[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17548-17551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 4654) to reauthorize the Tropical Forest Conservation 
Act of 1998 through fiscal year 2007, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4654

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

     SECTION 1. REDUCTION OF DEBT UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT 
                   OF 1961 AND TITLE I OF THE AGRICULTURAL TRADE 
                   DEVELOPMENT AND ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1954.

       Section 806(d) of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 
     1998 (22 U.S.C. 2431d(d)) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new paragraphs:
       ``(4) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
       ``(5) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
       ``(6) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.''.

     SEC. 2. USE OF FUNDS TO CONDUCT PROGRAM AUDITS AND 
                   EVALUATIONS.

       Section 806 of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 
     (22 U.S.C. 2431d) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(e) Use of Funds To Conduct Program Audits and 
     Evaluations.--Of the amounts made available to carry out this 
     part for a fiscal year, $200,000 is authorized to be made 
     available to carry out audits and evaluations of programs 
     under this part, including personnel costs associated with 
     such audits and evaluations.''.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO ALLOW FOR PAYMENTS OF INTEREST AND 
                   PRINCIPAL IN LOCAL CURRENCIES.

       (a) Authority Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.--
     Section 806(c) of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 
     1998 (22 U.S.C. 2431d(c)) is amended--
       (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 
     ``The following'' and inserting ``(1) The following'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
     subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) In addition to the application of the provisions 
     relating to repayment of principal under section 705 of this 
     Act to the reduction of debt under subsection (a)(1) (in 
     accordance with paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection), 
     repayment of principal on a new obligation established under 
     subsection (b) may be made in the local currency of the 
     beneficiary country and deposited in the Tropical Forest Fund 
     of the country in the same manner as the provisions relating 
     to payment of interest on new obligations under section 706 
     of this Act.''.
       (b) Authority Under Title I of the Agricultural Trade 
     Development and Assistance Act of 1954.--Section 807(c) of 
     the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 
     2431e(c)) is amended--
       (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 
     ``The following'' and inserting ``(1) The following'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
     subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) In addition to the application of the provisions 
     relating to repayment of principal under section 605 of the 
     Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to 
     the reduction of debt under subsection (a)(1)

[[Page 17549]]

     (in accordance with paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection), 
     repayment of principal on a new obligation established under 
     subsection (b) may be made in the local currency of the 
     beneficiary country and deposited in the Tropical Forest Fund 
     of the country in the same manner as the provisions relating 
     to payment of interest on new obligations under section 606 
     of such Act.''.
       (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 810(a) of the Tropical 
     Forest Conservation Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 2431h(a)) is 
     amended by inserting ``and principal'' after ``interest''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. 
McCollum) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4654, the bill 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This bill reauthorizes the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998, 
TFCA, through fiscal year 2007. The current authorization for this 
important program expires at the end of fiscal year 2004. H.R. 4654 
authorizes appropriations for debt reduction for eligible countries 
through fiscal year 2007 at $20 million in fiscal year 2005, the 
President's budget request; at $25 million in fiscal year 2006; and $30 
million in fiscal year 2007.
  The bill adds a new section to the underlying statute which 
authorizes the use of funds for audits and evaluations of this program. 
In addition, the bill allows for TFCA debt reduction agreements to 
redirect reduced principal payments for forest conservation activities. 
Current law allows only the redirection of reduced interest payment 
into forest conservation funds.
  Ensuring fiscal and programmatic accountability requires the ability 
to contract for independent audits. While it is the intent of H.R. 4654 
to maximize the amount of funds going to new TFCA agreements, a modest 
authorization level is provided as a good management procedure to 
ensure that some audits be undertaken each year.

                              {time}  1500

  The $200,000 authorized by the bill to be made available to carry out 
audits and evaluations of programs is not intended as a limit on 
expenditures for these important functions.
  The bill would allow principal on debt incurred before January 1, 
1998, to be eligible for treatment under the straight debt reduction 
option. Currently, only interest can be treated. The benefit of also 
treating principal in this matter is that the U.S. Government can 
generate more funds for forest conservation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I rise in strong support of this legislation.
  This legislation continues a vitally important environmental 
initiative started in the Clinton administration. With the extension of 
this program, millions of acres of endangered tropical forests around 
the world will be saved, and the biological diversity of our world will 
be further preserved.
  I would first like to recognize the efforts of the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Portman), who worked closely with our former colleague and 
former chair of the Committee on International Relations, the Honorable 
Lee Hamilton, in crafting this innovative measure in 1998.
  Mr. Speaker, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act has become one of 
the most effective foreign policy tools designed to encourage 
developing nations to protect and preserve tropical forests. Already 
the U.S. has entered into bilateral agreements with seven countries: 
Bangladesh, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, and 
Colombia.
  This innovative program has been a tremendous success. It has given 
the people of developing countries the opportunity to protect and 
invest in their local ecosystems, thus preserving our global 
environment while at the same time paying down interest on debt owed to 
the United States.
  The current bilateral agreements under the Tropical Forest 
Conservation Act will generate $70 million for tropical forest 
preservation. The most recent agreement has produced a pledge by 
Colombia to invest $10 million over 12 years to protect the nearly 11 
million acres of this tropical forest.
  Among the areas that will be preserved in Colombia as a result is the 
Tuparo National Park. This unique forest contains a rich diversity of 
species, including jaguars, river dolphins, and the endangered giant 
armadillo. This also includes a threatened crocodile, which is found 
only in this part of South America. This area is also being protected 
because it serves as a base for migrating birds from North America.
  The bill before us would expand the Tropical Forest Conservation Act 
by allowing developing countries not only to service their debt by 
making payments to forest conservation funds, but also to pay down the 
principal on these debts. Right now, there are several debtor countries 
that are potentially eligible for the program but cannot participate 
because of the way in which the language was originally written. This 
new authority in this reauthorization would remedy this situation and 
increase the number of countries eligible to participate in the 
program.
  Mr. Speaker, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act is a shining 
example of good policy mixed with strong environmental protections. It 
is my hope that in the future we will be able to promote and support 
additional measures that balance economic stability and environmental 
sustainability both for these countries.
  Again, I strongly support the passage of this legislation to 
reauthorize the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, and I urge my 
colleagues to do so as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 6 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman), the prime sponsor and the author of 
this bill.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who is chair of the 
Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Committee on 
International Relations. I want to thank her for her good work in the 
committee, and particularly her help with regard to this legislation 
and her willingness to be one of the original cosponsors and to help to 
promote this.
  I also want to thank my colleague from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum). I 
thought that statement was eloquent, and I think she well stated what 
we are trying to do with this reauthorization, which is to continue a 
good program and also to expand it so that more countries can be 
eligible.
  I rise today in very strong support of this legislation. It was 
introduced, along with my colleague and ranking member, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Lantos), of the Committee on International 
Relations, by 32 of our colleagues to reauthorize this Tropical Forest 
Conservation Act through fiscal year 2007. This is a bipartisan and 
market-based conservation incentive program which helps to protect the 
world's most valuable tropical forests using the so-called debt-for-
nature mechanisms.
  H.R. 4654 was developed with the Bush administration, with the Nature 
Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the 
Wildlife Conservation Society. The administration and these highly 
respected environmental organizations are to be commended for their 
good work on the Tropical Forest Conservation Act and on this 
legislation before us today.
  This legislation comes out of a couple of Congresses ago, the 105th 
Congress, when I, along with my colleagues

[[Page 17550]]

Lee Hamilton, mentioned earlier, and John Kasich, introduced 
legislation that established the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, or 
TFCA. It was overwhelmingly approved by the House, the Senate, and 
enacted in 1998. It was then reauthorized in 2001, until the end of 
this current year.
  The TFCA is based on the previous Bush administration's Enterprise 
for the Americas Initiative, also known as EAI. That initiative allowed 
the President to restructure debt in exchange for certain conservation 
efforts in Latin America. We took that basic philosophy, broadened it, 
we expanded on it, and we now allow protection of threatened tropical 
forests worldwide.
  A conservative estimate is that, because of the agreements that have 
been signed to date, 41 million acres of tropical forests are being 
protected. The United States has a significant national interest in 
this. Tropical forests provide a wide range of benefits. They harbor 50 
to 90 percent of the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. They act as 
``carbon sinks,'' absorbing massive quantities of carbon dioxide from 
the atmosphere, thereby reducing so-called greenhouse gases. Therefore, 
the quality of the air we breathe here in this country is affected by 
the health of these dense forests.
  They also regulate rainfall on which agriculture and coastal 
resources depend, and they are of great importance to regional and 
global climate. Furthermore, tropical forests are breeding grounds for 
new medicines. Twenty-five percent of prescription drugs come from 
tropical forests. The United States National Cancer Institute has 
identified over 3,000 plants that they believe are active against 
cancer. Seventy percent of them can be found in these tropical rain 
forests.
  Regrettably, tropical forests are rapidly disappearing. It is now 
estimated that 30 million acres, an area larger than the State of 
Pennsylvania, or my State of Ohio, are now being lost each year. The 
heavy debt burden of many of these countries in the tropics is a 
contributing factor because they have to resort to exploitation of 
their natural resources, particularly the extraction of timber, oil, 
and precious metals, to be able to generate revenue to service their 
external debt. At the same time, these poorer governments tend to have 
fewer resources available to set aside and protect tropical forests.
  The TFCA, which is part of the current Bush administration's global 
climate change policy, addresses these economic pressures by 
authorizing the President to allow eligible countries to engage in debt 
swaps, in buybacks, and in reduction and restructuring of debt in 
exchange for protecting threatened tropical forests on a sustained 
basis. So the program gets at some of the underlying causes for the 
disappearing tropical forests because it gets at some of the economic 
reasons some of the countries must exploit this resource.
  The debt-for-nature mechanism in the TFCA has proven to be an 
effective market-oriented means to leverage scarce funds available for 
international conservation. The host country places local currency in 
its tropical forest fund that typically exceeds the cost to the U.S. 
Government of the debt reduction agreement. So we are leveraging funds.
  Furthermore, because these tropical forest funds have integrity, are 
broadly supported within the host country, we have found that 
conservation organizations are interested in placing their own money in 
these tropical forest funds, which of course produce additional 
leverage of the Federal conservation dollars that we are providing.
  There have been eight TFCA agreements included to date: Bangladesh, 
El Salvador, Belize, Peru, the Philippines, Colombia, and actually two 
now with Panama. $49.3 million in Federal contributions have gone into 
these agreements and $6.3 million in private contributions from these 
conservation NGOs under these eight agreements. Through this we have 
generated $81.4 million in long-term income commitments for tropical 
forest conservation, so the leverage is out there and is working.
  The second Panama deal actually was just signed last month. Under 
this agreement, the U.S. Government contributed $6.5 million to reduce 
debt, and the Nature Conservancy contributed $1.3 million in a second 
round of agreements now that will generate nearly $11 million for 
tropical conservation over the next 12 years.
  This agreement with Panama, along with the previous one, now provides 
over $21 million in total funds available for conservation purposes. 
This is a great agreement that helps protect the biologically rich 
forest of Darien National Park.
  Active deals are also being negotiated with Jamaica and Sri Lanka. 
Other countries that have expressed interest in the program and who 
have eligible debt include Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, St. Vincent, 
Botswana, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Brazil, 
and Kenya.
  H.R. 4654 will improve and refine the Tropical Forest Conservation 
Act, as was discussed earlier, by better funding audits to ensure the 
program is operating as expected and as intended and by broadening the 
governments that can participate by allowing principal, not just 
interest, to be reduced and to be redirected into these conservation 
funds.
  The bill does have an authorization here of $20 million in fiscal 
year 2005, which is included in the President's budget request.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment, if I could, to just thank 
all those who have gotten us to this point and worked so hard on this 
reauthorization bill. I want to thank those people like Bill Millan and 
Steve McCormick of the Nature Conservancy; Randy Snodgrass, Melissa 
Moye and Estrelitta Fitzhugh of the World Wildlife Fund; Kelly Keenan 
Aylward with the Wildlife Conservation Society; and Nicholas Lapham 
with Conservation International.
  From the administration, I want to thank the Council on Environmental 
Quality; also Joel Kaplan and Robin Cleveland of OMB; Bill Schuerch and 
Katie Berg of the Treasury Department; Claudia McMurray, Stephanie 
Caswell and Teresa Hobgood of the State Department; Jim Hester with 
USAID; Scott Lampman and others.
  In Congress, I want to be sure and thank Kristen Gilley and David 
Killon of the Committee on International Relations, minority and 
majority staff; and Mark Synnes of the House Legislative Counsel for 
helping us to draft the bill; and at CRS we got some great help from 
Pervaze Sheikh. For his excellent analysis of the program, I want to 
thank him. And, finally, I want to thank Tim Miller of my staff and 
Justin Louchheim, who have taken a personal interest in this and their 
commitment to it over the years.
  Again, this is a good program, it is working well, and worthy of 
reauthorization. I urge all Members to support strongly this market-
based approach that is working to conserve the world's most threatened 
tropical forest.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, the legislation before the House continues a 
vitally important environmental initiative begun during the Clinton 
Administration. The Tropical Forest Conservation Act has already 
resulted in the funding of programs to conserve over 40 million acres 
of endangered tropical forests around the globe. These preservation 
efforts are critical to long-term U.S. interests as the tropical forest 
being saved are estimated to contain 50-90 percent of the earth's 
terrestrial biodiversity.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have had the opportunity to co-sponsor 
this reauthorization with Congressman Rob Portman. Congressman Portman 
deserves credit for having the foresight to initiate this program with 
the original authorization he crafted in partnership with the former 
chairman of the International Relations Committee, Mr. Lee Hamilton, in 
1998.
  Mr. Speaker, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act has been a 
tremendous success. It has allowed the governments of developing 
countries to get the benefit of improving their local ecosystem when 
paying down interest owed on debt to the United States. It is supported 
by a broad spectrum of environmental advocacy organizations led by the 
Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.
  This program inspires more prompt debt servicing and gives foreign 
governments a greater sense of responsibility for preserving the global 
environment.
  Already the U.S. has entered into binding bilateral agreements with 
seven countries: Bangladesh, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Peru,

[[Page 17551]]

the Philippines and Colombia. These agreements will generate $70 
million for tropical forest preservation.
  The most recent agreement has produced a pledge by Colombia to invest 
$10 million over 12 years to protect nearly 11 million acres of its 
tropical forest.
  Among the areas that will be preserved in Colombia as a result is the 
Tuparo National Park. This unique forest contains a rich diversity of 
species including jaguars, river dolphins, the endangered giant 
armadillo and the critically threatened Orinoco crocodile, which is 
found only in this part of South America. The area is also a major 
winter base for migrating bird species from the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the rapid disappearance of tropical forests is a threat 
to our national security. We need these forests to regulate the global 
environment. They act as critical ``carbon sinks'', absorbing massive 
quantities of carbon dioxide that otherwise would contribute to global 
warming. They also regulate rainfall, which is critical to maintaining 
sustainable agricultural production across the globe. In addition, 
their diverse plants provide a large percentage of life-saving 
medicines. Therefore, as the forests disappear, some of our 
opportunities to cure debilitating illnesses also vanish.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support passage of this legislation, and urge 
my colleagues to do so as well.
  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests at this time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pence). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4654.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________