[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 156 (Tuesday, September 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. DURBIN:
S. 4962. A bill to establish within the Office of Gender Equality and
Women's Empowerment of the United States Agency for International
Development a rural mobility program to promote mobility in rural
communities through access to affordable, fit-for-purpose bicycles, to
provide support to sustainably increase access to rural areas, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to do something unusual on
the floor of the Senate. I would like to report some good news. It
isn't often we have these reports. Today, I have three items in my news
that I would like to share with the people who are following this. I
would like to start my remarks by sharing an incredible story from the
other side of the world.
In May 2020, as the world was reeling from the spread of the deadly
new strain of the coronavirus, the Red Cross society in the African
nation of Kenya received 500 bicycles from a Chicago-based,
nongovernmental organization known as World Bicycle Relief. Community
healthworkers used these bicycles to make house visits across southern
Kenya, providing health services to remote communities that would
otherwise not be reached because of restrictions on movement due to
COVID-19.
In Malawi, young girls used these bicycles to get safely to and from
school, and when COVID-19 closed the schools down, girls like 17-year-
old Elizabeth were able to shift focus to help their parents, who are
farmers, weather the economic effects of the pandemic. She used her
bicycle to take their produce to market.
Stories like these are common around the world, showing the value of
a simple, relatively inexpensive, green, and easy-to-repair means of
mobility--a bicycle--to help meet important development objectives.
Since its founding in 2005, the World Bicycle Relief of Chicago has
done great work in helping displaced survivors after a natural disaster
in Sri Lanka, allowing farmers to move crops in Zambia, and getting
girls to school in Malawi.
I have even seen myself how a bicycle ambulance in rural Tanzania can
change lives; and not long ago, my staff saw the group's efforts in
Kenya, where more than 25,000 sustainable, rugged bicycles have been
provided.
Since 2019, I have worked through appropriations to push USAID to
invest in bicycles, which help meet the needs in healthcare, education,
women and girls' empowerment, and more. Part of this funding has
included an in-depth assessment to see what is most useful and how to
make the programs locally sustainable. They not only send bikes; they
send parts and then train the repairmen. USAID has used these lessons
and opportunities with increasing success thanks to the work of many
groups, including that of the World Bicycle Relief of Chicago.
Today, I am introducing legislation in partnering with the Kenya
bicycle world and U.S. House of Representatives' Representative Earl
Blumenauer of Oregon. Our bill is going to codify these important
efforts and formalize the creation of a mobility program within USAID's
Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment.
COVID-19 has taught us that a global health crisis can easily turn
into an economic crisis, a food crisis, a mobility crisis, and more.
Sometimes the simplest things, like a bicycle, can help make incredible
progress.
That is item No. 1.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 4962
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 ``Bicycles for Rural African
Transport Act''.
SEC. 2. RURAL MOBILITY PROGRAM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development (referred to in this
section as ``USAID'') shall establish, within the Office of
Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, a rural mobility
program (referred to in this section as the ``Program'') to
carry out the purposes described in paragraph (2), including
through grants made to eligible nongovernmental partner
organizations. In making such grants, the Administrator shall
give priority to organizations with demonstrated success
conducting rural mobility programs in the region for such
purposes.
(2) Purpose.--The Program shall focus on country-driven
projects within sub-Saharan Africa that--
(A) promote rural communities' access to critical services
and opportunities, including education, health care, and
livelihood opportunities, through access to affordable, fit-
for-purpose bicycles; and
(B) provide support to sustainably increase access to
critical services, such as education, health care, and
livelihood opportunities in rural areas, including through
support for rural-based mechanics, access to spare parts,
reduction of social and gender-based stigma, and community
project management capacity.
(3) Partnerships.--To the greatest extent practicable, the
Program shall partner with existing entities outside the
United States that have successful models for providing
access to affordable bicycles to achieve development
objectives.
(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section--
(A) $3,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2023 and 2024;
(B) $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2025 and 2026;
and
(C) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2027 and for each fiscal
year thereafter.
(b) Report.--
(1) Prior projects.--Not later than 30 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of USAID
shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations
of the Senate, the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate,
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives, and the Committee on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives that, with respect to each of the
fiscal years 2019 through 2022--
(A) describes the projects carried out by USAID that relate
to any of the purposes described in subsection (a)(2);
(B) identifies the countries in which USAID embedded rural
bicycle mobility into strategies, programs, and projects of
USAID and describes the mechanisms by which rural bicycle
mobility was so embedded;
(C) specifies the number of bicycles distributed through
projects carried out by USAID; and
(D) assesses the outcomes for, and impacts on, participants
in such projects and the efforts of USAID to disseminate
lessons learned from such projects.
(2) Current projects.--Not later than December 30, 2024,
and each December 30 thereafter, the Administrator of USAID
shall submit a report to the congressional committees
referred to in paragraph (1) that--
(A) describes the projects carried out by USAID during the
most recently concluded fiscal year; and
(B) includes information relating to the matters described
in subparagraphs (B) through (D) of paragraph (1).
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