GOP House Rejects Debt Relief for Poor Nations

Nathan Newman nathan.newman at yale.edu
Thu Jul 13 06:38:17 PDT 2000


As the GOP-led House literally votes to starve poor nations and as progressive Dems fight for third world debt relief, it is unbelievable that folks continue the myopia of arguing there is no difference in the result of one party having a majority of power versus the other. Of course, more is needed than what is embodied in the Dem program, but it is demonstrably more humane than the GOP. - Nathan Newman ================================

July 13, 2000 House Rejects Poor Nation Relief Filed at 2:00 a.m. EDT By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats failed in several hours of emotional debate to win the money President Clinton wants to help 40 of the world's poorest nations.

Ignoring a threatened veto, the House late Wednesday rejected an amendment to the foreign aid bill that would have added $390 million over the next two years for an international debt program, mostly in Africa.

The action left the figure for Third World debt relief at $69 million.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said rejection of the extra money ``condemns countless hundreds of thousands of innocent children to death by starvation and disease.''

``We have a responsibility to help those who have been left behind,'' said Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y.

``We will be judged on how we treat the least among us,'' said Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.

Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Gene Sperling, head of the president's National Economic Council, told reporters earlier Wednesday that the amount included in the bill would not meet U.S. obligations under a program launched last year by the world's richest industrial countries.

The bill as it stands now would provide $82 million for debt, including $12.6 million for environmental debt relief and $69 million for the general debt relief of $435 million requested by the administration for debt relief for 40 of the world's poorest countries.

``The president's advisers will recommend that the president veto the bill,'' Summers said.

But Republicans argued that under budget caps set earlier this year the House was not permitted to increase the proposed spending unless an equivalent amount was cut from some other program.

``I wish we had more but we don't have more,'' said Republican Rep. Sonny Callahan of Alabama.

Frank said denying relief to the world's most needy is the ``cruelest single act of public policy I can recall in 20 years.''

``We are creating wealth at a pace unparalleled in the history of the world,'' he said. ``A relatively small amount of money ... could alleviate untold sufferings.''

``We are being asked to share what we have with some of the most needy people in the world,'' said Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill.

``Some day ... I'd like to be part of a Congress that ends hunger, that ends disease,'' said Rep. Tony P. Hall, D-Ohio. ``We can end tuberculosis, we can end cholera and we can end polio.

But Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said Americans can ``be proud'' of their foreign spending.

``There's always more money that could be spent. There are always more things that could be done by government,'' Diaz-Balart said. ``But I am not ashamed of what the American people, through their Congress, do in foreign aid.''

The reluctance of Congress to fully fund the U.S. share of the debt relief package comes at an embarrassing time for Clinton, who is due to attend this year's annual economic summit next week in Japan.

At last year's summit, the world's seven richest countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- pledged to write off $50 billion in debt owed by poor nations.

Administration officials fear that lack of action on the part of Congress will give other countries a chance to retreat from their own promises, threatening the collapse of the whole initiative.

The debt issue has been pushed by a collection of religious organizations operating under the banner, Jubilee 2000. In a ceremony outside the Capitol, the group presented the members of Congress with boxes full of petitions it said had been signed by 500,000 Americans urging debt forgiveness for poor nations.

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