[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 82 (Thursday, June 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6868-S6869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CAMPBELL:
  S. 1212. A bill to restrict United States assistance for certain 
reconstruction efforts in the Balkans region of Europe to United 
States-produced articles and services; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


              kosovo reconstruction investment act of 1999

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today I introduce the Kosovo 
Reconstruction Investment Act of 1999.
  This legislation would require that the United States foreign aid 
funds committed to the reconstruction of Kosovo and other parts of the 
Balkans in the wake of the Kosovo conflict will be used to purchase 
American-made goods and services whenever possible.
  This legislation provides a win-win approach to reconstruction by 
helping the people of Kosovo and others who live in the Balkans who 
have suffered as a result of the Kosovo conflict while also looking out 
for American workers.
  The people of Kosovo and the Balkans will win by having new homes, 
hospitals, factories, bridges, and much more rebuilt. They will have 
roofs over their heads, places to go for health care and to work, and 
the roads and bridges needed to get there.
  The American people will win as a sizable portion of their hard-
earned taxpayer dollars will come back to the United States in the form 
of new orders for American-made goods and services. New jobs will be 
created. With this legislation we can make the best out of a looming, 
costly, and long-term burden on our Nation's budget.
  This will be especially important for some of our key industries, 
such as agriculture and steel, that are facing hard times here at home. 
Other hard-working Americans from industries like manufacturing, 
engineering, construction, and telecommunications will also enjoy new 
opportunities to produce goods and services for the people of 
Southeastern Europe.
  For example, our ranchers and farmers, many of whom are being 
severely harmed by a combination of tough

[[Page S6869]]

competition at home, cheap imports and closed markets overseas will 
benefit. This bill will help provide them with the opportunity to 
strengthen their share in Europe's Southeastern markets.
  Our steel workers, many of whom are also in a tough situation, will 
benefit as U.S. made steel is used to reconstruct homes, hospitals, 
factories, and bridges. American engineers, contractors, and other 
service providers will play a key role in rebuilding telecommunications 
and other necessary infrastructure projects.
  To ensure that the Kosovo Reconstruction Investment Act does not 
unduly hinder the reconstruction effort, it allows for American foreign 
aid funds to be used to buy goods and services produced by other 
parties in cases where U.S. made goods and services are deemed to be 
``prohibitively expensive.''
  The American taxpayers are already bearing the lion's share of waging 
the war in Kosovo. To date, our nation's military has spent about $3 
billion Kosovo war effort. Our pilots flew the vast majority of the 
combat sorties. In addition, the Foreign Operations supplemental 
appropriations bill that passed last month provided $819 million for 
humanitarian and refugee aid for Kosovo and surrounding countries. It 
has been estimated that peace keeping operations will cost an 
additional $3 billion in the first year alone. This is just the 
beginning. In the future, American taxpayers will be spending many tens 
of billions of dollars more as we participate in the apparently open-
ended peacekeeping effort.
  Without this legislation, those countries who largely sat on the 
sidelines while we fought will be allowed to sweep in and clean up. The 
American taxpayers' dollars should not be used as a windfall profits 
program to boost Western European conglomerates. The American people 
deserve better. The Kosovo Reconstruction Investment Act of 1999 would 
remedy this situation.
  Yet another problem this bill would help alleviate is our exploding 
trade deficit which is on track to an all time high of approximately 
$250 billion by the end of this year. In March of this year alone, the 
United States posted a record 1 month trade deficit of $19.7 billion.
  Furthermore, many of the other industrialized countries that 
regularly distribute foreign aid do not distribute it with no strings 
attached. For many years now, countries like Japan have also required 
that the foreign aid funds they distribute be used to buy products 
produced by their domestic companies.
  We also must face the reality that there is much more to rebuilding 
this region than money can buy. The various ethnic groups residing 
throughout the Balkans must realize that they have to change their 
hearts and ways if there is to be any lasting peace and prosperity. We 
cannot do this for them. They have to do it for themselves, as 
communities, families, and individuals.
  If they commit themselves to rule of law, freedom of speech, free and 
open markets, the primacy of the ballot box over bullets and a live and 
let live tolerance of others, they will be well on their way as they 
head into the new millennium.
  Once again, here we are reconstructing a part of Europe. Once again, 
we did not start the war, but we had to finish it and then were called 
on to come in, pick up the pieces, and put them back together again.
  If America's airmen, sailors, marines, and soldiers are good enough 
to win a war, then America's hard-working taxpayers, including farmers, 
steel workers, and engineers are good enough to help rebuild shattered 
countries. If we are called on to put the Balkans back together, we 
should do it with a fair share of goods and services made in America.
  The Kosovo Reconstruction Investment Act will help make sure that 
both the victims of the Kosovo conflict and the American people win. I 
urge my colleagues to support passage of this legislation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1212

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. RESTRICTION ON UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE FOR 
                   CERTAIN RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS IN THE BALKANS 
                   REGION.

       (a) Prohibition.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in subsection (b), no 
     part of any United States assistance furnished for 
     reconstruction efforts in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 
     or any contiguous country, on account of the armed conflict 
     or atrocities that have occurred in the Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia since March 24, 1999, may consist of, or be used 
     for the procurement of, any article produced outside the 
     United States or any service provided by a foreign person.
       (2) Determinations of foreign produced articles.--In the 
     application of paragraph (1), determinations of whether an 
     article is produced outside the United States or whether a 
     service is provided by a foreign person should be made 
     consistent with the standards utilized by the Bureau of 
     Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce in its United 
     States balance of payments statistical summary with respect 
     to comparable determinations.
       (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply if doing so 
     would require the procurement of any article or service that 
     is prohibitively expensive or unavailable.
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Article.--The term ``article'' includes any 
     agricultural commodity, steel, construction material, 
     communications equipment, construction machinery, farm 
     machinery, or petrochemical refinery equipment.
       (2) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.--The term ``Federal 
     Republic of Yugoslavia'' means the Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and includes Kosovo.
       (3) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means any 
     foreign national, including any foreign corporation, 
     partnership, other legal entity, organization, or association 
     that is beneficially owned by foreign nationals or controlled 
     in fact by foreign nationals.
       (4) Produced.--The term ``produced'', with respect to an 
     item, includes any item mined, manufactured, made, assembled, 
     grown, or extracted.
       (5) Service.--The term ``service'' includes any 
     engineering, construction, telecommunications, or financial 
     service.
       (6) Steel.--The term ``steel'' includes the following 
     categories of steel products: semifinished, plates, sheets 
     and strips, wire rods, wire and wire products, rail type 
     products, bars, structural shapes and units, pipes and tubes, 
     iron ore, and coke products.
       (7) United states assistance.--The term ``United States 
     assistance'' means any grant, loan, financing, in-kind 
     assistance, or any other assistance of any kind.
                                 ______