[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 67 (Monday, April 19, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H1945-H1947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TROPICAL FOREST AND CORAL REEF CONSERVATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2021

  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 241) to reauthorize the Tropical Forest and Coral 
Reef Conservation Act of 1998.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 241

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Tropical Forest and Coral 
     Reef Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2021''.

     SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION.

       Section 806(d) of the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef 
     Conservation Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 2431d(d)) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(9) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2022.
       ``(10) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2023.
       ``(11) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.
       ``(12) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.
       ``(13) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Castro) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 241.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 241, the Tropical 
Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2021, 
introduced by Mr. Chabot.
  In this Congress, the House Foreign Affairs Committee aims to 
reprioritize and redouble our legislative efforts related to the 
environment, conservation, and climate change. Climate change already 
poses a significant threat, and what we do now will significantly 
impact how damaging climate change will be in the years to come.
  If we do not act now, we will fail to mitigate the adverse effects 
posed by climate change. We will see growing food insecurity, migration 
and conflict, threatening our shared interests and security.
  President Biden has already set a positive, ambitious agenda for 
international climate action. His first summit, the Climate Leaders 
Summit, will take place this very week, on April 22, during which the 
United States will reclaim its leadership role in galvanizing 
international support for protecting our planet.
  We will continue to work closely with other nations in the lead-up to 
the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this November and beyond, 
understanding that nothing short of an international response can meet 
this incredible challenge.
  We have our work cut out for us, no doubt, which is why I am pleased 
to

[[Page H1946]]

bring forth this excellent bipartisan measure that would reauthorize 
the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act. This highly 
successful debt-for-nature program has yielded tangible environmental 
benefits and returns on investment since first enacted in 1998. It 
offers eligible countries the opportunity to reduce debt owed to the 
United States when they invest in local ecologically and economically 
vital forest and coral reef ecosystems.
  It is a win-win situation. According to the Congressional Research 
Service, since 1998, restructured debt agreements have saved more than 
67 million acres of tropical forests in countries such as Botswana, 
Brazil, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They help strengthen civil 
society in conservation and environmental protection efforts and build 
public-private partnerships in developing countries, thereby advancing 
U.S. international development and democracy objectives.
  Furthermore, these agreements help reduce the debt in these 
developing countries, lessening fiscal pressures, promoting capital 
market reforms, and stimulating economic growth while helping to 
protect the environment.
  The world's forests are nature's lungs, and the ocean's coral reefs 
support a quarter of all marine life. This legislation puts in place 
economic incentives that can help drive good environmental stewardship, 
while promoting robust democracies and economic growth overseas.
  I am pleased to support this important bill and I urge my colleagues 
to do the same.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in support of H.R. 241, the 
Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2021, bipartisan 
legislation that I introduced along with my Democratic colleague, Mr. 
Sherman of California, earlier this year.
  Developing countries are home to some of the world's most endangered 
and biologically diverse tropical forests and coral reefs. These 
critical ecosystems support the livelihoods of local populations, not 
to mention an abundance of animal species. Coral reefs are critical to 
the world's fish stocks and are magnets for tourism and the 
accompanying economic growth. It is in the interest of the whole world 
to protect and responsibly manage both tropical rainforests and coral 
reefs.
  Unfortunately, however, whether it is deforestation, pollution, 
overfishing, or some other cause, these vital natural resources are 
threatened across the globe.
  Today's legislation seeks to safeguard tropical forests and coral 
reefs by revitalizing the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation 
Act of 1998. Since the introduction of this legislation 23 years ago, 
this effort has been led by Ohio's great Senator, Rob Portman, who was 
in the House at that time and who is leading the effort in the Senate 
one more time before he leaves office. Congressman Sherman and I were 
cosponsors of that effort back in 1998, and we are proud of its results 
over the years.
  This program has already protected, as my colleague from Texas 
mentioned, 67 million acres of tropical forests across the globe. In 
terms of carbon emission, that is the equivalent of taking 11 million 
cars off the road.
  This program does development right. It forgives debt, which some 
developing nations owe the United States, in exchange for investment in 
local conservation. Instead of providing a handout with questionable 
results, the debt forgiveness comes with requirements that ensure that 
the money grows local economies and benefits those who rely on healthy 
ecosystems the most.
  Also, by assisting developing countries to properly manage and 
sustainably develop their own resources, it follows the old adage of 
``teaching a man to fish'' so that the American taxpayer doesn't have 
to keep providing the fish.
  Our constituents back home are rightfully skeptical oftentimes about 
foreign aid because we have a lot of in effective programs that spend 
their money year after year without moving countries towards self-
reliance. We owe it to the American taxpayers to ensure that aid 
programs are targeted, effective, and come to an end. H.R. 241 is all 
three.

  Further, due to the peculiar structure of the type of debt this 
program forgives, developing countries would not have been paying back 
the portion that we are forgiving anytime soon anyway. A lot of it has 
already been outstanding for 10, 20, or even 30 years. Since the U.S. 
is unlikely to recoup the debt in a reasonable timeframe anyway, we 
might as well get something in return that benefits those countries, 
benefits us, and really benefits the entire world and those ecosystems 
and those forests and the animals that reside there and the coral reefs 
and the fish and other life that is there. So, really, it benefits so 
many.
  Finally, our legislation is one more tool to counter China. Whereas 
China's One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes produces corrupt, 
elite-centered, get-rich-quick debt traps, our program is exactly the 
opposite. It brings transparency to natural resource management by 
engaging civil society, focuses on the people who depend on these 
ecosystems for food and economic activity instead of on elites, fosters 
sustainable development and is debt forgiveness instead of a debt trap. 
The One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes gets these countries in a 
huge debt trap that they never get out of, and China benefits instead 
of the countries that one thinks might benefit from One Belt One Road.
  With this program, the State Department can showcase the U.S. 
development model and bring real gains in the developing world. It is 
in the interest of the whole world to protect tropical forests and 
coral reefs. This program does so in a targeted, proven, sustainable 
way, and pays for it by forgiving debt we would never have seen repaid 
anyway.
  In my mind, this is a win for the taxpayer, a win for the developing 
countries, a win for America, and a win for the whole world. I would 
urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I, again, thank Brad Sherman, Democratic congressman from California, 
for his cosponsorship and his leadership on this.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Madam Speaker, I will close by saying this is really a good bill. I 
thank Senator Rob Portman also for his leadership on this here in the 
House, when he was here, and then over in the Senate. We took this up 
after he left the House and have been working on it for years.
  I thank Mr. Sherman and a lot of Republicans and Democrats for 
working on this together. This is bipartisan legislation that really 
does benefit the whole world. I wish we did more stuff like this around 
here.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume for the purpose of closing.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 241, introduced by Mr. Chabot, is a bipartisan 
bill that reauthorizes the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation 
Act.
  The debt-for-nature swaps created by this program have been highly 
successful in generating support for tropical forest or coral reef 
conservation activities in exchange for relieving debt owed to the 
United States Government. This bill is a win-win, protecting forest and 
coral reef ecosystems, lessening the fiscal burden of low-income 
countries, and stimulating economic growth in local communities.
  I hope my colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, will join me in 
supporting this bill.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 241.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H1947]]

  

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