential medicinal flora and fauna,
it is a very positive step to embrace the activity as eligible for such
support and perhaps curing some of our most stubborn diseases today and
tomorrow.
I am also offering in this enbloc amendment a policy to expand the
consultation requirement for nations when they are shaping and writing
Tropical Forest Agreements. The bill currently includes a requirement
to consult with scientists and academics who are familiar with tropical
forest issues. My amendment would be certain that indigenous
representatives, the local people of such areas, are at the table, as
well. As I note above, within these cultures there are, in many cases,
a far more intimate knowledge of the utility of the earth's rain
forests than we could attain. Let us use it daily and openly
acknowledging and rewarding their special knowledge and culture. It is
absolutely crucial that we include such input into the tropical forest
preservation that this measure envisions.
An issue related to these two amendments that I considered raising
today is the protection of the intellectual property--the value of such
knowledge and know-how that healers in traditional society possess.
Indeed, if a pharmaceutical company were to find a cure for cancer or
AIDS with the help of healers and traditional medicine, we should
certainly ensure that they were properly compensated and share in the
reward and profit for the use of their culture's intellectual property.
As this is of course a more complicated issue and not as relevant to
the issues in this bill, I will attempt to address this issue at a
later date in a separate policy initiative. I simply wanted to note to
the Chairman and the ranking member that this was something we should
keep in mind as we proceed with the preservation and utilization of
these biologically diverse rain forests.
Natural weather events over which we have little control today are
resulting in fire out of control in Amazonia--23 to 25,000 square
miles, in fact some 16 million acres have been affected. Additionally
in parts of the Indonesian region, fire has devastated vast regions of
virgin rain forest, areas that will be lost for all of the important
qualities--a carbon sink, the hydrological regime of these ecosystems,
the sheer biodiversity, and the major source of pharmaceutical
products--for tomorrow is being adversary impacted by such phenomenon
is essential that we pass this measure and most importantly make it
work. The international nature of our environment has never been more
apparent, but alas the willingness of the United States to lead and to
participate seems to be subject to a paralysis of fear and suspicion.
Hopefully this measure signals a reversal of the denial that has
characterized a number of harmful House-passed measures that undercut
voluntary conservation treaties and agreements key to a rational
pursuit of global environmental policy based on success and cooperation
around the world.
It was a pleasure working on this issue with the members of the
Committee and the sponsors of this bill. I am especially pleased that
we will be able to dispose of these important issues without
controversy today. These are good amendments to a good bill and I ask
for my colleagues support.
Seeking Answers in Ancient Rain-Forest Remedies Is a Life's Work for
Plant Hunter
The teacher and student sit cross-legged, facing each other
on the floor of the open-sided hut in Western Samoa. Behind
them the rain forest rises to the pinnacle of a long-dormant
volcano. Beneath the thatched roof, a gaggle of children
intently watches the proceedings. The teacher is Salome
Isofea, 30, a young healer who is demonstrating her art. The
man opposite her, a Westerner named Paul Alan Cox, is no
ordinary student. He is a botany professor and dean at
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, a world specialist
in medicinal plants and, far from least in this exotic
setting, the paramount chief of the nearby village of
Falealupo. To people here, he is known as Nafanua, in honor
of a legendary Samoan warrior goddess who once saved the
village from oppression and protected its forests.
Salome is explaining a traditional cure for pterygium, an
eye affliction common to the tropics in which vision
gradually becomes obscured as a layer of tissue encroaches
over the cornea. The traditional cure used by healers is
leaves of Centella asiatrica, a groundhugging vine, which
Salome chews into a poultice, smears on a cloth and then
places as a compress on the afflicted eye for three
consecutive nights.
But before this can be done, Salome explains, there is
another crucial part of the cure. Holding a coconut-shell
bowl containing ashes, she flicks them in the direction of
Cox, who is playing the patient. When he soberly asks why the
ashes are necessary, she replies that they enhance
``spiritual transmission'' between healer and patient. ``We
Westerners have to suspend judgment at these times.''
[[Page H1316]]
only young practicing healers, cox believes, can prevent the loss of
centuries of knowledge
Look at our own belief in doctors wearing white coats. In
Western culture that uniform is comparable to the ``spiritual
transmission she sees in the use of ash.''
Moments like this are typical of Cox's experience as he
scours the world's flora in search of plants that will
benefit Western medicine. Cox has spent years in Samoa
interviewing or apprenticing himself to traditional healers.
He has also traveled throughout the South Pacific, as well as
in Southeast Asia, South America, East Africa and as far
north as Sweden's Lapland. In Samoa alone, healers have led
him and his colleagues to 74 medicinal plants that might
prove useful.
Samoan healers concoct poultices and infusions from the
leaves, bark and roots of local plants, using them for
conditions that range from high fever to appendicitis. Among
them are root of 'Ago (curcuma longa) for rashes, leaves of
the kuava tree (Psidium guajava) for diarrhea, and the bark
of vavae (Ceiba pentandra) for asthma. Virtually all the
healers are women who learned their art from their mothers,
who in turn learned it from their mothers. Now knowledge of
the recipes and their administration, even the location of
the plants in the forests, is endangered as more and more
daughters forgo the long filial apprenticeships in favor of
using Western pills and ointments.
For this reason, the discovery of young practicing healers
like Salome delights Cox, who believes that only people like
her can prevent the loss of centuries of knowledge. If he can
carry Salome's knowledge to the developed world in the form
of plants whose myriad chemical compounds might help combat
incurable diseases--notably cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer's--the
impetus to save the Samoan rain forest, and all forests, will
be that much stronger.
Fewer than 1% of the world's 265,000 flowering plants, most
inhabiting equatorial regions, have been tested for their
effectiveness against disease. ``We haven't even scratched
the surface--not even in our own backyard,'' says Jim Miller,
director of the Missouri Botanical Garden's natural-products
program. Yet nearly a quarter of prescription drugs sold in
the U.S. are based on chemicals from just 40 plant species.
Examples are abundant. Codeine and morphine are derived from
poppies. Vincristine and vinblastine, isolated from the rosy
periwinkle, help treat cancers, including Hodgkin's disease
and some leukemias. Curare, taken from several lethal
Amazonian plants and often used to tip hunting arrows, is
used in drugs that bolster anesthesia. An extract of the
snakeroot plant, reserpine, traditionally employed in Asia to
counteract poisonous snake bite, is the basis of a number of
tranquilizers and hypertension drugs. Taxol, a compound in
the bark of the Pacific yew, is used to treat some cases of
advanced ovarian and breast cancer.
The drive is intensifying to collect and screen more
natural products for their medicinal effects, says Gordon
Cragg, chief of the National Cancer Institute's natural-
products branch: ``Nature produces chemicals that no chemist
would ever dream of at the laboratory bench.'' All this is
heartening for biologists and environmentalists concerned
about the dwindling of the planet's biodiversity, mostly
concentrated in a wide girdle around the equator. Human
activity, from farming to logging and road building, is
chewing at this girdle, driving countless species to
extinction even before they have been discovered. ``I see
ethnobotany--the study of the relationship between people and
plants--as the key to the preservation of this vast
collection of species as well as a pathway to halting many
diseases,'' says Cox.
Cox, 44, a Mormon, first came to Samoa in 1973, when he was
assigned to the country for his two-year compulsory
missionary service after he graduated from Brigham Young as a
botany major. His father was a park ranger and his mother a
wildlife and fisheries biologist; his grandfather created the
Utah state park system; and his great-grandfather was a
founder of Arbor Day. Cox naturally expected to end up
involved in conservation, but his stint in Samoa surpassed
all his expectations.
He was not only impressed by the far-reaching influence of
botany that he witnessed--beginning with the scene of a
Samoan fisherman using a plant to poison fish in a river--but
he also learned to speak and write Samoan better than many
Samoans. (A difficult language, Samoan in its most elegant
form requires extensive knowledge of local ritual and
legend.) Cox went on to earn a doctorate in biology at
Harvard, then joined Brigham Young's faculty as a botanist
studying plant physiology and pollination.
In 1984 Cox returned to Samoa as an ethnobotanist,
propelled there by personal misfortune. That year, Cox's
mother had died a long and painful death from cancer. After
witnessing her suffering, Cox experienced a revelation of
sorts. Well aware of the rich tradition of folk healing he
had observed a decade earlier, he now hoped to find a cure
for cancer. ``I vowed I would do whatever I could to fight
the disease that killed my mother,'' he writes in Nafanua:
Saving the Samoan Rain Forest, a book being published this
fall that recounts his work and life in Samoa.
This time he brought along his wife and four young
children. The family settled on the island of Savai'i in the
isolated village of Falealupo, the westernmost point of
Western Samoa, one of the world's poorest countries (average
annual per capita income: $100). Here, far from many of the
Western influences of neighboring American Samoa, Cox felt he
could learn about the plants and the healers who use them
before both vanished.
Major technological advances in screening processes have
helped Cox and other ethnobotanists immensely.
Pharmacologists must analyze between 10,000 and 17,000
chemical compounds before finding one with the potential to
be tested for efficacy in humans. Until recently, animal
testing and clinical trials of a single drug required an
average 12 years of research and cost up to $300 million. But
initial screening can now be done in a matter of days without
using animals. Molecular biologists are able to isolate
enzymes that can trigger human diseases, then expose those
enzymes to a plant's chemical compounds. If a plant extract
blocks the action of a particular enzyme--say, one that
promotes a skin inflammation--they know the plant has drug
potential. By extracting specific chemicals from the leaves,
roots or bark with a series of solvents and testing each
sample individually, scientists can determine which of the
plant's thousands of compounds actually blocks the enzyme.
As a result of these advances, about 100 U.S. companies are
searching out plants. Drug companies and scientific
institutions are collaborating on field research all over the
globe, racing to study as many natural substances as possible
before they, or the native people who use them, disappear.
Some work with the handful of ethnobotanists like Cox to
ferret out drug candidates based on their knowledge of
indigenous peoples. Others use a broad-brush approach, mass-
collecting plants whose chemical compounds might contribute
to new drugs.
One of the most extensive prospecting efforts is the
National Cancer Institute's, which is focusing on screening
plants for compounds active against the AIDS virus and nine
major types of cancer. Since 1986, the NCI has received
samplings of thousands of different species from
ethnobotanists as well as such institutions as the New York
Botanical Garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the
University of Illinois at Chicago.
In contrast to random collecting, Cox feels ethnobotanical
field research provides a far more streamlined way of
locating plants that have medical potential. ``Indigenous
people have been testing plants on people for thousands of
years,'' says Cox. More important, healers may alert
ethnobotanists to nuances that random collecting could miss.
Take Homalanthus nutans, a rain-forest tree whose bark
Samoans have used for centuries as a cure for hepatitis. Cox
quickly found that he could not just casually go into the
forest and gather the bark because (1) there are two
varieties of the tree, and the bark of only one is effective,
and (2) only trees of a certain size produce the desired
extract.
After Cox collected the proper bark samples, he sent them
to the NCI in the mid-1980s for testing. One isolate, called
prostratin, appeared to inhibit growth of the AIDS virus, at
least in the test tube, leading the NCI to patent it. If
prostratin should ever be developed and approved by the Food
and Drug Administration, both the Western Samoan government
and the citizens of Falealupo could be in for a windfall
under a royalty arrangement that Cox worked out between both
entities and the NCI.
Cox has located three other medically promising plants. Two
of the plants, used by Samoans to control skin inflammations,
are being investigated by a pharmaceutical firm. The third
doubles the life span of infection-fighting T lymphocytes in
the test tube; its effect in the human body is not yet known.
Cox's family has already benefited from the anti-
inflammatories. After his infant daughter Hillary came down
with a skin infection that did not respond to Western
ointments, a healer ground up some leaves; the resulting
greenish goo made the infection disappear. When Cox's son
Paul Matthew was stung by wasps, healers rubbed bark on the
wounds, and the swelling vanished.
When Cox first arrived in his adopted village of 2,000, he
put himself under the tutelage of a healer named Pela, now
82, who agreed to be his mentor. Recently, Pela introduced
Cox to cures for eye diseases other than pterygium: a
poultice of beach pea leaves for sun blindness, fluid from
immature coconuts for general eye injury, and eye drops from
a fern (Phymatosorus scolopendrium) as a treatment for
cataracts. Cox heard two other healers from different
villages verify this use of the fern, and he was exuberant.
``When three healers all use the same thing for cataracts,
it's like a dream come true,'' he exclaimed.
Cox is more than a healer's apprentice. He knows that if
the rain forests of Samoa continue to disappear, hundreds of
potential drugs hidden there may never be found. So he spends
much of his time between Brigham Young semesters trying to
preserve the acreage that remains. More than 80% of the
lowland rain forest has already been logged. Cox's aim is to
offer cash-poor Western Samoans an alternative to selling out
to loggers.
Samoans have traditionally used the forest for hunting,
collecting medicinal plants, harvesting wild fruits and
cutting trees for their dugout canoes. In this crucible of
nature and culture, Cox believes, lies hope for conservation
and the future of ethnobotany. ``We can't save the forest
without saving the culture,'' he says, ``and we can't save
the culture without saving the forest.''
[[Page H1317]]
In 1988, Falealupo almost lost its 30,000-acre forest. The
government told the villagers to construct a new school. It
would cost $65,000, and the village would have to foot the
bill. Ironically--or tellingly--a logging company arrived in
the village shortly afterward and offered to pay $65,000 for
permission to cut down the forest. The villagers, their hand
forced, submitted.
Cox intervened just in time. He offered to raise enough
money by mortgaging his home in Utah. But while in the U.S.
to make arrangements, he pleaded the case to his students and
two Mormon businessmen. Within six weeks they had raised the
money, and Cox, back in Samoa, formalized an agreement with
the villagers to protect their forest for 50 years.
It was during this period that the villagers informed Cox
that they wanted to name him heir to the goddess Nafanua.
When he declined, fearing that the title would interfere with
his research, the villagers refused to sign the preservation
agreement. Cox relented. ``Being a deity is not my cup of
tea,'' he says, ``but Nafanua stands for conservation and
rain-forest ecology, so I said to them `O.K., I'll take the
cards I've been dealt.' '' Now chiefs and children alike
respectfully address him as Nafanua.
As a result of this work, Cox and a chief who helped him
shared one of the six prestigious Goldman Environmental
Prizes for 1997. Each received $37,500. Since then Cox has
expanded his preservation efforts by establishing the
Seacology Foundation, based at Brigham Young. Some of the
foundation's funding comes through Cox's ethnobotanical
success with medicinally, or in this case cosmetically,
valuable plants. When Nu Skin International, a Utah-based
personal-care company, wanted to hire Cox as a consultant, he
charged a $40,000 fee that he plowed into the foundation. He
also asked Nu Skin and Nature's Way, another Utah cosmetics
firm, each to match his Goldman Prize award. Subsequently, Nu
Skin began using extracts of a plant with anti-inflammatory
properties in a foot cream. Seacology receives 25 cents for
every tube of the cream sold.
The foundation has since provided money for the Western
Samoan village of Tafua to preserve its 20,000-acre rain
forest. It helped persuade Congress to authorize the National
Park of American Samoa--about 10,000 acres of forests and 420
acres of coral reefs in the neighboring archipelago. And it
has helped villages build schools, medical clinics and
cisterns to catch rainfall, the main source of drinking
water.
In Falealupo, the foundation paid for the construction of a
series of connected platforms and a walkway 200 ft. high
between two huge trees at the edge of the forest.
Administered by villagers, the serial complex has brought in
about $1,000 a month from tourists and school groups since it
opened, profit that the villagers use to maintain the forest.
``This is the first time these people have made money from
the forest without destroying it,'' says Cox. ``If they keep
making this kind of money and other villages hear about it,
the forests will be saved.''
Cox dreams that one day soon the people of Western Samoa
will see the benefit of preserving not only the rain forests
surrounding their villages but also the vast cloud forests
that still cloak the sides of the volcanoes that form the
spine of Savaii. Here he hopes the villagers will agree to
``make the biggest national park in the whole world,'' before
the chain saws get there too. He wants them to become as
excited about the project as he is, rather than have the
impetus come from outside. Behind this goal lies a philosophy
that runs through Cox's work: helping native people
understand the wealth of their heritage so that they will
want to preserve it rather than sell it. Since it's no less
than Nafanua who is urging them on, that seems a reasonable
goal.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. VENTO. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. GILMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to commend him
for his amendments. I want to notify the gentleman from Minnesota that
we accept his amendments.
Mr. VENTO. I appreciate the gentleman's support and his interest in
this matter.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. VENTO. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I just want to add
to that that we think these are thoughtful amendments. One of the major
underlying purposes of this legislation of course is to promote
protection of plants that can cure diseases. I think his second
amendment certainly does that. I think it clarifies the use of grants.
It is helpful. I think the addition of the members to the EAI board is
also helpful in that regard and also to be sure the indigenous people
are represented. I think the amendments are helpful legislation. I join
the chairman of the committee in supporting them.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendments. I
think they are valuable additions to the bill. The gentleman from
Minnesota has made a positive, constructive contribution. The first
amendment pertains to expanding eligible activities to include research
and identification of tropical forest plants for medical use. I am told
that flowering plants and ferns have given rise to over 120
commercially sold drugs and account for some 25 percent of all
prescriptions issued in the United States. This fact indicates the
importance of this amendment.
The second amendment that was offered would include indigenous people
in the consultation process to establish the local administering body.
We should all recognize that the indigenous people play a very critical
role in helping researchers identify plants and flora that have
medicinal use.
{time} 1200
Their guidance and experience provide very important direction to
researchers. Mr. Speaker, these are two excellent amendments, and I
commend the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento).
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendments offered by the
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento).
The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the ayes
appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 388, further proceedings
on the amendments offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento)
will be postponed.
Are there other amendments?
Sequential Votes Postponed in Committee of the Whole
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 388, proceedings will now
resume on those amendments on which further proceedings were postponed
in the following order: Amendment No. 1 offered by the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Gilman), and Amendments No. 2 and 3 offered by the
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento).
The Chair will reduce to 5 minutes the time for any electronic vote
after the first vote in this series.
Amendment Offered by Mr. Gilman
The CHAIRMAN. The pending business is the demand for a recorded vote
on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman),
on which further proceedings were postponed, and on which the ayes
prevailed by voice vote.
The Clerk will redesignate the amendment.
The Clerk redesignated the amendment.
Recorded Vote
The CHAIRMAN. A recorded vote has been demanded.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 416,
noes 1, not voting 14, as follows:
[Roll No. 61]
AYES--416
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Allen
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Berry
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Bliley
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cannon
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Condit
Conyers
Cook
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cubin
Cummings
Cunningham
Danner
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
DeLay
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Everett
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fazio
Filner
Forbes
Ford
Fossella
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Graham
[[Page H1318]]
Granger
Green
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Hefner
Herger
Hill
Hilleary
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Hooley
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Metcalf
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Morella
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Neal
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Oxley
Packard
Pallone
Pappas
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Paxon
Payne
Pease
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pickett
Pitts
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Redmond
Regula
Reyes
Riley
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Ryun
Sabo
Salmon
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sanford
Sawyer
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Schumer
Scott
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (OR)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Adam
Smith, Linda
Snowbarger
Snyder
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Stokes
Strickland
Stump
Stupak
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thompson
Thornberry
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Walsh
Wamp
Waters
Watkins
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Weygand
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wise
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--1
Hilliard
NOT VOTING--14
Foley
Frost
Furse
Gallegly
Gekas
Gephardt
Gonzalez
Lewis (GA)
Martinez
Parker
Poshard
Rangel
Riggs
Schiff
{time} 1220
Mrs. CUBIN changed her vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''
So the amendment was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
personal explanation
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 61, I was attending a
meeting with the Senate on N.I.H. funding. Had I been present, I would
have voted ``aye.''
Amendments Offered by Mr. Vento
The CHAIRMAN. The pending business is the demand for a recorded vote
on the amendments offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento)
on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes
prevailed by voice vote.
The Clerk will redesignate the amendments.
The Clerk redesignated the amendments.
Recorded Vote
The SPEAKER pro tempore. A recorded vote has been demanded.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 335,
noes 79, not voting 17, as follows:
[Roll No. 62]
AYES--335
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Archer
Baesler
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Bass
Bateman
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Berry
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Bliley
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonior
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant
Burr
Buyer
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Castle
Chambliss
Christensen
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Condit
Conyers
Cook
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Cummings
Cunningham
Danner
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fazio
Filner
Forbes
Ford
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Green
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hefley
Hefner
Hill
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Holden
Hooley
Horn
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Metcalf
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (VA)
Morella
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Oxley
Packard
Pallone
Pappas
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pease
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Pickett
Pitts
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Rahall
Ramstad
Redmond
Regula
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Adam
Smith, Linda
Snyder
Spence
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stenholm
Stokes
Strickland
Stupak
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Thompson
Thune
Thurman
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Walsh
Waters
Watkins
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Weygand
White
Whitfield
Wise
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (FL)
NOES--79
Aderholt
Armey
Bachus
Baker
Barr
Bartlett
Barton
Bonilla
Brady
Bunning
Burton
Callahan
Cannon
Chabot
Chenoweth
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Crane
Crapo
Cubin
DeLay
Doolittle
Emerson
Everett
Fossella
Gibbons
Graham
Granger
Hansen
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Herger
Hilleary
Hoekstra
Hostettler
Hutchinson
Inglis
Jenkins
Johnson, Sam
Jones
McKeon
Mica
Moran (KS)
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Parker
Paul
Paxon
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pombo
Radanovich
Riley
Rogan
Ryun
Salmon
Sanford
Schaffer, Bob
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Smith (OR)
Snowbarger
Solomon
Souder
Stearns
Stump
Sununu
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Wamp
Wicker
Young (AK)
NOT VOTING--17
Doyle
Foley
Frost
Furse
Gallegly
Gekas
Gephardt
Gonzalez
Houghton
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Martinez
Poshard
Rangel
Riggs
Royce
Schiff
[[Page H1319]]
{time} 1231
Messrs. CALLAHAN, HANSEN, and WICKER, and Ms. GRANGER changed their
vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
So the amendments were agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
personal explanation
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 62, I was attending a
meeting with the Senate on N&H funding. Had I been present, I would
have voted ``aye.''
The CHAIRMAN. Are there any further amendments to the bill?
The question is on the committee amendment in the nature of a
substitute, as amended.
The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended,
was agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN. Under the rule, the Committee rises.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Quinn) having assumed the chair, Mr. LaHood, Chairman of the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that that
Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2870) to amend
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to facilitate protection of tropical
forests through debt reduction with developing countries with tropical
forests, pursuant to House Resolution 388, he reported the bill back to
the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the previous question is
ordered.
Is a separate vote demanded on any amendment to the committee
amendment in the nature of a substitute adopted by the Committee of the
Whole? If not, the question is on the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 356,
noes 61, not voting 14, as follows:
[Roll No. 63]
AYES--356
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Berry
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Bliley
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant
Bunning
Burr
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Christensen
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Condit
Conyers
Cook
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crapo
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Dreier
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fazio
Filner
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Furse
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Graham
Granger
Green
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Hefner
Hill
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Hooley
Horn
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Metcalf
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Morella
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Neal
Nethercutt
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Oxley
Packard
Pallone
Pappas
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pease
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Pickering
Pickett
Pitts
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Rahall
Ramstad
Redmond
Regula
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Saxton
Scarborough
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Adam
Snyder
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stenholm
Stokes
Strickland
Stupak
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Thomas
Thompson
Thune
Thurman
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Walsh
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Weygand
Whitfield
Wicker
Wise
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (FL)
NOES--61
Aderholt
Barr
Bartlett
Bonilla
Brady
Burton
Cannon
Chenoweth
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Crane
Cubin
Danner
DeLay
Doolittle
Duncan
Emerson
Everett
Fossella
Gekas
Hansen
Herger
Hilleary
Hostettler
Jenkins
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Lewis (KY)
Lucas
Neumann
Ney
Parker
Paul
Paxon
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pombo
Radanovich
Riley
Ryun
Salmon
Sanford
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Smith (OR)
Snowbarger
Solomon
Stearns
Stump
Taylor (NC)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Wamp
Watkins
Watts (OK)
Young (AK)
NOT VOTING--14
Bonior
Doyle
Frost
Gallegly
Gephardt
Gonzalez
Lewis (GA)
Martinez
Poshard
Rangel
Riggs
Schiff
Smith, Linda
White
{time} 1249
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________