[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1127-S1128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOVERY, REHABILITATION, AND REBUILDING OF HAITI
Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 275, S. Res.
414.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the
resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 414) expressing the sense of the
Senate on the recovery, rehabilitation, and rebuilding of
Haiti following the humanitarian crisis caused by the January
12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that the
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or
debate, and any statements relating to the measure be printed in the
Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 414) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 414
Whereas on January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered an earthquake
measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the greatest natural
disaster in Haiti's history, which--
(1) devastated Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas;
(2) killed more than 100,000 people;
(3) injured hundreds of thousands more people; and
(4) left many hundreds of thousands of people homeless;
Whereas Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere--
(1) has an estimated 54 percent of its population living on
less than $1 per day;
(2) has approximately 120,000 people living with HIV;
(3) had 29,333 new cases of Tuberculosis in 2007; and
(4) has nearly 400,000 children living in orphanages;
Whereas despite these challenges, cautious signs of
developmental progress and stability were beginning to emerge
in Haiti prior to the earthquake;
Whereas although initial recovery efforts must continue to
assist the people of Haiti struggling to secure basic
necessities, including food, water, health care, shelter, and
electricity, Haiti cannot afford to only focus on its
immediate needs;
[[Page S1128]]
Whereas various United States and international assessments
indicate that the next priority for the Government of Haiti
should be to repair the country's basic infrastructure,
including its schools, roads, hospitals, telecommunications
infrastructure, and government buildings;
Whereas Haiti's leaders have advocated that--
(1) reconstruction should not follow the inefficient
practices of the past; and
(2) Haitians should be given the opportunity to accelerate
and implement long planned reforms and new ways of doing
business in every sector;
Whereas Haiti enjoys several advantages that can facilitate
its rebuilding, including--
(1) people committed to education and hard work;
(2) duty-free, quota-free access to United States markets;
(3) a large pool of low-cost labor;
(4) a large, hardworking North American diaspora sending
money back to Haiti; and
(5) regional neighbors who are peaceful, prosperous, and
supportive of Haiti's success;
Whereas international experience from rebuilding other
countries recovering from natural disaster confirms that--
(1) stability and security are essential preconditions to
longer-term development; and
(2) economic development and political reform should
relieve poverty and foster governance and social justice;
Whereas employment is essential to breaking the vicious
cycle of poverty, corruption, insecurity, and loss of faith
in democracy;
Whereas the Haitian people, like all people, deserve the
income and dignity that gainful employment provides;
Whereas, in addition to providing emergency assistance and
relief, the Government of Haiti must grapple with the longer-
term issue of how to provide permanent, sustainable shelter
to an estimated 1,000,000 Haitians displaced by the
earthquake;
Whereas, the impact of natural disaster on Haiti is--
(1) exacerbated by weak building codes and poor
infrastructure; and
(2) more fundamentally the result of an impoverished state
unable to provide most of its people with minimal public
services, including security, clean water, shelter,
electricity, health care, and education;
Whereas assistance to Haiti should be delivered in a manner
that enhances, not diminishes, the ability of the state to
provide services to its people;
Whereas the Haitian state should be rebuilt with
communities in a central role in the national recovery
process led by the Government of Haiti, so that foreign
assistance upholds and empowers Haitian mayors, local
councils, and municipalities in areas outside of Port-au-
Prince; and
Whereas international donors and nongovernmental
organizations, which have a responsibility to support the
Government of Haiti in its rebuilding efforts, should not
supplant the ability of local institutions and the government
to manage resources and provide essential services: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) urges the United States Government and the
international community to provide resources, manpower, and
technical assistance to support the Government of Haiti's
leadership of international assistance efforts and to conduct
a comprehensive post-disaster needs assessment that will
focus on--
(A) social sector services, including access to, and
delivery of, basic services, including--
(i) health care delivery, including reinstating disrupted
care and addressing new needs;
(ii) all levels of education, including ensuring access to
lessons as quickly as possible;
(iii) social support for communities;
(iv) improving the welfare of children; and
(v) recognition of the importance of gender equality and
the role of women as economic guardians;
(B) population resettlement, including services and
sustainable livelihoods to support new communities and
settlements;
(C) stable and democratic governance, ensuring that the
Government of Haiti will appropriately steward state
resources through a process embracing transparency, civic
participation, political moderation, and institutional
accountability;
(D) economic sustainability, emphasizing employment
generation, macroeconomic stability, and market economy
sustainability;
(E) security, ensuring legitimate state efforts to prevent
and respond to crime, especially violence, and instilling
public order and confidence in Haitian security forces; and
(F) rule of law, developing a just legal framework that--
(i) is accountable;
(ii) provides access to justice; and
(iii) ensures public order;
(2) encourages the United States Government and the
international community to support the leadership of the
Government of Haiti and key nongovernmental and private
sector Haitian stakeholders to create a comprehensive
national strategy for recovery and development that will--
(A) be led by the Government of Haiti;
(B) address the findings from the needs assessment
conducted under paragraph (1);
(C) coordinate new resources flowing into Haiti;
(D) channel such resources in concrete and specific ways
towards key sectoral objectives identified by the Government
of Haiti and its people;
(E) take feasible steps to recognize and rectify the social
injustice of poverty, and decrease the vulnerability of the
poor, through job creation, the provision of health care, the
provision of safe shelter and settlements, food security, and
education;
(F) place communities at the center of the rebuilding
process, by employing local labor and consulting local
leaders and communities for their experience and vision;
(G) encourage rebuilding and development of programs that
are environmentally sustainable and respectful and
restorative of Haiti's natural resources;
(H) work with the Government of Haiti and the international
community to reduce the risk of future disasters, including
floods and hurricanes, through the relief and recovery
efforts focusing on the most vulnerable communities; and
(I) address the difficult issues related to land use, land
tenure, the need for land for reconstruction, and land price
escalations;
(3) applauds the international community's response to the
preliminary appeal for assistance made at Montreal, Canada,
on January 25, 2010;
(4) affirms that--
(A) the international donors conference for Haiti, which
will be held in New York on March 22-23, 2010, is an
opportunity for Haiti to accelerate and implement long-
planned projects and priorities in key infrastructural,
economic, and social sectors outlined in a comprehensive
national strategy;
(B) large-scale international assistance provides
significant leverage to promote change and reform in Haiti;
and
(C) the international community should be prepared to fully
commit to the outcomes of the New York donors conference,
including full disbursement and subsequent implementation;
(5) encourages international financial institutions and
international organizations, including the United Nations and
the World Bank, to continue their engagement and leadership
in support of critical economic and security priorities,
including--
(A) economic and social assistance programs;
(B) strengthening Haitian national institutions;
(C) security sector reform;
(D) ensuring fair and legitimate elections; and
(E) supporting political and governance reform;
(6) encourages the International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, which hold the
majority of Haiti's existing external debt obligations, to--
(A) work together to relieve Haiti of its external debt
obligations to the multilateral community and bilateral
lenders; and
(B) seek considerable new resources for Haiti without
adding to Haiti's existing debt obligations, primarily
through provision of grants; and
(7) urges the United States Government to ensure unity of
effort by assigning a single person to--
(A) coordinate all aspects of United States assistance to
Haiti; and
(B) work with Congress to responsibly ensure sufficient
appropriations to facilitate the long-term and sustainable
recovery, rehabilitation, and development of Haiti.
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