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H.R. 6255, The Next Steps for Haiti Act of 2008
- This item is from the 110th Congress (2007-2008) and is no longer current. Comments, voting, and wiki editing have been disabled, and the cost/savings estimate has been frozen.
Version saved on August 13, 2008, 19:33:06, by webmaster:
H.R. 6255 would provide for professional exchanges with Haiti.
Detailed Summary
Next Steps for Haiti Act of 2008 - Authorizes the Director of Foreign Assistance, in consultation with the government of Haiti and Haitian civil society organizations, to establish the Haiti Professional Exchange Program whose purpose shall be to assign qualified Haitian Americans and others to provide technical assistance to help Haiti improve in areas vital to its growth and development, including education, energy, environment, health care, infrastructure, security, transportation, and disaster preparedness.
Requires that the Director establish an outreach program to encourage Exchange Program participation.
Sets forth Program provisions.
Authorizes appropriations.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 6/12/2008: Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Points in Favor
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Points Against
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Visitor Comments
jacques
June 19, 2008, 6:52am (report abuse)(i) COMPENSATION- An individual who participates in the Exchange Program shall receive monthly compensation equal to the average monthly salary of such individual's professional Haitian counterpart.??? You get what you pay for. This program will never get qualified Haitian-Americans to participate.
jo
June 20, 2008, 4:55pm (report abuse)This is nothing but a token gesture on the part of the Congressional friends of Haiti. It's a step forward, but it's unlikely to trigger much of favorable response from the Haitians whom the program seeks to attract. There is no dollar amount tagged to this program. I agree with Jacques that the restrictions on salaries are a disincentive. The loan forgiveness program is puny. The US government should invest far more than contemplated in this bill. If it does, the returns are likely to be much bigger both for the US and Haiti
RR
August 29, 2008, 11:27am (report abuse)This program is a good idea, but needs to be further developed. I see them limiting the salaries b/c in the past, non-Haitians would go to Haiti and make waaaaaay more $$ than the locals and this created tensions b/w the people. Considering the high insecurity in Haiti, there needs to be more incentives/benefits for Haitian-Americans to take such risks. Similar to the Foreign Service, diplomats do not make $$ but the benefits counter that. More awareness needs to be raised about this get actual responses on this initiative. I conducted a brief survey about it among Haitian Americans, and none of them knew about it and 74% were interested in participating.