[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 216 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9199-S9200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ethiopia

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I think, with Christmas right around the 
corner, I can't think of a more appropriate time to deliver a short 
message here.
  I have spoken several times about the situation in Ethiopia this 
year. It is a nation that is close to my heart for a lot of good 
reasons. It is close to other hearts around here. And if you are trying 
to understand the politics behind what is happening on the ground, it 
is very complicated.
  But what is not complicated is that human suffering happens, and it 
is heartbreaking. We are talking about women and children and the 
elderly people. And they are dying every day. And it is totally 
unnecessary. I pray the violence stops very quickly and call on those 
who feel the same way to join me if they agree with this.
  One of my big criticisms of our State Department is that they tend to 
go around the world telling other countries what they need to do 
instead of focusing on building lasting friendships and alliances.
  This pushes countries away from us instead of bringing them toward 
us. And we can't afford to do that anymore with the rising problems 
that we are having right now--we have been talking on the floor--with 
both China and Russia. And those countries are all too eager to pick up 
the pieces that we leave behind. And this is happening right now. We 
are faced with a situation where we have countries that are out there 
that have actually better resources than we do in many areas.
  Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Biden administration is doing 
in Ethiopia. Because Ethiopia has been unable to resolve its internal 
challenges quick enough for the administration, they are punishing 
Ethiopia. They are really punishing their own people here.
  Most recently, this has been in the form of announcing that they plan 
to remove Ethiopia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The 
African Growth and Opportunity Act is known as AGOA. And it is 
something that is very significant. It is one that all of those in 
Africa and other countries are trying to get behind them.
  And I think it is particularly significant right now that Christmas 
is upon us. It means Ethiopia would no longer have preferential trade 
capabilities with the United States for both import and export.
  Now, this is devastating to a nation that has been such a great 
partner over the years. Ethiopia has always--ever since it came back 
during the Meles administration, and we kicked communists out with the 
help of that administration, it has been our friend ever since then. 
Ethiopia has long been one of our last trading partners in Africa, in 
part, because its airline has a majority Boeing fleet. And because of 
that, many planes across the continent are being maintained in 
Ethiopia.
  This flippant action makes our other partners doubt our commitment 
and pulls the rug out from many American business that have decided to 
make investments in Ethiopia instead of other countries in places 
around the world like Southeast Asia.
  If we are willing to arbitrarily kick countries out of the agreement, 
other countries and American companies might not see participation in 
AGOA as worth the hassle you have to go through to get that. Every time 
we do something like this, we leave a vacuum that China is only too 
eager to fill.
  Just after the Biden administration announced their plan to punish 
Ethiopia, the Chinese Government announced their own plan to purchase 
$300 billion worth of goods from Africa over the next 3 years and to 
invest nearly $10 billion.
  The Chinese Foreign Minister promptly visited the principals in 
Ethiopia to support Prime Minister Abiy. Prime Minister Abiy, whom you 
might remember, has been a Prime Minister in Ethiopia for a long period 
of time. I can remember standing many years ago on this floor and 
lauding the virtues of him and what he has done for this country and 
the fact that he probably could be arguably the best educated Prime 
Minister in that country at any time. He didn't mention a word about 
the international challenges that he faces. They were there to support 
him, the democratically--we are talking about the Chinese now--
democratically elected leader in Ethiopia. That is exactly what we 
should be doing. But we aren't--and China is.
  We know that China and Russia are encroaching throughout Africa. They 
want nothing more than to create a division between the United States 
and Ethiopia and in countries across the continent.
  And the good news is--if you can call it that--there is time before 
the Biden administration cancels AGOA benefits, and that would be for 
Ethiopia on January 1. But the door is closing. And January 1 is on us 
now.
  So the Biden administration should take real steps to undoing the 
sanctions against the democratically elected government of Ethiopia and 
roll back the termination of AGOA benefits. And that would make a much 
happier Christmas for us and for Ethiopia.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S9200]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kelly). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The majority leader.

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