[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 146 (Monday, September 15, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H8107-H8112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 HAITI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the chairwoman of the 
Congressional Black Caucus and its members, we are presenting this 
evening during our message hour a call to action, that is Haiti, 
country in crisis.
  We have witnessed this year, so far in the hurricane season, 
tremendous distress, death and destruction. I want to start by 
expressing the sympathies of myself and the members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, our condolences and support for the people 
of Texas and the Gulf Region, who have been toiling under storm after 
storm after storm and dealing with the destruction that comes from 
nature's wrath, as some would place it.
  In this context, I wanted to speak a bit this evening with my 
colleagues and with the public about the need to actually look at what 
happens, not at the point at which the hurricane ends on our shores, 
but also its path and the

[[Page H8108]]

death and destruction that it leaves in the wake of its path.
  I am speaking of the Caribbean region in our hemisphere, and the many 
nations in those waters that have been devastated by the series of 
hurricane activity this year, be it the island nation of Turks and 
Caicos or the island nation of Jamaica, the island nation of the 
Dominican Republic, the island nations in the Caribbean region have 
been rocked by this year's hurricane season thus far. I have had the 
opportunity to join with Congressman Kendrick Meek and Congresswoman 
Donna Edwards from Maryland on an emergency codel to destination, 
Haiti.
  The devastation that we witnessed firsthand on that nation is truly a 
call to action. As you can see here, this year we have had a number of 
storms from Category 1 to Category 5 in their strength. The nation of 
Haiti in just 3 weeks was struck by four storms, Tropical Storm Fay, 
which hit on August 16; Hurricane Gustav, which hit on August 26; 
Tropical Storm Hanna, which hit on September 1; and then Hurricane Ike, 
which hit on September 7.
  It is estimated that over 850,000 people have been affected by this 
storm on the island nation of Haiti, and almost half of those affected 
were children. It is estimated that over 500 people have been killed 
and rescuers and aides are only beginning to reach some of the hardest-
hit areas, as I speak to you right now. It is also estimated that over 
150,000 people are internally displaced, and only about half of those 
people are in shelters.
  You will notice that I have been saying, as has been estimated, and 
this is the case, because Haiti has lost its ability to communicate 
across its island. The destruction that has rocked that nation has 
eight of Haiti's 10 geographic departments, which have been flooded. 
All of the major roads and bridges granting access to many of the 
hardest-hit areas have been washed away.
  Haiti's prime minister says that 1 million people or more may be 
homeless. The storms have crippled Haiti's already delicate 
infrastructure, and most of the City of Gonaives, which is the second-
largest city on the island, is damaged so badly that it cannot be 
repaired. Local officials are considering moving the entire city to 
another part of the island that is on higher ground.
  We had an opportunity to meet with President Rene Preval on our 
codel, and he said to us, this is the Katrina of an entire nation, but 
we are suffering without a fraction of the means that Louisiana had. A 
lot of infrastructure that was destroyed by Hurricane Jean in 2004 was 
recently rebuilt and recently destroyed by this latest series of 
storms.
  This includes the hospital in Gonaives. Radio NPR reports that in the 
Grand Ravine neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, 700 people are living in a 
school where there is no running water, no electricity, no beds and 
often no food. People have been packed in there for weeks, but all is 
not lost. I was proud to see that, very swiftly, the United States has 
moved into action to aid our neighbors and our friend known as the 
island nation of Haiti.
  Upon arriving in Port-au-Prince, we saw a lot of helicopter activity 
and were informed that the USS Kearsarge is in port in Port-of-Spain 
providing needed humanitarian assistance and aid.

                              {time}  2045

  As I said earlier in my presentation, all of the major roads and 
bridges have collapsed. That has isolated many of the communities and 
the cities that have historically been connected in commerce and in 
bringing foods and goods and services across the island. So the only 
way that people can be fed, can be given water, can be administered 
medicine is through the air, and we are proud to know that our aircraft 
carrier is there, as we speak, administering that much needed aid and 
support.
  I want to thank the young men and women I met there who sought not 
robbery but, rather, to change their mission, to move along with their 
admiral and captain and crew into the Caribbean Sea from Latin America 
and over to Haiti where they're working night and day to try to 
preserve as much life as possible. I can tell you that, from my 
observations, this is a mammoth task. The mammoth task exists because 
Haiti remains flooded out.
  In Gonaive, we did a flyover, and we were able to see in the streets 
where people live. There was rushing water, like rivers, flowing past 
people's homes, flowing over all of their planting grounds, and making 
it so that people were actually risking their lives in simply trying to 
get from point A to point B. Many of the residents have taken to their 
rooftops to live. In other areas, we witnessed the levels of mud that 
have accumulated as the waters have receded. In some areas, there are 
as much as 2 to 4 feet of mud before people's homes, in the roadways, 
in the byways of the communities in which people live.
  We had an opportunity to pass over Haiti's breadbasket, an area in 
Haiti where new harvesting was taking place--the planting of rice. That 
entire area is completely flooded out, having basically killed off this 
planting season for Haiti, and so we have a nation in crisis. The 
crisis is one of a magnitude that I, personally, have never witnessed 
before. The circumstances become more and more dire with each passing 
moment.
  Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere, and it is one of our 
closest neighbors, just a little over 700 miles away from Miami, 
Florida. Many in Haiti were looking forward to the harvest of rice 
crop. Unfortunately, much of it, if not all of it, has been destroyed 
by these storms just as the food crisis in that country was beginning 
to abate.
  The USAID has moved in. They are providing as much as they possibly 
can in terms of response. They have allocated $7.5 million in 
humanitarian assistance. The total value of U.S. Government 
humanitarian assistance is currently $20 billion. According to the 
USAID, Haitian Government officials have stated that these recent 
storms have caused an estimated $265 million in damage, particularly 
affecting their housing stock, agriculture, public infrastructure, and 
education.
  In meeting with the newly installed Prime Minister for Haiti, Madam 
Michele Pierre-Louis, we were informed that the children's school has 
been postponed until the month of October, somewhere around October 3. 
My observations are that we will have to move with all deliberate speed 
to help and to assist in the recovery and in the rescue of those people 
in the various departments residing in the nation of Haiti in order for 
that part of their lives to be resumed.
  We are not in this alone. I was very glad to see that the 
international community has responded as well. The U.N. troops and 
peacekeepers are on the ground, helping with the civil society, and the 
embassies of many of their partner nations--namely Canada, France and 
Brazil--are also collaborating with their local relief NGOs to bring as 
much to bear in this forward movement to get Haiti back on its feet, 
and it's going to take a coordinated effort to make sure that this is 
done in a timely and in a coordinated manner.
  It is my hope that, through tonight's discussion, through tonight's 
presentations, we will see the need as a Nation to respond and to keep 
our response going and that when the TV cameras and the press crews 
have left Haiti that we will remember that this is a nation that is 
struggling to stand on its feet and that its civil society is extremely 
fragile. These storms have compounded what has been an ongoing 
challenge for Haiti to feed its own people.
  So, this evening, I wanted to just share some of what I witnessed in 
the emergency codel commission by the Congressional Black Caucus, and I 
want to express gratitude to Speaker Pelosi and to Congressman Kendrick 
Meek for being so expedient in putting this codel together so that we 
could bring back the relevant facts to this body and to make sure that 
we're able to do all that we can do as we rebuild here in our own 
Nation and to make sure that, as to the hemisphere that we reside in, 
we are good neighbors and that, for our own sakes and for the sakes of 
the people who reside in Haiti, we do all that we can to make sure that 
they are on a safe road to recovery.
  Having said that, I'm joined by a number of my colleagues this 
evening, all of whom have had longstanding ties to the nation of Haiti, 
all of whom have worked very hard in this body to make sure that we 
remain true to our

[[Page H8109]]

values as a Nation. They have been there throughout many crises in 
Haiti.
  I'd like to acknowledge Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California and Congresswoman Maxine Waters 
of California to make their statements.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with this 
body and with the American people the images and accounts that I 
witnessed on a recent trip to the hurricane ravaged island of Haiti 
with my colleagues Mr. Kendrick Meek of Florida and Congresswoman 
Yvette Clarke of New York.
  The damage is just devastating. From the rice fields that you can see 
here in these pictures that I took, they are covered with water and 
mud. It is unlikely that these fields will be ready for planting for a 
very, very long time. The topsoil has been washed away, replaced by mud 
and water. As we flew over, we could see the damage of the hurricanes, 
and we could see animal carcasses in the fields, with people walking 
through them and the standing water. Haiti is a place that is ripe 
right now for disease and for further destruction without intervention.
  I do want to express and to join in the remarks of my colleague 
Yvette Clarke of New York and express the grave concern and our 
thoughts and prayers for the people of our own Gulf Coast, who at this 
moment are in a stage of recovery themselves from the hurricane damage 
of Hurricane Ike, which started in the Caribbean and made its way and 
strengthened to hit our own coast. This is the same storm.
  For the people of Haiti, it was not just one storm; it was four--
first Fay, then Gustav, then Hanna, and now Ike. An area might be able 
to absorb one storm and may be able to rebuild, but now more than 75 
percent of the country has been under water, and the people in remote 
areas are unable to get from one location to the next location because 
of the damage to bridges and to roadways.
  So we can't forget the pain of our southern neighbors in Haiti 
because these storms have made their way through the Caribbean, and 
we're only at the beginning of the hurricane season. I'm not sure how 
much more Haiti can take, but we know that it's time for us to 
intervene.
  In addition to the rice fields, we saw firsthand the homes and the 
foundations washed away--even a place of worship filled with mud and 
standing water in places. In some areas, the hurricane damage was so 
devastating that it took away entire roadways and bridges. Eight 
bridges at least have been destroyed, leaving people stranded and 
isolated. President Preval very accurately, I think, described the blow 
to the country's infrastructure, likening it to a blow that would occur 
at a time of war, where the first thing that happens is that you take 
out all communications. That's what has happened in Haiti.
  Communications and linkages from one area of the country to the next 
area of the country are entirely devastated. We saw people on the 
roadways, walking from one direction to the other direction, only to 
meet at a place where the road had been washed away so they couldn't 
even cross. We saw people bathing in water that contains rotten animal 
carcasses. We saw basic utilities--water, sewer and the power 
infrastructure--completely devastated, destroyed.
  Now, there are early estimates--and we have to remember that they 
really are only early estimates--that there are, maybe, 600 people 
dead. Well, we know that those who are doing the estimates can't even 
reach the most remote areas of the country, and so we know that the 
devastation will climb over time, and that's why it's really important 
to intervene now.
  The people of Haiti are in desperate need of food and shelter, of 
medical supplies and drinking water. You can see the pictures on the 
streets where the water is like a river rushing through the towns. 
There is moving water through the towns in Gonaive, and it's unclear 
when that water will recede and what will be left once the water has 
receded. We saw people camped out on the roofs of their homes, looking 
down at the destruction beneath and at the water in their homes.
  Yet, in the face of all of this overwhelming devastation, what we 
also saw were the young men and women of the United States Armed 
Services. I want to offer a very special salute to the men and women of 
the USS Kearsarge and to Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan and to Captain 
Walter Towns, who are leading, really, the most heroic effort. It's so 
clear to us from all of our meetings and from what we witnessed that 
were it not for the efforts of the servicemembers on the USS Kearsarge 
in air-dropping medical supplies, food supplies and drinking water that 
those regions would not be touched at all. It is incredibly important 
that the USS Kearsarge remain in its mission off the coast of Port-au-
Prince until that mission is done, until we can find replacement food 
supplies, until we can replace the bridges with temporary bridges so 
that the Government of Haiti can have access to the communities and so 
that the nongovernmental organizations can have access to communities. 
This is extremely important because, unless those temporary bridges are 
put in place, then almost the entire country will remain inaccessible 
for services and supplies to be delivered.

                              {time}  2100

  And we're in that very fragile window in Haiti in which we know that 
without intervention, disease will begin to set in. And so it's a very 
important time to begin to gain accessibility so that our medical teams 
on the USS Kearsarge and other medical teams throughout the U.N. 
agencies and other missions can get to these remote areas and supply 
basic needs.
  And let me say a bit about the efforts of our U.S. mission that right 
now is playing an amazing and important coordinating role in Haiti with 
other missions, with the nongovernmental organizations, with the U.N. 
relief organizations and mission on the ground trying to make certain 
that there's coordination among all of these folks of goodwill; that 
we're not duplicating efforts, and that our assessments about what 
needs to be done next make sense.
  Now, I've joined in, along with many other Members, in support of an 
effort by Congresswoman Maxine Waters to try to spur up additional 
support and resources for the country of Haiti. I think that we're only 
at the beginning of knowing what the real need is, and so we need to 
look at this as a first step toward the recovery of Haiti, but not the 
only step that this country and the international community will need 
to make.
  I really strongly applaud the efforts of Ambassador Janet Sanderson, 
who is doing an amazing job of working with the newly installed prime 
minister Michelle Pierre-Louis, who's only been on the job 9 days or 
so, barely has staff, but is on the ground now trying to respond to the 
needs of these most needy communities. And we need to do all that we 
can in this country and in the international community to make sure 
that the government of Haiti has the ability to make decisions for 
itself about its future and about the important needs for rebuilding 
infrastructure and support and services for the people of Haiti. And we 
can be in there providing the kind of guidance that we do on the ground 
and making sure that the resources are available so that communities 
don't remain further devastated.
  Now, I'm concerned because it's very clear to me that if we don't act 
immediately to increase our assistance, the situation in Haiti will 
really only worsen and possibly threaten not just internal stability 
but external security as well. And so we have an opportunity for that 
not to happen, and that is by encouraging the international community 
and our own resources to step up efforts in Haiti.
  But the danger of disease and the impending threats to food security 
are apparent, and we know that the food supply was already very fragile 
because of the food crisis earlier in the year, so we have another 
window, a window of maybe 2 weeks to a month to make sure that these 
resources come to Haiti in a meaningful way. And I know that in my 
congressional district in Maryland and throughout the country, people 
of this country are stepping forward too, offering donations to the 
American Red Cross and other international relief organizations, and so 
there needs to be a coordinated effort here in the United States to 
make sure that, as volunteers, we're providing the

[[Page H8110]]

kind of resources that Haiti can use and needs in order to rebuild.
  Mr. Speaker, I join with my congressional colleagues in calling for 
those additional funds to help bring immediate relief to the people of 
Haiti, and for us to consider that this one storm impacted an entire 
region from the Caribbean all the way through the Gulf Coast. And we 
have to remember that, indeed, it was one storm that wreaked its havoc 
in this hemisphere, and treat it like that. And as we stand with the 
people of Texas and Louisiana and the gulf coast, we should stand with 
the people of Haiti.
  Ms. CLARKE. I want to thank the gentlelady from Maryland, our newest 
member in the Congressional Black Caucus, Ms. Donna Edwards, for her 
courage and her nimbleness. She rearranged her schedule very quickly to 
heed the call for her expertise and her ability. Donna has come to us 
with a background and expertise in the philanthropic world, and she 
shared that with the prime minister, with the Ambassador to Haiti, and 
so I know that she will be called upon in the future as Haiti rebuilds 
to bring that expertise to bear.
  I want to thank you for being my traveling partner, and I look 
forward to working further with you and the CBC and our colleagues to 
make things happen for the Nation of Haiti.
  I'd like to acknowledge someone who really doesn't need an 
introduction, but has been one of the foremost experts on the island 
nation of Haiti, has been an outstanding, outspoken advocate for the 
people of that island nation, none other than the honorable Maxine 
Waters. She's being acknowledged for 5 minutes, or as much time as she 
may consume.
  Ms. WATERS. I'd first like to thank my colleagues, Yvette Clark, 
Donna Edwards and Kendrick Meek, for taking the time to go to Haiti to 
be able to document and identify devastation that has taken place, and 
to bring that information back to the House of Representatives, to the 
Congress of the United States of America, so that all of us public 
policymakers can understand in the most profound way what is needed, 
what has taken place there, and what we can do to be of immediate 
assistance.
  I would also like to take a moment to say to FEMA and to the elected 
officials in the gulf coast, who too, have been involved in dealing 
with the ravages of the recent hurricanes and storms, that we 
appreciate that you have demonstrated that you have learned so much 
from Katrina, and that you have done a great job in giving assistance 
to the victims of the recent storms in the gulf coast. I say that with 
all sincerity, because it is important for us to know and understand 
that magnificent work was done in giving assistance to the victims of 
the gulf coast. And I've watched very carefully what has been taking 
place in not only Galveston and in parts of Texas, but also as far as 
in Bay City of Mississippi.
  So our hearts are with the people who have been the victims of the 
storms in that area, and we're very proud, and I'm very proud and 
pleased that the United States of America is able to do what it does 
and have learned so much from Katrina and are able to be of assistance 
in the way that they have been.
  And having said that, we're generous people. We're people who not 
only have learned to deal with devastation in our own country, but we 
are a people who are forever ready to give a helping hand in other 
parts of the world. And certainly, what we have demonstrated in recent 
weeks right here in our own hemisphere in the Western Hemisphere for 
one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere is to be 
commended. But we've got to do more.
  As I understand it, and having listened to my colleagues and having 
followed as closely as I possibly can, what has been taking place, we 
have spent about $20 million just from USAID alone. And then to listen 
to the stories about the armed services and the help that they're 
giving and the work that they're doing, I'm proud of my country. I'm 
proud of the assistance and the hand that we're extending to Haiti as 
we wrestle with the work that we must do in our own country and in the 
Gulf Coast.
  Having said that, I have spent much of my time in the Congress of the 
United States paying attention to Haiti. I paid attention to Haiti 
because I know the history of Haiti, and I understand what the people 
of Haiti have been through historically. I have spent a lot of time in 
Haiti. I was there for the bicentennial and I flew up to Gonaives, 
where I watched a people who have been through so much celebrate its 
history and its independence, and I know the price that has been paid 
for that independence.
  I also know that this is a people who have had to survive the 
dictatorships of Papa Doc and Baby Doc, and I know that this is a 
people who have seen a democratically elected president removed, and I 
know the history of our own country as we have restored the leadership 
to Haiti in recent history. And I also know the history of a coup 
d'etat, and a history of a people who have wrestled and fought and 
tried very hard to stabilize their country, despite all of the 
political unrest.
  But, you know, we're at a time when it doesn't matter what position 
you took, whether some people thought that the democratically elected 
government of President Aristide should have remained or not. It's not 
about partisan politics at this time. This is about the people of 
Haiti.
  It is not about even remembering what happened under Papa Doc and 
Baby Doc and La Tortue, none of that. This is about a people who have 
suffered far too much. My heart just goes out to the people of Haiti, 
people who work very hard, who get up every day and just scuffle and 
work hard to survive, a people who are not very literate. Only 53 
percent of the people in this country can read or write. But they work 
hard. And whenever they are confronted with one more disaster, with one 
more disruption, and you think they possibly just cannot make it, they 
just keep going and they keep going.
  Over the past month Haiti has been devastated by four deadly storms 
in rapid succession, Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Tropical 
Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike. And over 15,000 houses have been damaged 
or destroyed. And as of a week ago, they already documented that over 
154 people had been killed. And today, I hear my colleague say that 
number may be up to about 600. And as the flood waters begin to recede, 
additional bodies continue to be found and buried. And tragically, the 
real death toll just may never be known.
  According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs, up to 800,000 people in Haiti are in dire need of 
humanitarian assistance. As of September 6, more than 100,000 people 
had taken refuge in temporary shelters, and this was before the 
onslaught of Hurricane Ike. Many roads and bridges were damaged or 
destroyed, and crops have been lost. There is now a desperate need for 
food and water and health services.
  And I'm so sorry to hear about what has happened to the rice fields. 
Haiti, at one time, grew rice for its people. They exported rice that 
was grown in Haiti. They lost that over the years for a lot of reasons. 
Some of it was political. But to know that they had gotten back on the 
road to raising and growing rice again was extremely important. And to 
have these pictures that were shown to us today where now all of that 
has been destroyed is just almost too much to take, too much to endure.
  I immediately asked my colleagues to join with me in requesting at 
least $300 million in appropriations for disaster assistance for Haiti 
following these devastating hurricanes. I did not know what the 
assessment would be, and we still don't know how much will be needed. 
But I knew immediately that it was going to be massive and that we 
needed to move very quickly, and that we need to appropriate 
substantial sums for Haiti.

                              {time}  2115

  And we will probably have an assessment in the very near future, but 
we need to get started right away to not only support Haiti through 
USAID, as is being done, but we have to add to it. You heard about the 
devastation. You heard about the destruction. I am just hopeful and 
prayerful that Haiti can survive as an island nation. The destruction 
is mammoth. And I believe that everything that we do and everything 
that we can think of doing must be done.

[[Page H8111]]

  I know that the people of Haiti will get up every day, people who are 
sleeping on those rooftops, and they will fight to survive, they will 
fight to stay alive, and they believe, no matter what happens between 
the United States and Haiti, that we're their friends and that we will 
do whatever we can do to be of assistance to them.
  So I would just, again, thank my colleagues for taking time to go 
there and to do this documentation and this eyewitness of what has 
taken place.
  I would like to thank our ambassador there. Sanderson is a wonderful 
representative who has worked very hard. I would like to thank 
President Preval because he has been handed a task just as President of 
putting that nation back together and to stabilizing that government 
and to reorganizing and building that infrastructure. It's an awesome 
task even without experiencing these hurricanes.
  So my prayers and my heart go out to President Preval and the 
government, and I would hope that we move very quickly to appropriate 
additional dollars.
  And I will yield back the balance of my time.
  Thank you very much.
  Ms. CLARKE. I thank the gentlelady from California for sharing with 
us her resolve to be a problem solver, to be a leader in this body in 
making sure that we can do all we can on behalf of the people of the 
island nation of Haiti.
  I would like to acknowledge at this time another powerhouse coming 
out of California, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, our vice 
chair, none other than the Honorable Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE. Thank you very much. And let me thank you, Congresswoman 
Clarke, a daughter of the Caribbean, for your leadership and for having 
the vision and the tenacity to put everything aside and go to Haiti 
this past weekend. And I want to thank you for that presentation 
because hopefully the rest of the country is watching and will have 
some sense of the tragedy that is taking place in Haiti. And because of 
your leadership, Congressman Kendrick Meek, and Congresswoman Donna 
Edwards, I think this Congress will have a better handle now on what we 
need to do and what has taken place, which is beyond our imagination. 
So thank you, again, for stepping up to the plate and for your 
leadership.
  Yes, four tropical storms and hurricanes in 4 weeks, Fay, Hanna, 
Gustav, and Ike. These storms left Haiti devastated. Also other 
Caribbean islands have been devastated as well as, of course, the gulf 
coast in our own Nation. So tonight our thoughts and our prayers, first 
of all, go out to the families and the residents of all of these 
communities in all of these countries that have been devastated by 
these storms.
  And I will also just say that we have to do something and we have to 
do it quickly. And I want to thank Congresswoman Maxine Waters for 
right away asking that we sign on to making this request of $300 
million. And as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I know that 
all of us are going to work very hard to try to make sure that at least 
the $300 million is there.
  And also thank you, Congresswoman Waters, for your leadership and for 
tonight, your presentation, putting all of this really in a historical 
context because we have to remember that Haiti is a vulnerable country 
and has been for many, many years. And we can't separate out our work 
now in terms of emergency assistance and relief from the work that we 
have to do long-term because of many of the issues that we have to 
address as it relates to infrastructure, job creation, health care, 
helping to develop water systems. All of those issues that you have 
been working on for so many years. So thank you very much for reminding 
us of the long-term work that still remains to be done.
  This year, I believe it was in May, Congresswoman Kilpatrick and I 
led a congressional delegation to Haiti; and we were looking then at 
the conditions on the ground as it related to the soaring food prices. 
But our questions and what we wanted to know was what if our worst 
fears would come true, and that is what if another hurricane hits when 
the process of rebuilding and developing the agriculture sector and 
helping the emergency food assistance, while all of this is taking 
place, we said what if another hurricane hits this summer. And we 
didn't even want to ask that question because we were worried and we 
knew that we would have to face now, and the people of Haiti would have 
to face, the enormous, enormous tragedy now that they have to 
deal with.

  So tonight I think it's important for us to recognize the fact that 
we have to do more.
  Our own country I want to commend for doing everything we can do that 
we have done. It is remarkable to hear what you all have said you saw 
down there taking place and what our ambassador has done and what our 
armed services' young men and women are doing. I know our Peace Corps 
is engaged. I have a cousin in Haiti, and they're working very hard 
with the NGO community to develop a response.
  But also we have to remember now what you pointed out in terms of the 
transportation system. We have to be creative in how we help deliver 
this emergency assistance and this humanitarian assistance because this 
is a devastating hurricane that is of enormous proportions that will 
require new ways of doing things, new ways of delivering assistance, 
new ways of helping to save lives.
  Five hundred people. Let's hope it stays at 500 people who have died. 
Of course our prayers go out to the families of the 500 people. It's 
hard to imagine what else the--what other deaths have occurred as a 
result of this, but let's pray it stays at 500, unfortunately. There 
are 70,000 people in shelter now, 250,000 and more in need of 
assistance. Many of the cities under water. It's hard for us to 
imagine.
  But thank you for those charts and those photographs tonight because 
I think now we're coming to grips with the reality of what has happened 
and what has set in and how we have to redouble our efforts with a 
sense of urgency.
  And we have to work on all fronts. I know Congressman Engel and 
myself, we're working on a briefing with the ambassadors with the 
region. Hopefully, the entire congressional body, both Members' staff, 
both sides of the aisle, will come out for those meetings later on this 
week.
  We've got to provide more than the $20 million. Twenty million, yes. 
That's a decent amount for relief efforts, but much more will be 
needed. We've got to have much more than $20 million; $300 million in 
assistance, which Congresswoman Waters has asked for, may or may not be 
enough, but thank you again for asking for $300 million. We've got to 
start somewhere.
  And so, again, as the world leader, the United States I think is 
stepping up to the plate and has to show the rest of the world that we 
can lead, we can help our neighbors, and we can help not only in the 
most immediate and necessary emergency assistance that's required, but 
also with the long-term sustainable development assistance that we must 
begin to look at and provide for Haiti. So tonight we're sounding the 
alarm.
  Congressman Meek, Congresswomen Clarke and Edwards went to Haiti. 
They came back. And they didn't have to do this. They could have been 
in their districts. They could have been doing other things this 
weekend, but they stopped and took their time so that they could come 
back and make sure that all of us were on the same page and that all of 
us heard that alarm. And we may see it on the TV, we may hear it from 
our friends in the community, but until it's real and it's made real 
and we have these meetings and discussions and forums here in 
Washington where the funding, hopefully, will come from, that's where I 
think this debate needs to be right now in terms of what we can do as 
Members of Congress.
  So I have to thank you again for your leadership and giving us the 
opportunity to pull together and do something. Because I think to do 
nothing would really put us on the side of history that we would be 
ashamed of in the future. I think we all want to be on the right side 
of history at this moment in terms of how we respond to a country that 
is vulnerable, that has been under attack, that has been poor forever, 
that regardless of how poor, has resilient people who continue to be 
proud, who continue to get up, who continue to want to work, who 
continue to want a better day. We have to

[[Page H8112]]

be on the side of those people of Haiti now and show them that we are 
their friends and their allies and will continue to work to support 
their efforts.
  There's a slogan that we use, I know, in my district in our community 
when we talk about Haiti. We say, ``Let Haiti live.'' Let Haiti live. 
Now we're talking about let Haiti survive. I think Congresswoman Waters 
and Edwards and Clarke talked about how vulnerable and fragile Haiti is 
right now. So before Haiti can live, it's got to survive.
  So tonight we're saying let Haiti survive; let's find the will and 
the way and the means to do everything we can do to make sure that the 
people of Haiti receive the type of humanitarian and emergency 
assistance, but also the type of long-term assistance that they deserve 
and that we definitely intend to provide.
  Thank you again.
  Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for your 
leadership, your commitment as a remember of the CBC, and a Member of 
the House of Representatives. You have been very outspoken and a real 
leader in addressing these challenges that are before our international 
community, our friends, and our allies.
  So this evening, if I didn't see it for myself, I would not believe 
it. Haiti is in crisis. As we stand here today, lives are tenuous. And 
what Haiti needs immediately we've been able to identify. Haiti needs 
as much support as we can give from this body, as much as we can 
orchestrate through our Department of Defense.
  There is a need for watercraft that can travel across the waters to 
get to very remote areas that have been cut off by land; there's a need 
for assessment to take place as quickly as possible about the 
structural soundness of the infrastructure that currently exists, any 
modern technology that can be utilized to pump waters back into the 
seas to help dry out those areas.
  Certainly food products are very important. We see a hunger crisis 
coming down the pike of a magnitude that I don't think we every 
witnessed in this hemisphere. We need clean water. The waterways of 
Haiti have been contaminated by the death and destruction around them, 
the death of humankind, the death of livestock. They need clean 
drinking water, they need medication and medical support because we are 
anticipating and trying to get ahead of any outbreaks of airborne 
diseases, of mosquito-borne diseases.

                              {time}  2130

  They need support for those who are struggling with their own health 
conditions currently.
  We've asked the President of the United States to move forward with 
temporary protected status for Haitians, to halt the deportation of 
Haitians from the U.S. To send individuals into that environment right 
now is cruel and unusual punishment. We hope that the administration 
will heed this call at this time.
  There are immigration issues, but there's an unprecedented 
international relief effort going on right now in Haiti, and the last 
thing that the Nation can do right now is provide for those who are 
returning deportees.
  Despite the frequent report of drowning caused by unsafe refugee 
boats collapsing, the current conditions and crisis in Haiti may 
trigger an exodus of Haitian immigrants to the United States. Desperate 
times call for desperate measures. You have desperation climbing each 
and every day.
  Since fiscal year 1998, the Coast Guard has interdicted well over 
1,000 Haitians each year. Over 1,000 Haitians have already been 
interdicted in 2008.
  Temporary protected status is the most inexpensive, immediate form of 
aid the President can single-handedly provide, and we ask that he make 
this possible as soon as possible.
  There are currently six countries that are protected under TPS 
provisions: Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Burundi, Somalia and 
Sudan. And while other countries under similar circumstances have been 
afforded relief through TPS, Haiti has been overlooked time and time 
again.
  Remittances are currently one-third of Haiti's gross national 
product. If we indeed want to underpin and undergird this country in 
its recovery, it is critical that we look at every vehicle and 
instrument we have at our disposal to help the people of the island 
nation of Haiti.
  So we've put some recommendations forward. We look forward to further 
debate and conversation here in the House of Representatives. Haiti is 
a country in crisis. I've seen it. I know it. It is our time now to act 
upon it.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving us this time as the Congressional 
Black Caucus. I want to thank our chairwoman, Carolyn Kilpatrick, for 
her vision and leadership and her insistence upon us traveling on this 
emergency codel.
  I'd like to thank again my colleagues Congressman Kendrick Meek for 
his leadership in this codel and his ability to get things moving and 
done through his affiliation and work as a member of the Armed Services 
Committee.
  And I'd like to thank our newest Member, Donna Edwards, for her 
leadership. She is a rising star. She is a part of making things happen 
here on the Hill, and it's just a source of pride and inspiration to 
work with her on this very important endeavor.

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