House Proceeding 02-03-10 on Feb 3rd, 2010 :: 1:24:00 to 1:42:20
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1:23:57 to 1:24:17( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: one who knows much about the haiti situation, mr. donald payne of new jersey. mr. payne: thank you. let me express my appreciation

1:24:00 to 1:42:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Donald M. Payne

1:24:18 to 1:24:38( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: to the gentlelady from cleveland for calling this special order. she has been such a tremendous resource to the congressional black caucus and as we know, the congressional black caucus has been very involved in haiti for many, many year for the

1:24:39 to 1:25:01( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: 22 years i have been a member of this congress, haiti was always number one on the agenda and we went through the years when there was dictatorships and then the elections and president aristide being elected to office and then his

1:25:02 to 1:25:23( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: being deposed and military generals took over and then president clinton having the foresight to restore president aristide, 22,000 u.s. troops went to restore democracy without us even having one casualty and theurrent situation where presiden

1:25:24 to 1:25:44( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: aristide left and the new government -- we have been involved throughout the years. let me tell you, when we heard the news of the earthquake, 7.0 on the richter scale only six miles deep, bringing it so close to the surface that made it the mag -- made the

1:25:45 to 1:26:05( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: magnitude even greater, the aftershocks that continued, we said we must to something quick and do something drastic. since then, the congressional black caucus has held emergency meet wgs the usaid, department of state, nngovernmental organizations and other stake holders in theegion to get a

1:26:06 to 1:26:27( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: sense of the effort on the ground in order to take information back to our constituents and organize the legislative efforts in congress. we, on wednesday, january 13, the c.b.c. international task force called an emergency meeting with the c.b.c. staff regarding the devastation in haiti.

1:26:28 to 1:26:48( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: usaid deputy administrator john bruce briefed staff about the u.s. responsand the extent of the situation. counselor cheryl miller, chief of staff to secretary of state clinton, briefed c.b.c. members on january 13 and january 15. the congressional black caucus

1:26:49 to 1:27:10( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: held a haiti disaster relief meeting with members to discuss legislative efforts and opportunities we could then move right into effect. conversation -- conference calls to various members of the congressional black caucus, hosted conference calls with their constituents, to provide them with updates about relief

1:27:11 to 1:27:31( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: efforts being made in our respective districts. we had tremendous interest in different parts and in our state of new jersey, new jersey for haiti was formed.

1:27:32 to 1:27:53( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: it's www.nj4haiti.org and that organization, which i co-share with senator lezniack said we need to move into action and a social service worker in the city of elizabeth was able to get the united way of the greater union county to be partners in arranging drives

1:27:54 to 1:28:16( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: for supplies and listed organiations that could receive contributions, red cross and other organizations that were already doing work throughout the land. so as i indicated, the c.b.c. jumped int our meetings, had

1:28:17 to 1:28:37( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: the conference cas,n how -- had a special order following the news on january 12, immediately, members of the congressional black caucus came to the floor to discuss the earthquake in haiti and relief efforts and what we intended to do and the following day on the 14th of january, congressional black caucus members were

1:28:38 to 1:29:01( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: briefed via a conference call with david meltips, senior vice president for the international affairs of the american red cross on the 15th of january, congressional black caucus members were briefed through a conference call by the state department for updates so we just remained active the week

1:29:02 to 1:29:26( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: of january 18 through the 22nd. we produced two bipartisan measures on haiti in congress. tuesday, the 19th, chairwoman lee introduced a resolution expressing condolences to and solidarity with the people of

1:29:27 to 1:29:47( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: haiti in response. chairman rangel introduc h.r. 4462 tha would allow individuals making a charitable contribution after january 11 and before march 1 to viims of the earthquake in haiti to claim charitable deductions on their 2009 tax returns.

1:29:48 to 1:30:09( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: absent this change, taxpayers would need to wait until next year to claim a deduction for these contributions on their 2010 tax forms, so this will speed up deductions eligible for 2009. the bill makes it clear that

1:30:10 to 1:30:31( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: taxpayers making a charitable contribution to victims of haiti relief earthquake through text messages would be able to rely onthe cell phone bill while claiming charitable deductions. the first time any activity or action of this nature has been done. the c.b.c. international task force held a staff meeting to

1:30:32 to 1:30:55( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: discuss the next steps on haiti on that day of january 19 and the committee that i am privileged to chair. on wednesday, january 20, c.b.c. members were briefed by ambassador raymond joseph, haiti's ambassor to the united states.

1:30:56 to 1:31:17( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: the legislation that we had, we are also in the process of developing what we have done in our meetings. we've taken a look to see what we can do with the u.s. citizenship and immigration service to discuss t.p.s. and

1:31:18 to 1:31:38( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: humanitarian parole and other important items. the c.b.c. looked at other issues in representative -- and representative hank johnson's office drafted a letter to secretary clinton with details about the use of security contractors as pat of ongoing

1:31:39 to 1:32:00( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: relief and congresswoman waters is working on haiti debt cancellation bills and representate meek from new york is dealing with a marshal plan on haiti -- a marshall plan on haiti. i intend to ask, from the columbia university, dr. sachs,

1:32:01 to 1:32:21( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: brief the c.b.c. on future planning and how should new haiti be planned, how should port-au-prince be redone, how should satellite cits be created? because we feel this is an opportunity now to right many of the wrongs that have happened in the past. the house foreign affairs

1:32:22 to 1:32:42( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: committee will have a hearing on haiti in the next few weeks and congressman meeks will be holding a hearing on internatnal financial institutions and how they can assist haiti. congressman john conyers has been in contact with the air force liaison and he is going

1:32:43 to 1:33:03( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: to participate when the time is right in c.b.c. members taking trips to haiti to see firsthand what we should do we've been reluctant to go -- from going wn en masse because we wanted to have the -- our agency

1:33:04 to 1:33:24( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: people on the ground be free to do things that need to be done. however, when the time is right, we'll have a large delegation of members of the c.b.c. to go. as you know, on the 21st of january, the c.b.c. held a press conference to discuss the congressional response to the earthquake.

1:33:25 to 1:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: our c.b.c. met with transafrica, its director nicole lee and melinda miles working together for haiti. n.g.o.'s that have been on the ground for many years find out what is the position of n.g.o.'s and how do they see the situation and how can they

1:33:46 to 1:34:08( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: better assist as they -- as we move forward? c.b.c. facilitated a call with n.g.o. leaders working in haiti with the department of state to discuss n.g.o.'s experiences and concerns as the u.s. builds and executes recovery and relief and the rebuilding of haiti and we found that very instructive for the n.g.o.'s

1:34:09 to 1:34:29( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: and for the department of state . on the 19th, the international tasforce held a staff meeting to discuss priorities again as relates to it and with congressman cummings with the coast guard and maritime trade organization heeled a briefing about the

1:34:30 to 1:34:50( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: coast guard and its congoing work. we held a meeting with the coast guard at the haitian embassy. the c.b.c. met with the haitian government and talked about various problems we wanted to take a look at, the t.p.s. guide we looked at the caricom

1:34:51 to 1:35:11( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: memo, discussed haiti's debt relief numbers from treasury. we have dealt with the c.b.c. constituency outreach guide and these were all things as i indicated that the congressional black caucus has done. as i wind down, i want to once

1:35:12 to 1:35:32( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: again remind americans that haiti has been a tremendous part of the growth and development of our nation. as i mentioned on the floor before, it was back in the late 1800's when haiti had a -- had the enslaved people of haiti had a rebellion against the government of france and in a

1:35:33 to 1:35:53( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: pollon's army after 12 year struggle, lost the war to haiti, becoming -- haiti becoming the first country where enslaved people overthrew the power -- the european power and became a republic. just the third republic ever in the world at that time.

1:35:54 to 1:36:14( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: so we have a tremendous amount of regard and respect for haiti as they defeated the french therefore causing france to lose much of the wealth that it gained from haiti. half of the sugar and coffee

1:36:15 to 1:36:35( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: and coa and other products, in europe, 50% of them came from haiti alone. haiti produced more wealth to france than all the 13 original colonies gave to the u.s. government. so haiti, once it became independent from france, france

1:36:36 to 1:36:58( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: became cash poor, but it still had land in the louisiana territory, and as a result of their defeat, were forced to sell the lears territory, negotiated by jefferson -- to sell the louisiana territory, negotiated by jefferson to the united states, that opened up the west for the united states. france had armies of 20,000

1:36:59 to 1:37:20( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: persons where the u.s. army was just about 5,000 strong. so the french had a more powerful military here in the western hemisphere and would have been a problem for the united states had not the treaty been made and france, being forced to sell louisiana territory. many other haitians are

1:37:21 to 1:37:42( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: involved in our history, the battle of savanna, where haitians fought for our independence, helping to turn the tide of the revolutionary war. we know that jean batees, popularly known as the father of chicago, was a haitian

1:37:43 to 1:38:05( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: colonist in north america, mixed french and haitian ancestry and he was the person that discovered chicago and is called the father of chicago, back in 1968. so there are so many people of haitian descent and haiti itself that has a great deal to

1:38:06 to 1:38:27( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: do with our development. finally, let me just mention this last point that when world war ii began, the u.s. started to become concerned about the dependence of rubber from territory that was going to be controlled by the japanese.

1:38:28 to 1:38:48( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: by 1942, the indonesians, the british controlled rubber plantations provided 99% of the commercial rubber for the world. in the earliest days of world war ii, the united states realized the disastrous consequence if rubber plantations femme to japan. this would cut off to the

1:38:49 to 1:39:11( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: united states and its allies rubber supplies and absolutely critical commodity, as you know, not only for the economy but to keep a war effort moving forward.

1:39:12 to 1:39:33( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: . the united states made presentations in 1940 and 1941 and we staed to increase our rubber stockpiles. but reseverers went to hatey to attempt to grow rubber trees in haiti. the haitian ruber project was not to be a partof the war efort, but it really was. it was not something that was necessary. if we weren't concerned about

1:39:34 to 1:39:54( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: rubber being cut off from the united states. what happened, though, is that much of the land was denuded. natural habitats were destroyed. ebony trees and pants that were

1:39:55 to 1:40:19( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: natural in haiti were taken out. in the attempt to grow ruber trees was started on large portions of land. there was some haitian scientist who said it would not work but the united states tried to experiment. today, one of the bigest

1:40:20 to 1:40:43( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: problems in haiti is erosion. people are dependent on wood for homes and heating. this situation started by the united states for the war effort with the attempt to grow foreign seed that would not grow in that

1:40:44 to 1:41:04( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: kind of topo graphy. when we look at the tremendous erosion in haiti today, the deping of it hapened to be at the time when the united states felt it neded to have the growth of rubber trees in our hemisphere in a place that was close to the united states.

1:41:05 to 1:41:25( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: and so once again, as we look at how haiti has impacted on the united states, this consequence of a negative development on the part of the u.s. government, i think once again is a reason why we should have strong passion for our sister country haiti. for our sister country haiti.

1:41:26 to 1:41:47( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: we will continue in new jersey to continue to move forward with all of the many people that are involved. we look forward to have a mas at the basilica at the end of the month of february. our governor is going to provide an office that we can work with

1:41:48 to 1:42:09( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: to try to be sure that people who may be coming with t.p.s. and other problems, unification, parole, adoption, that we wil be able to service these people who are crying out for help. and so, with that, i see one of my colleagues here from the great state of texas,

1:42:10 to 1:42:21( Edit History Discussion )

Donald M. Payne: congresswoman sheila jackson le, who has done a tremendous amount of work in this area and sits on important committees and