Henry Hyde

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Minnesota makes a very good point. The Millennium Challenge Account is not about creating big government or promoting socialized health care. Instead, it is about promoting responsibility and accountability on the part of governments of developing countries. I am confident that the President's proposal is an appropriate way to hold these governments to high standards and is an appropriate manner in which to determine eligibility. But the gentleman's point is a good one. We should not be exporting big government to developing countries, but we should be promoting government that is responsive and accountable to its citizens.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, this is good government practice. It improves the bill. I do not see any reason why the administration would oppose it. I think my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), supports this. And so I urge the adoption of this amendment.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, and I ask unanimous consent to yield half of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and that he may control that time.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I have some reservations about this amendment. This points out a serious problem which is actually ongoing with not just India but some other countries as well. However, I am willing to accept this amendment and will do so with pleasure.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, pursuant to section 2 of House Resolution 316, I offer amendments en bloc consisting of the following amendments printed in House Report 108-206: amendments numbered 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40 and 42.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I might just say that the gentleman is certainly making common sense, and the problem is we just cannot do it unilaterally. It might be wise for us to constantly review our dues and payments to the U.N., but there is a process that is not unilateral in getting them changed. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield such time as I have remaining to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say no card is better than a misleading card.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I agree that foreign investment in countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Moldova, can carry significant risks for Americans and others. If the governments of these countries wish to enhance their economic prospects by encouraging foreign investment, then ensuring the security of those investments and honoring contractual agreements must be a top priority. I urge the government of Moldova to improve the transparency of its actions regarding foreign investment and to further develop the rule of law in this and other areas.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter). (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. 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. 1950.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Harris). (Ms. HARRIS asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to offer amendment No. 2, which includes the text of H.R. 2441, the Millennium Challenge Account Authorization and Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2003. The Millennium Challenge Account is based on the revolutionary idea that countries must be accountable for their actions, be responsible for developing and advancing their own plans of progress, and must show results in order to receive economic assistance from the American taxpayer. The Peace Corps Expansion Act supports the President's vision that he described in this Chamber during his 2002 State of the Union address to double the number by the year 2007 of Peace Corps volunteers serving their Nation overseas. Many U.S. assistance programs have not achieved results over the years. Some assistance has allowed corrupt leaders to amass personal fortunes and remain in power beyond the will of the citizenry. Other aid has allowed leaders and governments to abdicate responsibility for effective governance and pursue detrimental, self-destructive, or personally self-enriching policies. Other assistance has gone to consultants or middlemen with little results to show in the end. These failures of the past should not lead us to turn our backs on the developing world. Just the opposite. Now is the time for American leadership and for America to recognize through its aid those countries that respect the rights of citizens, promote democracy, and encourage economic freedom and prosperity. However, we need to demonstrate what works and what does not, and we need to hold accountable those governments and leaders who do not choose the right path of reform. The President's proposal is the first serious attempt to address the fact that existing U.S. development assistance programs have consistently failed to meet their stated goals. Despite decades of economic aid, many Nations are poorer now than they were before first receiving development assistance. The President's proposal is enthusiastically supported by the relief and development nongovernmental community, as well as by the Heritage Foundation, the Wall Street Journal, and other organizations that have previously assailed foreign assistance as wasteful, inefficient, and ineffective. The U.S. must be more selective in aid distribution if the assistance is to be effective and a positive contributor to development. As proposed by the President and included in the legislation before us today, MCA assistance will reward only those recipients who willingly adopt good policies and institutions. Of the 70-or-so countries currently eligible for development assistance, it is possible that only 10 countries will meet the strict criteria stipulated by the President and endorsed in this bill. At the funding levels proposed, this may mean a very high level of assistance for MCA-eligible countries. The administration believes this will create a competition among cusp countries which may accelerate reforms and the adoption of good policies. This amendment endorses this approach. The President's proposal for a Millennium Challenge Account deserves our support. We should embrace the idea of increasing U.S. economic assistance but only to those countries that demonstrate a commitment to human rights, democratic ideals and practices, and investment in people. H.R. 2441, reported favorably by the Committee on International Relations, is truly a bipartisan bill that supports two of the President's key foreign policy initiatives and has more than 70 cosponsors. The work of the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking member on this committee, has been indispensable; and I congratulate and thank him, and I urge my colleagues to support the Hyde-Lantos amendment, which incorporates the text from H.R. 2441. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) very much for yielding me time. I really do not know where to begin. We have all agreed that the Chinese population control program is coercive and, therefore, violative of human rights. We ought to stay a thousand miles away from anything that facilitates that. And yet this money that we give to the population control fund facilitates the Chinese program. Now, what no one has mentioned today is the law in China. The population and family planning law which was adopted a couple of years ago has some chilling phrases in it. Citizens who give birth to a child in violation of Article 18 of this law may be ordered to pay a premium to a fund. Yes, they are ordered to pay a premium triple the yearly income which forces an abortion, coerces an abortion. And guess who enforces the Chinese population law? The People's Liberation Army, the Chinese People's Liberation Army enforces their population law. Now, I listened very carefully to criticisms that the countries are going to be denied family planning. We are the largest spender on the globe, in the galaxy for family planning, and nobody will be denied anything. It just does not go through the U.N. You know the U.N. That is the organization that supplanted us on the Commission for Human Rights with Libya. Now, if you think it is important for us to worry about the population of Mexico, as one of the late speakers did, I can understand a Mexican listening to that and saying, who are they to worry about our population? I am out of time. I just want to say I am just getting wound up, but that is the way it goes. I hope you support the Smith amendment.

Mr. HYDE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green).