[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E471-E472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 19, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union 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:

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Chairman, today the House passed H.R. 2870, the 
Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998. Building on President Bush's 
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, this legislation will help 
protect globally outstanding tropical forests around the world in a 
fiscally responsible manner. This legislation is the result of a lot of 
hard work by many organizations and people. I would like to take a 
minute to thank them.
  I have already talked about the committee leadership--in particular, 
Chairman Gilman, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Bereuter. I would also like to 
thank committee staff, particularly Mark Kirk, Elana Broitman, Maria 
Pica and Dan Parks.
  The environmental community has spent many hours helping us to 
develop this legislation over the past two years and to generate

[[Page E472]]

bipartisan support for the bill. Special thanks goes to the leadership 
and staff of Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the 
World Wildlife Fund, particularly Peter Seligmann, Russ Mittermeier, 
Ian Bowles, Glenn Prickett and Will Singleton from CI; John Sawhill, 
Tia Nelson, Randall Curtis and Bill Millan from TNC; and Kathryn 
Fuller, Jamie Resor and Estrelitta Fitzhugh from the World Wildlife 
Fund. Special thanks goes to the Ohio Chapter of The Nature 
Conservancy, especially Bud Talbott, Denise King and Jan van der Vort 
Portman, for their consistent efforts to build support for the bill.
  I would also like to thank officials in the Treasury Department--
particularly the Office of International Development, Debt and 
Environmental Policy, including Bill Schuerch and Ken Luden, and the 
Office of International Debt Policy, including Mary Chaves and Max 
Hudgins--for the help they gave us in making sure the final product 
reflected the best practices. Their experience with the Enterprise for 
the Americas Initiative gave us a practical context within which to 
work.
  And finally, I would like to thank my Chief of Staff, John 
Bridgeland, who coordinated this entire effort, my legislative staff, 
Tim Miller and Seth Webb, Mr. Kasich's staff, Wayne Struble and Chris 
Kearney, Mark Synnes from the Legislative Counsel's office, and Susan 
Fletcher, Betsy Cody and Pat Wertman from the Congressional Research 
Service, for all of their hard work on this initiative.
  I look forward to working with Senators Lugar, Biden, Chaffee and 
Leahy as this legislation proceeds through the Senate.

                          ____________________