[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 125 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H8174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             AID FOR HAITI

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss very briefly the devastation 
of Tropical Storm Jeanne on Haiti. The lack of infrastructure and our 
failed United States policies quite frankly helped contribute to 
leaving the Haitian people vulnerable to the devastation of Tropical 
Storm Jeanne which took the lives of over 2,000 Haitians. In Haiti's 
flood-torn cities, children sleep on tin roofs because flood waters 
have not subsided; gun shots are heard in darkness as thieves and thugs 
continue to steal from the people and cheat them of their chance for 
protection and peace. Men and women dig mass graves scrambling to 
identify the bodies of lost loved ones. Children are not going to 
school. Women do not have food for their families.
  With so many causalities and so many sick, so many still missing and 
much despair, what can we do? What can the greatest superpower, the 
wealthiest country in the world do for our neighbors next door? We must 
provide a real commitment to help Haitians. We must provide a way to 
help with the basic services of food and shelter as well as the 
restoration of democracy. We must support $500 million to build the 
region, to take a more comprehensive and democratic approach to our 
policies toward Haiti.

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