[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 180 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H6371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 
strengthening United States' relationships with Africa and the 
Caribbean.
  The history and culture of the United States is inextricably linked 
to Africa and the Caribbean. The brutal history of colonialism, 
slavery, and the middle passage has shaped our shared destinies.
  As people of African descent in the Americas and Africans on the 
continent, we commemorate all of our tragedies and triumphs of the last 
four centuries. We know that there is strength and comfort in 
celebrating our shared Black ancestry and identity.
  These vital historic ties are an opportunity for the United States. 
As I travel in Africa and the Caribbean, I hear from many people, 
business leaders, and government leaders. They are actively seeking to 
partner with the United States. They specifically want to work with 
Americans to tackle global challenges that impact us all. Yet, 
Washington too often ignores or cannot hear these voices. We fail to 
invest the time, resources, and energy into building true partnerships.
  We have entered a new era of global competition. Governments like 
those of China and Russia openly seek to be the partner of choice. 
There is a void, thanks to our neglect, that they are filling.
  People in Africa and the Caribbean want to work with America as the 
partner of choice. If their partner of choice is not listening to them 
as sovereign countries, they will make decisions on their bilateral and 
multilateral alliances which exclude those countries which have all but 
ignored them.
  America needs to step up our game if we want to build the true and 
deep partnerships that will advance our shared goals.
  In these countries, respect, development assistance, trade, and 
investments go a long way. For example, in 2005, Hurricane Dennis 
devastated the Caribbean, causing billions of dollars in damage. I 
worked very hard to get a small amount of reconstruction assistance, 
which was $40 million, for Grenada. When I visited Grenada later, there 
were signs everywhere for the first time that read: Thank you, USA.
  It is also important that Members of Congress get out and visit 
African and Caribbean countries. China shows up, believe me, every day 
in Africa and the Caribbean. Members of the United States Congress need 
to show up.

  I remember once, when I visited Grenada just a couple of years ago, I 
stopped by the United States State Department Office there. I saw a 
picture on the wall of myself, the former chair of the Western 
Hemisphere Subcommittee, Congressman Eliot Engel, and several Members 
of Congress from a codel when we visited Grenada in 2007.
  I asked if that codel had made an impact, and I was told, in fact, 
that 2007 was the last time there had been a congressional delegation 
to Grenada. That is outrageous.
  I believe that this work can and should be bipartisan. Two decades 
ago, I worked with George Bush to designate June as the Caribbean 
American Heritage Month. Today, that commemoration is still celebrated 
among people in the Caribbean and Caribbean Americans here in the 
United States. It is a useful tool for building bridges with our 
Caribbean neighbors.
  I am proud that, during my term leading the House Committee on 
Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related 
Programs, I have worked substantially to increase American investment 
and partnerships with Africa and the Caribbean.
  As the chair of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and 
Related Programs, I managed to increase the development assistance 
account by more than $800 million. We were able to invest that increase 
in important priorities, like Prosper America, to grow jobs and incomes 
in Africa and the United States; Power Africa, which seeks to connect 
60 million Africans to reliable electricity; and the United States 
African Development Foundation, which invests directly in African 
entrepreneurship and the Young African Leaders Initiative, which seeks 
to lift up and strengthen the brightest flowers of African youth.
  In the Caribbean, I created a program to invest in inclusive economic 
growth for the first time and worked with the State Department to 
expand our Caribbean diplomatic presence. One of our embassies in 
Barbados is responsible for seven countries. They don't even have a 
plane. They can't travel to those seven countries they are responsible 
for, so we are expanding our presence there.
  We expanded support for small-island states coping with sea-level 
rise and invested in the Caribbean Base and Security Initiative to 
tackle transnational security challenges, like crime and drug 
trafficking.
  Mr. Speaker, these investments are crucial, not only to support 
American security and interests, but to build an equitable and 
inclusive world which we seek.
  I urge my colleagues to listen carefully to African and Caribbean 
voices. We have millions of people of African descent in our own 
country. We have to continue to build these bridges toward a shared 
just and prosperous future for all people.

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