[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H12889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMPREHENSIVE DEBT RELIEF ADOPTED BY OMNIBUS BUDGET RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to emphasize to my colleagues 
and the public that as part of the omnibus spending resolution just 
adopted, the United States House of Representatives has endorsed the 
most seminal bill ever advanced for the developing countries of the 
world. Comprehensive debt relief has been adopted for the poorest of 
the poor, many, but not all of which, are in Africa.
  Relieving the debt burdens of the world's poorest countries has 
become one of the foremost economic, humanitarian and moral challenges 
of our time. Indeed, seldom has there been such a compelling 
conjunction between abstract economics, ethics and public policy.
  In an effort to address this problem, earlier this year I introduced 
H.R. 1095, an act which authorizes debt relief for certain countries 
and conditions that relief on those countries transferring the savings 
from debt service obligations into poverty reduction and sustainable 
development.
  Although initially skeptical about the breadth of this legislative 
approach, the administration eventually embraced it, and I am 
particularly appreciative of the support of Secretary Summers in this 
cause. In Congress, a number of our colleagues have been instrumental 
in bringing this initiative to the floor, and I would like to thank the 
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. 
Callahan) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey) on this side of the 
aisle, and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Waters) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) on the other.
  That we are able to consider debt relief today is a result of 
extensive collaboration and dialogue with a coalition of non-
traditional lobbyists. Such non-governmental organizations as OXFAM and 
Bread for the World have provided much needed impetus to the effort, 
and a group of some 200 religious groups embracing the entire spectrum 
of faiths and denominations have united under the banner of Jubilee 
2000.
  The term ``jubilee'' is particularly appropriate, as it invokes the 
Old Testament Biblical concept of restoration, providing a fresh start, 
in this case for the most abject poor, at the beginning of the new 
millennium.
  A central text is Leviticus 25, which contains the injunction, ``and 
ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all 
the land . . . In the year of this jubilee, you shall return every man 
unto his possession.''
  As the Book of Proverbs reminds, ``If you refuse to listen to the cry 
of the poor, your own cry will not be heard.''
  The Jubilee movement is worldwide, but American leadership is 
critical. In recent years we have demonstrated to the world our 
capacity to lead in the use of force. Now we must show an equal 
commitment to leading in the delivery of compassion. In a world in 
which divisions between rich and poor daily become more accentuated, it 
is imperative that Jubilee relationships be righted, that the 
alternative to war and famine with their attendant social and capital 
costs be averted.
  Just as the Marshall Plan symbolized practicality and generosity at 
the end of the greatest war in human history, debt relief under the 
Jubilee banner stands at the end of the second millennium after the 
birth of Christ as a critical moral response to social challenges in 
parts of the world where poverty is endemic and governments have proven 
unable or unwilling to serve well their people.

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