[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4218-4221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1905

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign 
Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 
1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and the Senate proceed to its 
consideration; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and a 
substitute amendment which is at the desk, which is the text of 
Calendar No. 320, S. 2101, the Iran Sanctions Accountability and Human 
Rights Act as reported by the Banking Committee, be inserted in lieu 
thereof; that the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and 
the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, there being no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. PAUL. Reserving the right to object, I am amazed the majority 
party objects to an amendment that simply restates the Constitution. 
Our Founding Fathers feared granting power to declare war to the 
Executive. They were quite concerned that the Executive can become like 
a King. Many in this body could not get boots on the ground fast enough 
in a variety of places, from Syria to Libya to Iran. We don't just send 
boots to war; we send our young Americans to war. Our young men and 
women, our soldiers, deserve thoughtful debate. Before sending our 
young men and women into combat, we should have a mature and thoughtful 
debate over the ramifications of war, over the advisability of war, and 
over the objectives of the war. James Madison wrote:

       . . . that the Constitution supposes what history 
     demonstrates, that the Executive is a branch most interested 
     in war, and most prone to it. Therefore, the Constitution, 
     with studied care, vested that power in the legislature.

  My amendment is one sentence long. It states that nothing in this act 
is to be construed as a declaration of war or as an authorization of 
the use of military force in Iran or Syria.
  I urge that we not begin a new war without a full debate, without a 
vote, without careful consideration of the ramifications of a third or 
even a fourth war in this past decade. I, therefore, respectfully, 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am terribly disappointed. There is nothing 
in the resolution that talks about war; in fact, it is quite to the 
contrary. It is unfortunate. I know, I read the Constitution a few 
times. My friend says

[[Page 4219]]

he wants to restate the Constitution. That is a strange version he just 
stated. I don't see that anyplace in the Constitution. So I am deeply 
disappointed the Senate was not able to enact additional critical 
sanctions against the Republic of Iran.
  The sanctions that came out of the Banking Committee unanimously are 
a key to our work to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and 
threatening Israel and jeopardizing the U.S. national security. It is a 
bipartisan bill which passed unanimously out of the Senate Banking 
Committee. It would have had much needed new sanctions put in place 
right now, as we speak. We could pass this legislation this minute if 
the minority would drop their opposition. We can't afford to delay 
these sanctions or slow down this process in any way. I am willing to 
move this bill without amendment also at any time.
  I say to my friend, whom I respect, I say to my friend, if there are 
additional things that should be done--I was told this morning that 
Republicans want to offer amendments to this unanimous consent request. 
I said, no, because Democrats want to also. But we are satisfied with 
where we are. This is a wonderful piece of legislation, done on a 
bipartisan basis in the Banking Committee. If people, such as my 
friend, the junior Senator from Kentucky, want to do more, as do my 
friends from this side and the Republican side, let's come up with 
something else. But I think not to do this is unfortunate.
  We are slowing down these sanctions. This is not a declaration of war 
or even anywhere within the neighborhood of that. We are slowing down 
these sanctions. That I believe is the way to avoid war. I am willing 
to move this bill without amendments, at any time, I repeat. I am 
hopeful my Republican colleagues will see the light and realize how 
important it is to advance this measure and prevent Iran from obtaining 
nuclear weapons.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we can resume the 
colloquy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. At this point, I yield to the Senator from Arkansas, if 
he would like to conclude his remarks.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. I thank the Senator from Illinois. Again, I was making 
the point that as we go to these African countries that want American 
products, whether it is the newest country in Africa, South Sudan, or 
the older countries, and we need to have the ability to supply them. 
Both Senators have mentioned China. China is certainly lurking out 
there. Again, it is not only China; it is India and a number of other 
countries. The Senator might want to comment on that. Senator Coons.
  Mr. COONS. Senator Boozman is right. There is a real challenge to the 
United States in Africa, and it is not just a economic challenge. We 
face competition from China, from Russia, from Brazil, from India, from 
other rapidly growing countries.
  But there is also a values change because, frankly, in countries I 
visited--and I know both Senators, in their service to the public in 
the House and Senate, have visited more countries on the continent than 
I have--but I am concerned that China's agenda in Africa is sometimes 
different from ours. It is not a values agenda. They are not there to 
promote democracy, tolerance, transparency, protection of intellectual 
property from piracy, from counterfeiting. There are lots of different 
things we advance in partnership with trade opportunities that are not 
part of their issues and are not part of what they try to advance. I am 
impressed Senator Durbin has pulled together an all-of-government 
strategy for dealing with this opportunity, and I would be interested 
in hearing more about how the mechanics of this bill would actually 
work to deploy all the great resources of the American Government.
  Mr. DURBIN. This bill develops a comprehensive strategy to coordinate 
the agencies of our Government in helping U.S. businesses export to 
Africa. Currently, the U.S. export promotion and financing regime is a 
patchwork of overlapping, loosely coordinated, and maybe in some cases 
wasteful efforts that are difficult for U.S. businesses to navigate and 
too often unresponsive to the real needs of real businesses.
  This bill creates a special Africa export strategy coordinator to 
ensure this is no longer the case. He will work with the existing 
export agencies and make sure they are on the same page. The bill 
establishes a minimum number of commercial Foreign Service officers to 
be stationed at U.S. embassies in Africa and the multilateral 
investment banks. These are the men and women who are contacted by 
American businesses, wanting to do business. They can navigate them 
through local government requirements as well as some of the other 
cultural challenges they might face. The bill formalizes and 
standardizes the training received by economic and commercial officers. 
It also incrementally increases the amount of money Ex-Im can loan over 
the next 10 years and creates a standard of accountability for those 
loans. Remember, this is only an increase in the lending limit, and 
these loans actually make money for the U.S. Treasury.
  Lastly, the legislation gives the Export-Import Bank greater 
incentive to aggressively counter concessional loans, below-market 
loans such as the one I mentioned earlier in the case of Ethiopia and 
China, that countries such as China often use to undercut our bidding 
in the process.
  After the Prime Minister of Ethiopia explained to me how the Chinese 
were offering these concessional loans, he then said: But, of course, 
then we turned around with the telecommunications contract and the 
Chinese won that too. He said they are winning everything. That is not 
good news for us. We have the capacity to produce goods and provide 
services competitive with any nation in the world. But once they have 
basically become a part of the local economy and once they are part of 
the local culture, it is difficult for our companies to compete. That, 
I think, is the real challenge we face.
  That is what this bill basically does. I think it not only creates an 
opportunity to create jobs here, but as has been mentioned by Senator 
Boozman and Senator Coons, these are developing nations which are 
reaching a level of economic maturity. We want to be not only good 
trading partners but partners with them in the future, developing not 
only good markets but good values that are consistent with our view of 
democracy and the participation of people who live in each of these 
countries.
  I would like to yield at this point to Senator Boozman.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. I agree with the Senator from Illinois. We trade not 
only goods and services, but we trade ideas. That is so important as we 
go on. Certainly, Africa is developing a very healthy middle class. 
This is certainly something new that they have not seen before. Again, 
they are hungry for American products.
  I appreciate the way the legislation was crafted in the sense it is 
revenue neutral so there is no cost to the taxpayer. What we are trying 
to do is get a plan together to make it such, particularly our small 
businesses, so they can compete in this huge continent that has so much 
going for it. Again, it could be such a great help to a State such as 
mine. In Arkansas, we are talking about we already export $5.6 billion 
in merchandise. I think one of the ways we are going to climb out of 
the economic doldrums we are in and create jobs is going to be through 
exports, and certainly this gives us an opportunity.
  We are almost--we could almost say, using the statistics from the 
Senator from Illinois; he talked about 7 of the 10 top emerging 
economies coming out of Africa--we are almost doing a disservice to our 
small businesses by not going forward with this legislation.
  Mr. COONS. That is right. I am grateful Senator Boozman has been an 
active participant in helping pull together on this bill what has been 
a bipartisan consensus in this body and in the House on the importance 
of improving the access to the export opportunities of Africa for 
businesses large and small in the United States.

[[Page 4220]]

  Both of our States are well known for poultry exports. All three of 
our States also have manufacturing exports, across all the different 
sectors of our economy. We can't help but do better if we increase our 
exports to Africa.
  Fifty years ago, 70 percent of all U.S. funds that flowed toward 
Africa were development or relief assistance from U.S. Government 
sources. Today that is inverted. Today more than 80 percent of all 
resources that go to Africa are direct investment by the private 
sector. So Senator Durbin has led the effort to create a wise and smart 
bill that uses that leverage, that makes, as Senator Boozman said, the 
rapidly growing markets of Africa accessible to our home State 
businesses, large and small, but also makes a more efficient, more 
focused use of the dramatic resources of our Federal Government and 
makes it more accessible.
  What is next and where do we go from here?
  Mr. DURBIN. I can tell the Senator from Delaware and the Senator from 
Arkansas if you ask the average American to give you their image of 
Africa, it will be an old image. The image of new Africa is a continent 
that is changing dramatically as those numbers show. Listen to these 
numbers: In the year 2000, 7 percent of the population of Africa had 
access to the Internet. In 2009, the number was up to 27 percent. That 
is almost a fourfold increase in access to the Internet.
  There was also a revolution when it comes to mobile telephones. In 
1998, there were fewer than 4 million phones on the entire continent. 
Today there are 500 million. From 4 million to 500 million phones. Most 
people have this image of a dusty little village in Africa where people 
live under pretty primitive circumstances, and that is true in many 
parts of Africa. But 78 percent of Africa's rural population has access 
to clean water. Seventy-eight percent has access to clean water. Access 
to information and the global market are the pillars of building a 
middle class. In Africa this means a middle class hungry for goods and 
services, and the United States can use that to our advantage.
  I am openminded about this. I want us to be able to import from 
Africa as well because that is the nature of a good trade relationship. 
It cannot be all one-sided. Of course, our first priority is American 
jobs in Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, and Colorado. But let's 
understand as the middle class grows, their productivity will grow too 
and what they can provide us can make a big difference.
  The world banks said recently in a report that Africa could be on the 
brink of an economic takeoff much like China was 30 years ago and India 
20 years ago. So this bill, promoting our trade into Africa, could not 
come at a better moment.
  I wish to yield to Senator Boozman at this point.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, I agree with the Senator from Illinois and the 
Senator from Delaware. The bottom line is there is a tremendous 
opportunity for our country. I think that our country, as we do start 
the trade process, trading ideas along with goods, that, again, we are 
givers. We can be very proud of the work we have done in Africa. Nobody 
has done more when we are talking about food. I was one of the cochairs 
of the malaria caucus. We can be very proud of the work the Congress 
has done in the last several years. These are things that the Western 
world can get together and eliminate.
  As the continent settles down and develops a middle class, 60 percent 
of the businesses that do exports are small businesses and certainly we 
need to get in there. This bill challenges us to increase that by 200 
percent and gives us the incentive and a template for how we do that so 
we can stop this erosion by the Chinese where they are outdoing us by 
about 3 to 1.
  The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Senator Boozman is absolutely right. The significant 
investments that have been made by the last administration and the 
current administration, by Congresses controlled by both parties, in 
relief of the very broad health challenges throughout sub-Saharan 
Africa have produced dramatic results. It has been both positive 
results in terms of relieving human misery but also positive results in 
terms of the view that most Africans have of the United States. This is 
the continent on the Earth where we are most positively viewed. We need 
to take that platform and use the tools Senator Durbin is trying to 
craft through this legislation we support to make sure that businesses 
large and small all across the United States see this continent clearly 
as a continent of opportunity, as a continent where we have strong 
potential partners, and get us back in the race.
  Frankly, right now we have a wakeup call. When those of us who have 
been to Africa repeatedly see it as a continent of great opportunity 
perceive that we are allowing other countries to rapidly move past us, 
with Senator Durbin's leadership with this bill, we can take that 
opportunity, refocus our resources and make this the decade where the 
United States and Africa, working in partnership, build and sustain 
tremendous growth in imports, exports, and trade.
  Mr. DURBIN. I hope we can change a few things in Washington as we 
look at Africa. I hope the U.S. Commerce Secretary will travel to 
Africa. That has not happened in years. I would encourage our Secretary 
to discover the opportunities on this continent for the good of our 
economy here in the United States.
  It is hard to imagine, as well, the Commerce Department is actually 
cutting its staff in Africa at this point, and the Export-Import Bank 
doesn't have an African staff at this point. This can change. The 
tremendous growth of the African economy and its middle class makes 
lack of engagement inexcusable. We can reverse it, and this bill is a 
step in the direction to reverse it.
  As Senator Boozman said, it is modest, commonsense, and doesn't add 
to the deficit. It thinks of ways to use current resources more 
effectively. It moves us in that direction with low-cost steps that 
will actually earn U.S. money while creating U.S. jobs.
  I will yield on this issue and allow my colleagues to close if they 
have closing remarks.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. I thank the Senator. We appreciate his leadership. 
Perhaps the three of us, and maybe others, can write a note to the 
Secretary of Commerce and ask him to make a much-needed trip to Africa, 
to look at this bill and not only do this, but use other ways as a 
strategy to implement so we can get our small businesses trading more 
with the continent, again, keeping up with the likes of China, India, 
and all of the places we mentioned.
  I think once it is all over, we will be very proud of our efforts, 
just as I am very proud, as was mentioned, of the efforts we have made 
in feeding the hungry, helping those with HIV, those with malaria, and 
diseases such as that. It is interesting that it is the place in the 
world where we have the highest acceptability. The people are very 
pleased with what the Americans have done there. Our State Department 
is doing a great job. We are teaching people how to fish rather than 
feeding them, and that has been very successful.
  I appreciate everybody's efforts and hopefully we can get our 
colleagues together and get this thing passed.
  Mr. COONS. I thank Senator Boozman and Senator Durbin for the 
opportunity to join together in this colloquy.
  As Senator Boozman referenced, this is another example of how when 
America leads with its values, America will find success for our 
workers, our families, our communities at home in terms of increased 
export opportunities, but also in terms of higher regard for our 
values, for our priorities throughout the world. When we are willing to 
take on the challenge of combating terrible diseases such as HIV-AIDS, 
tuberculosis, and malaria in partnership with research universities, in 
partnership with African universities, and doctors and health care 
professionals, we can achieve remarkable results.
  When we pull together with Senator Durbin's leadership on this bill 
and we pull together all of our government, OPEC, Ex-Im, the Trade 
Development Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Department 
of State,

[[Page 4221]]

and we deploy the strength and the capabilities of America's 
entrepreneurs and small businesses, the sky is the limit in terms of 
the difference we can make for the people of Africa and the people of 
the United States.
  I wish to thank Senator Durbin for his leadership on this important 
bill. I am grateful for the chance to join him and Senator Boozman in 
the colloquy today.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank my colleagues Senator Boozman and Senator Coons.
  Mr. President, I ask that this colloquy be brought to an end, and I 
be recognized individually in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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