[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 77 (Thursday, May 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3662-H3664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  JOINT MEETING TO HEAR AN ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY FELIPE CALDERON 
                     HINOJOSA, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

  The Speaker of the House presided.
  The Majority Floor Services Chief, Mr. Barry Sullivan, announced the 
Vice President and Members of the U.S. Senate who entered the Hall of 
the House of Representatives, the Vice President taking the chair at 
the right of the Speaker, and the Members of the Senate the seats 
reserved for them.
  The SPEAKER. The Chair appoints as members of the committee on the 
part of the House to escort His Excellency Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, 
President of Mexico, into the Chamber:
  The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer);
  The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn);
  The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra);
  The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Pastor);
  The gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes);
  The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar);
  The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner);
  The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor);
  The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence);
  The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter);
  The gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy);
  The gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden); and
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The President of the Senate, at the direction of 
that body, appoints the following Senators as members of the committee 
on the part of the Senate to escort His Excellency Felipe Calderon 
Hinojosa, President of Mexico, into the House Chamber:
  The Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid);
  The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin);
  The Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dodd);
  The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry);
  The Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Dorgan);
  The Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez);
  The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell);
  The Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski);
  The Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn); and
  The Senator from Texas (Mrs. Hutchison).
  The Majority Floor Services Chief announced the Acting Dean of the 
Diplomatic Corps, Her Excellency Faida Mitifu, Ambassador of the 
Democratic Republic of Congo.
  The Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps entered the Hall of the House 
of Representatives and took the seat reserved for her.
  The Majority Floor Services Chief announced the Cabinet of the 
President of the United States.
  The Members of the Cabinet of the President of the United States 
entered the Hall of the House of Representatives and took the seats 
reserved for them in front of the Speaker's rostrum.
  At 11 o'clock and 12 minutes a.m., the Majority Floor Services Chief 
announced His Excellency Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, President of Mexico.
  The President of Mexico, escorted by the committee of Senators and 
Representatives, entered the Hall of the House of Representatives and 
stood at the Clerk's desk.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  The SPEAKER. Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the 
distinct honor of presenting to you His Excellency Felipe Calderon 
Hinojosa, President of Mexico.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  President CALDERON. Thank you very much.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Honorable Members of Congress, and 
as we say in Mexico, amigas y amigos Congresistas, it's a great honor 
to stand before you today. I would like to thank Congress and the 
American people for this invitation. I want to express my gratitude to 
all of you here who have supported Mexico during very challenging 
times. I also salute the Mexican Americans and all Latinos who work 
every day for the prosperity of this great Nation.
  Mexico is a young country but a very old nation. Our roots go back 
thousands of years. However, this year is especially significant for 
us. We are celebrating the bicentennial of our independence, 200 years 
of being proudly free and proudly Mexican. At that time, Mexico was the 
first nation to abolish slavery in the whole of continental America. 
And it is exactly 100 years since the Mexican Revolution, a revolution 
against oppression, a revolution for justice and democracy. As you can 
see, Mexico was founded on the same values and principles as the United 
States of America. We are very proud of this past. However, the Mexican 
people and the government are focused on the future. That is why Mexico 
is a country in a continuous process of transformation. We are 
determined to change, and we are taking the decisions that are going to 
make Mexico a more prosperous democracy.
  One of the main changes taking place in Mexico is our commitment to 
firmly establish the rule of law. That is why we are deploying the full 
force of the State to confront organized crime with determination and 
courage. But let me explain. This fight is not only and not mainly 
about stopping the drug trade. It is first and foremost a drive to 
guarantee the security of Mexican families who are under threat from 
the abuses and the vicious acts of criminals. As I told the Mexican 
people in my inaugural speech, restoring public security will not be 
easy and will not be quick. It will take time; it will take money; and 
unfortunately, to our deep sorrow, it will take human lives as well. 
This is a battle that has to be fought because the future of our 
families is at stake. But I told them then, you can be sure of one 
thing: This is a battle that, united, we, the Mexican people, will win.
  We cannot ignore the fact that the challenge to our security has 
roots on both sides of the border. At the end of the day, its origin is 
the high demand for drugs here and in other places. Secretary of State 
Clinton has said, ``We accept our share of the responsibility. We know 
that the demand for drugs drives much of this illicit trade.'' This is 
symbolic of our new relationship. We have moved from the suspicion and 
the mutual recrimination of the past to the cooperation and mutual 
understanding of the present.

  Let me take this opportunity to congratulate President Obama for his 
recent initiative to reduce the consumption of drugs. I hope, for the 
good of both nations and the entire hemisphere, that this succeeds. Now 
let me tell you what Mexico is doing to confront and overcome this 
problem. First, we have not hesitated to use all the power of the 
State, including the federal police and the armed forces, in order to 
support the local governments that are facing the greatest threat from 
organized crime. This is a temporary measure to restore order. The goal 
is to provide local governments time and the opportunity to rebuild and 
strengthen their security and judicial institutions. Second, we are 
weakening the financial and operational capabilities of criminal gangs. 
Federal

[[Page H3663]]

operations have led to record seizures of drugs, cash, and weapons from 
the criminals. We are hitting them, and we are hitting them hard. The 
federal forces have also arrested many important felons who are now 
facing Mexican justice, and we have extradited a record number of 
criminals to face justice here in the United States. Third, we are 
rebuilding our institutions and security forces, especially at the 
federal level. We have more than tripled the federal police budget 
since the beginning of my administration and multiplied the size of its 
force. We are recruiting honest young men and women with values who are 
better trained, better paid, and better equipped. Fourth, we are 
transforming our judicial system to make it more transparent and 
efficient. We are moving towards open and oral trials that are the 
basis of your own judicial system. And fifth, we have set up social 
programs to prevent young people from turning to crime, including 
prevention and treatment for addictions. As you can see, we are doing 
everything we can to fight this threat and to secure our common future.
  We are fulfilling our duty as a good neighbor, taking care of 
business on our side of the border. The U.S. is also helping. Congress 
approved the Merida Initiative, which we greatly appreciate, and our 
administrations are sharing more information than ever to fight crime. 
However, there is one issue where Mexico needs your cooperation, and 
that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly arms 
across the border. Let me be clear on this. I fully respect, I admire 
the American Constitution, and I understand that the purpose of the 
Second Amendment is to guarantee good American citizens the ability to 
defend themselves and their Nation. But believe me, many of these guns 
are not going to honest American hands. Instead, thousands are ending 
up in the hands of criminals. Just to give you an idea, we have seized 
75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the last 3 years, and more 
than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the 
United States. And if you look carefully, you will notice that the 
violence in Mexico started to grow a couple of years before I took 
office in 2006. This coincides with the lifting of the assault weapons 
ban in 2004. One day, criminals in Mexico, having gained access to 
these weapons, decided to challenge the authorities in my country. 
Today, these weapons are aimed by the criminals not only at rival gangs 
but also at Mexican civilians and authorities. And with all due 
respect, if you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right 
way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with 
access to the same power of weapons will not decide to challenge the 
American authorities and civilians.
  It is true that the U.S. Government is now carrying out operations 
against gun traffickers. But it is also true that there are more than 
7,000 gun shops along the border with Mexico, where almost anyone can 
purchase these powerful weapons. I also fully understand the political 
sensitivity of this issue. But I would ask Congress to help us, with 
respect, and to understand how important it is for us that you enforce 
current laws to stem the supply of these weapons to criminals and 
consider reinstating the assault weapons ban. By any legal way that you 
consider, let us work together to end this lethal trade that threatens 
Mexico and your own people.
  I have spoken at length on this issue, about security, because I know 
it is a big concern of the American people. However, as I said, Mexico 
is a country undergoing deep transformations, and our relationship is 
about much more than just security. We are turning our economy into one 
that is competitive and strong, capable of generating the jobs Mexicans 
need. I believe in freedom. I believe in market. I believe in all those 
principles that are able to empower economies and provide well-being 
for the people.
  We are carrying out a set of structural reforms that had been ignored 
for decades in Mexico. We started, for instance, by reforming the 
public pension system, and with this, we guaranteed the retirement of 
public servants, and at the same time, we will save 30 points of GDP at 
net present value in our public finances. We passed a tax reform that 
reduced our dependence on oil and allowed us to continue financing our 
development, keeping our public deficit close to 1 percent of GDP. We 
also made important changes to the oil sector. This will allow Pemex, 
the public oil company, to award more flexible contracts to specialized 
global companies and so become more efficient and increase its 
operational and financial capacity in order to get more oil and natural 
gas. This will ensure our energy independence and strengthen regional 
energy security as well. And finally, we have increased investment in 
infrastructure from 3 points of GDP to 5 points of GDP a year, building 
the roads, ports, airports, and energy plants we need to modernize. 
This is the highest investment level in infrastructure in decades. 
These changes are making us a more modern country and a stronger 
partner of the United States.
  The energy reform, the fiscal reform, the pension reform, the 
investment in infrastructure, among others, have all prepared us for a 
better tomorrow but also allowed us to overcome the terrible economic 
crisis last year. Then, Mexico's economy experienced its worst 
contraction in modern times. However, thanks to strong regulations, not 
one cent from taxpayers went to a single bank in Mexico last year. We 
were also able to quickly implement countercyclical measures, such as a 
temporary public works program and increased credits for small 
businesses. In this way, we were able to save hundreds of thousands of 
Mexican jobs. We managed this even though we had to face a series of 
emergencies, any one of which would have derailed a weaker country. We 
faced the perfect storm last year. Besides the crisis, we overcame the 
second worst drought in 70 years, the biggest ever drop in oil 
production, and the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus. So today I can come 
here before you and say with confidence that Mexico is standing tall, a 
stronger and more determined nation than ever, a nation and a people 
ready to face the future and take their rightful place in the world. 
And the future starts now, now that the Mexican economy is recovering.

  So far this year, Mexico has created more than 400,000 new jobs, 
which is the highest number ever created in a 4-month period in Mexico. 
In the first quarter, the Mexican economy grew 4.3 percent, and we are 
expecting to grow more than 4 percent this year in our economy, which 
means, among other things, more well-being for our people and more 
Mexicans buying more American products. We have made structural reforms 
to modernize our economy, and we want more. Today our Congress is 
debating stronger antitrust regulation as well as new labor legislation 
that will provide more opportunities for women and young people. And my 
government is auctioning both wireless frequencies and an optic fiber 
backbone in order to increase competition and coverage in telecoms. 
Mexico is on the right track towards development now.
  As well as promoting economic progress, we are improving the quality 
of life of all Mexicans under the principle of equal opportunities for 
all. Thanks to Oportunidades, an advanced poverty relief program, 
Mexico was able to reduce the number of people living in extreme 
poverty from 35 million in 1996 to 14 million in 2006. This program 
reaches the 6 million poorest families, which means one in four 
Mexicans. Equal opportunity means more and better education, and we 
have provided scholarships to 6 million poor children of all ages. At 
the same time, we are investing more than ever in free public 
universities. And today, almost 90,000 students graduate as engineers 
and technicians every year in my country. We want all our young people 
to have the chance to study. Equal opportunity means access to health 
services for everyone. We have tripled the budget for Popular Health 
Insurance and rebuilt or renovated 1,700 public hospitals and clinics 
in 3 years, more than one a day. This will allow us to reach a goal any 
nation would be proud of, universal health coverage by 2012. A doctor, 
medicine, and treatment for any Mexican that needs it. Equal 
opportunity means more and better education, cutting-edge poverty 
fighting programs, and universal health coverage. By improving 
opportunities for all, we are giving people one less reason to leave 
Mexico.

[[Page H3664]]

  As you can see, Mexico is a country in transformation. This is making 
us an even more strategic partner for the future prosperity of the 
American people. The world is more global and more interconnected every 
day. It is also divided into large economic regions. Those regions that 
maximize their comparative advantages will be the ones that succeed. 
And we both need to compete with Asia and with Europe. Mexico and the 
United States are stronger together than they are apart. Our economic 
ties have made both economies stronger, and together, we can renew our 
partnership to restore stronger and faster economic growth on both 
sides of the border. A stronger Mexico means a stronger United States. 
Let us not forget, Mexicans are the second-largest foreign buyers of 
American goods in the world. And a stronger United States, of course, 
means a stronger Mexico. So I invite you to work with Mexico and 
consolidate North America as the most competitive region in the world. 
I believe in that. Let us create more jobs for American workers and 
more jobs for Mexican workers.
  Members of Congress, I am not a President who likes to see Mexicans 
leave our country searching for opportunities abroad. With migration, 
our communities lose their best people, the hardest working, the most 
dynamic, the leaders of the communities. Each migrant is a parent who 
will never see his children again.
  Quiero decirles a los migrantes, a quienes estan trabajando aqui por 
la grandeza de este pais, que los admiramos, que los extranamos, que 
estamos luchando por sus derechos y que estamos trabajando duro por 
Mexico y por sus familias.
  I want to say to the migrants, all those who are working really hard 
for this great country that we admire them, we miss them, we are 
working hard for their rights, and we are working really hard for 
Mexico and for the families. Today we are doing the best we can do in 
order to reduce migration, to create opportunities, and to create jobs 
for Mexicans in our own country, where their homes are and where their 
families are. As many jobs as we can. And Mexico will one day be a 
country in which our people will find the opportunities that today they 
look for outside of the country. Until then, Mexico is determined to 
assume its responsibility. For us, migration is not just your problem. 
We see migration as our problem as well.
  My government does not favor the breaking of the rules. I fully 
respect the right of any country to enact and enforce its own laws. But 
what we need today is to fix a broken and inefficient system. We favor 
the establishment of laws that work and work well for us all. So the 
time has come for the United States and Mexico to work together on this 
issue. The time has come to reduce the causes of migration and to turn 
this phenomenon into one of legal, ordered, and secure flows of workers 
and visitors. We want to provide the Mexican people with the 
opportunities they are looking for. That is our goal, that is our 
mission as government; to transform Mexico into a land of 
opportunities, to provide our people with jobs and opportunities, to 
live in peace and to be happy.

  I want to recognize the hard work and leadership of many of you in 
the Senate, and in the House, and of President Obama, who are 
determined to find responsible and objective answers to this issue. I 
am convinced that comprehensive immigration reform is also crucial to 
secure our common border. However, I strongly disagree with the 
recently adopted law in Arizona. It is a law that not only ignores a 
reality that cannot be erased by decree but also introduces a terrible 
idea: using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement. And that 
is why I agree with President Obama, who said the new law ``carries a 
great amount of risk when core values that we all care about are 
breached.'' I want to bridge the gap of feelings and emotions between 
our countries and our peoples. I believe in this. I believe in 
communications, I believe in cooperation, and we together must find a 
better way to face and fix this common problem.
  And finally, the well-being of both our peoples depends not only on 
our ability to face regional challenges but global ones as well. That 
is the case of climate change. That is the case, for instance, of 
nonproliferation of nuclear weapons in the world. Climate change is one 
of humanity's most pressing threats. Global warming demands the 
commitment of all nations, both developed and developing countries. 
That is why Mexico was the first developing country to commit to 
emissions reduction targets and programs. As host of the upcoming COP 
16, we are working hard to make progress in the fight against climate 
change. Because of your global leadership, we will need your support to 
make the meeting in Cancun next November a success.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Honorable Members of the United 
States Congress, Mexico is a country in deep transformation, indeed. We 
are building the future our people deserve, a future of opportunity, a 
future of freedom, of equality, of the rule of law, a future of 
security in which families and children can go out to work, study, and 
play without fear, and most of all, a future in which our children and 
their children will see their dreams come true. I have come here as 
your neighbor, as your partner, as your ally, and as your friend. Our 
two great nations are joined by geography and by history, but more 
important, we are joined by a shared brilliant future. I believe in the 
future of North America as the strongest, most prosperous region in the 
world. That is possible.
  President Franklin Roosevelt once said that ``the only limit to our 
realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move 
forward with strong and active faith.'' And I say, let us work together 
with a strong and active faith in order to give our people the future 
they deserve.
  Thank you very much for your invitation. God bless America. Viva 
Mexico.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  At 11 o'clock and 52 minutes a.m., His Excellency Felipe Calderon 
Hinojosa, President of Mexico, accompanied by the committee of escort, 
retired from the Hall of the House of Representatives.
  The Majority Floor Services Chief escorted the invited guests from 
the Chamber in the following order:
  The Members of the President's Cabinet;
  The Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

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